Page 90 of Noble Neighbor
“Run,” she whispered.
Sunny’s eyes shot open, and she peered into the dark, perspiration pouring from her trembling frame, her heart beating so hard she pressed both hands to her chest to contain it. The dream was a familiar one. She’d often had them in the early days.
Except there was a new element to it.
Oliver.
Despair threatened to overwhelm her, but Sunny tamped down the sobs and struggled upright.She knew what she had to do. What she always did.
Run.
Running was something she was exceptionally good at.
She snapped on the bedside light and slipped from the bed, scrubbing her hands over damp cheeks. There was a lot to accomplish before the sun rose.
*
“You promised, Mommy. You promised.”
Molly’s broken cries filled the car, but Sunny kept her gaze fixed on the dark road ahead. The sky was lightening behind her. Soon a strip of orange would stretch across the horizon, but she refused to look in her rearview mirror.
And refused to think of what she left behind.
“Shut up, Molly,” Kenzie snapped, voicing the words Sunny wanted to, but opening her mouth to talk would break the tenuous hold she had on her emotions. Best just to keep her eyes forward, her mouth shut tight.
An occasional sniffle from Molly punctuated the heavy silence settling in the vehicle, until that, too, quieted, replaced by her soft snore. Sunny glanced to the back.
And met Kenzie’s accusing stare. “I am so sorry, baby,” she whispered. “So very sorry, but it’s for the best.”
Kenzie didn’t reply. Instead, she compressed her lips and turned her head to stare at the passing scenery while rubbing a hand over Hooch.
Sunny’s heart splintered anew, understanding her girls might not forgive her this time. She turned her eyes back to the flat road, the endless strip of blacktop stretching before her.
Day was breaking, the farms she passed coming to life, and she allowed a moment to think of her own piece of Nebraskan soil she was leaving behind.
The hens she abandoned; the plans for the barn and stables lying on her desk.
Frank. Clement.
Oliver.
Sunny blinked rapidly. She’d never feel his body lower over hers as he slid into her, filling her. Loving her. She’d never wake again as Oliver crept from her bed, silent so as not to disturb the girls. She’d never feel his lips kissing her as he whispered, “Later, babe.”
Tears ran down her cheeks, and she reached for the towel she’d draped over the cat carrier, using it to blot them as they fell. Movement within the carrier caught her eye, and Sunny looked down.
Tabitha gave her a scathing look before turning her head away, too.
Sunny chuffed a bitter laugh. “I’d’ve thought you’d understand, girl. A mama does everything to keep her offspring safe.”
Tabitha did not reply. Sunny returned her gaze to the road ahead.
She hadn’t come to the decision to run lightly.
After leaving,fleeing, from Oliver yesterday, and berating herself for not realizing who Oliver was, who hiswifewas, she’d done something she’d never done — she googled the Silk Rope Strangler.
And discovered Oliver had been one of the vocal proponents of her “guilt by association”.
The man who’d made such sweet love to her had been a foe.
