Chapter Fourteen #2
“My grandma came to live with us for a year, which helped a lot. After she left, I had to stay home and take care of my siblings. I did independent study, which was a disaster. I couldn’t keep up in my classes.”
He gave her a curious look.
“I’m dyslexic. Reading is a struggle for me, obviously.”
“Is that why you memorize things?”
“Yes,” she admitted. “I developed other skills to compensate, but it wasn’t enough. I fell behind in every subject, and I wasn’t on track to graduate.”
He finished his beer, nodding.
“Most kids from small towns want to leave somehow. They dream of athletic scholarships, academic scholarships. I knew college wasn’t an option for me. I had to find my own way out. So, I did.”
“You ran away.”
“Yes.”
“Do you regret it?”
She glanced around the parking lot, as if Tripp might be lurking in the shadows. “It was a bad decision, and it led to other bad decisions, but I’m not big on regrets.”
“Why not?”
She shrugged. “Those experiences made me who I am today. They brought me here, to this moment, to this place.”
To him.
She couldn’t say that. She couldn’t even think it without blushing, so she tried to erase the ridiculous idea from her mind before he saw the longing in her eyes. He wasn’t her destiny. He was just a man. He was an extremely attractive, compelling, and complicated man.
She cleared her throat and continued. “I met my husband in Memphis. I was a waitress at a honky-tonk, and he was a starving artist, literally. He watched me hustle around with loaded trays and pocket my meager tips. He asked if I wanted to make some extra money as a roadie. I said yes.”
“How old were you?”
“Eighteen.”
“And him?”
Meredith held up a palm to pause the conversation. “If I tell you about him, you can’t ask cop questions, and you can’t investigate my past.”
“Cop questions?”
“You know what I mean.”
“I wouldn’t investigate your past. That would be improper use of police resources.”
“Then we’re clear.”
“We’re clear.”
She paused to think of a different name for Tripp.
“My husband, Travis, was ten years older than me. He was looking for a girl to support him while he pursued his music career. He could tell I wasn’t afraid of hard work, and he had a knack for manipulating people.
I was an easy mark. I’d spent my entire life on a farm. ”
“You weren’t an easy mark,” Wade said. “You were a kid.”
Meredith didn’t argue, though she hadn’t felt like a kid. She’d shouldered the responsibilities of an adult for a long time. The waitress arrived to clear the plates and to ask if they wanted anything more. Meredith shook her head. Wade lifted two fingers and said something in Spanish.
“Are you ordering me a beer?” she asked.
“Do you want one?”
“No. I don’t drink anymore.”
“That’s what my mother told me.”
“Did you believe her?”
“No, but I believe you. I ordered two waters.”
Meredith memorized the words he’d used, botella de agua, and wished she knew more Spanish.
It would be a struggle to live in Mexico without understanding the language.
She waited for the server to deliver the water bottles before she continued.
“Travis and I got married a year after we met. At least, I thought we were legally married. I found out we weren’t when I tried to get a divorce. ”
“Why did you want a divorce?”
“I wasn’t happy with him. We struggled financially.
” She twisted the paper napkin in her hands.
“He was a talented musician but not well known. We traveled from city to city, from dive bar to dive bar. It was exciting at first. I’d never been anywhere and I wanted to see the world.
But after a while, it just felt seedy and repetitive.
Travis made all the decisions. I felt like a prisoner instead of a partner. ”
“What do you mean?”
“He was very controlling. He got jealous if anyone in the bar talked to me.”
“He thought he could leave you alone at a dive bar, and no one would hit on you?”
“He accused me of inviting their attention.”
“He sounds like an idiot.”
“We both were,” she said. “We argued a lot, and things got ugly fast. I can’t lay all the blame on him, because I never backed down from a fight.”
“He got physical with you?”
She shrugged, as if it was no big deal. “I can hold my own.”
Wade’s mouth made a thin line of displeasure. “You’re a small woman.”
“I’m average.”
“Maybe in height.”
“I’m strong for my size.”
“You are,” he said easily, “but you can’t square up with a man. Not as an equal participant.”
She knew he was right. She’d realized long ago that Tripp had goaded her into hitting him first, or hitting him back, so he could claim self-defense.
“When I was twenty-four, I decided I’d had enough.
I quit drinking, and I stopped arguing with Travis, but the fights continued.
They became more intense, even when I didn’t do or say anything to make him mad.
He started locking me in a room, refusing to let me leave the house. ”
“How did you get out?”
“I’d rather not say.”
“Is he looking for you?” Wade asked.
She gave him a warning stare. It was another cop question.
“What’s his real name?”
She couldn’t answer that, either. She drank from her water bottle, because she was done talking. He took the hint and dropped it. Then he rose to his feet and paced around the sidewalk with his hands clenched at his sides.
Meredith felt a trickle of unease. He seemed furious, and barely able to rein it in. What if he broke his promise and investigated her past?
“Wade,” she said softly, moving to stand beside him. “It’s okay.”
“It’s not okay.”
“It’s nothing you can fix.”
“You can file a report without disclosing your location.”
She sighed and rested her head on his shoulder. She didn’t want to tell him that Tripp had threatened her family. He might not be able to find her, but he could always go after them. He could still make her pay.
Wade turned to study her face, as if the answers to all of his questions were written there. He reached out to cup her chin and rubbed a thumb over the scar near her mouth. “Did he do this?”
Tears filled her eyes for the third time in one night. It was some kind of record for her, as she rarely gave in to her emotions.
“If he comes around here, he’ll get what he deserves. You can count on it.”
Meredith blinked away the moisture and took a deep breath. Then she met his steady gaze. His irises were like liquid amber in the evening light. She believed that Wade would try to protect her from harm. He was that kind of man, bound by honor and duty. He wouldn’t back down from a fight.
Which was why she had to leave town before Tripp caught up with her. Before she risked Wade’s life—and lost her heart.