Page 22 of Holding His Hostage
There had been no serious relationships in his life, and while he’d told himself it was because he liked to keep things light, not be weighed down, he could see now that was utter bullshit. Once bitten, twice shy. It was time to let this wound heal so he could have a real life for himself, unravel this knot and move on. Maybe have an RV full of his own kids one day.
He looked away from the road to meet her stare, then turned back. He needed to finish this once and for all. “When my training ended. I came home from basic with a ring in my hand. I came back for you, Buckley.”
12
With those six words, Sloan took Joanne’s entire history and turned it on its head. The past thirteen years had seemed like an inevitable course of events, every decision forcing her into another situation where she had no control over what would happen next.
She stared out her window as they drove into the dark campground, the winding road white with salt residue and flanked by snow-covered evergreens. They came to a small parking lot and Sloan got out to register, her eyes fixing on a fallen tree at the edge of the forest.
Once, she’d stood tall as those trees, believing in herself and the possibilities. But she’d married David in a blind leap of desperation, needing an escape route from her home life and grabbing on to him like a life preserver in a storm. There’d been nothing but emptiness after Sloan left, no hope for any improvement in the future. At least with David, there’d been a chance.
She could see now, she should have been stronger, should have stood tall on her own instead of marrying him to escape. But David’s offer had played off Sloan’s rejection in her mind like the perfect cure for the hole in her heart. Life had taken away one man but had given her another.
How foolish she’d been.
Her eyes burned, but she held the tears at bay, refusing to bend under the weight of this revelation. Sloan had come back for her. He had loved her, after all.
The words were crushing, making her feel like she couldn’t breathe despite the air that filled her lungs and rushed out again. It was such a shame, a waste, an ironic twist of fate, and she wondered what terrible thing she must have done to deserve it.
She ached to hold on to him, to fall apart and let him shore her up like he used to, to have him tell her everything would be okay, to lean into his body and take strength from it. But she couldn’t do it. That kind of weakness had knocked her life off course, the desire to be protected forever paramount over the desire to stand straight and tall.
She had to do better this time. Her life and her children’s lives were at stake. It was time to be brave, even if that meant being alone.
The driver’s door opened, the cold air blowing in as Sloan sat down. “Only two other campers in the whole place. We’ve got half the lake to ourselves.” He drove to a three-sided shed some fifty feet up the road, a lighted wreath gracing its peak and the inside stacked high with firewood, and got out again.
Her mind worked to pull up the date. December eighteenth, seven days until Christmas. She couldn’t even wrap her head around the idea that it was Christmastime.
“I don’t see why we have to stay here,” said April. “Who goes camping in December?”
Joanne forced a lightness into her tone she didn’t feel. “We have a Winnebago. It seemed like a good idea.”
“Not to me.”
Jo squeezed her eyes shut. “Let’s just make the best of it, okay?”
“Why are we even with this guy?”
“Who, Sloan?”
“No, the other strange man you hunted down then brought with us back to Chicago.”
Joanne turned around. “He’s helping us, and I, for one, am very glad he’s here.”
April bobbed her head. “Yeah, I could tell when you two were talking.”
So, that’s what the attitude was about. She’d overheard their conversation. The very last thing Jo wanted to do was talk about her love life with her eleven-year-old daughter, but apparently she needed to do it anyway. “Are you upset about something you overheard?”
April rolled her eyes and looked out her window. “Forget it.”
Sloan finished loading wood and they drove to their campsite. “I’m just going to level out the camper,” he said.
“Can I come?” asked Lucas, bounding up from the back of the RV.
“Sure thing, sport.”
Jo considered getting out, too, just to avoid a run-in with April, but didn’t act fast enough.
“So what was he, like, your boyfriend? This is the guy you told me about.”
