Page 23 of Never Let Me Go

“Yeah, right. I think I’d have better luck with the lottery.”

She points to my face. “And you just proved my point.”

“Which point would that be?”

“That you want a relationship,” she answers, looking smug. “But you’re also scared to open up your heart to someone.”

“What is it you do for work again?” I ask, glancing over at her. I’m certain she’s not a therapist but I feel like I just got thoroughly shrinked and now I’m questioning everything I thought I knew. She laughs.

“I’m an accountant.”

I scoff, shaking my head. “Maybe you should think about a career change because you have a talent.”

“Naw. Girls are just better at this kind of thing. Besides, I did a whole lot of work on myself in the last year but I’m glad to see my self-help book addiction helped someone.”

She starts telling me all about her massive shelf of self-help books and how each one helped her and the closer we get to Miami, the more animated she becomes. It’s like watching her being released from a cage and one of my favorite things about the work we do. Each woman we help does things at her own pace but at some point, she realizes she is safe and she is free. She starts living again and I love watching the life spark in their eyes again. For some, it takes years of therapy and work but for Cora, all it took was getting away from Freddie and her life in Baton Rouge where the memories of his torment haunted her everyday of her life.

“So what is it?” she asks. Her whole body is twisted in the seat so she can study me as I drive and I glance over at her with an arched brow.

“What is what?”

“The reason you’re scared.”

My gaze flicks between her and the road a couple times before I let out a sigh. “Let’s just say past heartbreak and not take it any further.”

“And now you’re terrified to open up to someone again.”

“Something like that,” I grumble, refusing to look in her direction. The things in my past are not something I want to talk about… now or ever. “Looks like we’re getting close to your sister’s place.”

She nods and launches into telling me about some other book she thinks might really help me but I keep my gaze focused on the road in front of me, fighting back painful memories. By the time we pull into her sister’s neighborhood, she has run out of things to talk about but her leg bounces like crazy and she squirms in her seat, the excitement almost too much to bear.

“When was the last time you saw your sister?” I ask as we pull up in front of a cute little coral colored cottage near the beach.

“Almost two years ago. It’ll be so nice to reconnect with her.”

I nod as I put the truck in park and open my door. The front door of the cottage swings open and a woman who looks identical to Cora steps outside and runs down the sidewalk as Cora jumps out of the truck. They crash together, wrapping each other up in a tight hug as I round the back of the truck and pull Cora’s bags out of the bed. As I set them on the sidewalk, Cora’s sister glances up at me with tears in her eyes and beams.

“You must be Moose. Thank you so much for taking such good care of my baby sister,” she says, releasing Cora to shake my hand and I nod.

“Just call me Sawyer, Ma’am, and it was my pleasure.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Sawyer. I’m Lana and thank you again. I’ve been so worried about her with that psycho running around,” Lana says, wrapping her arm around Cora’s shoulders.

“Like I said, it was my pleasure.”

“Excuse me if this is rude but are you sure he didn’t follow you? Does he even know she’s gone yet?”

I nod. “We stopped for gas about an hour ago and I spoke to my president. Freddie knows she’s gone but y’all don’t need to worry about a thing. If he starts heading your way, we’ll know about it and beat him here.”

“Okay,” she whispers, uncertainty lighting up her eyes for a moment before she blows out a breath and shakes it off. She turns to the bags before gasping and spinning around to face me again. “You should stay for dinner.”

“Oh.” I shake my head. “Thank you but I really should get going.”

“I insist,” she urges, grabbing onto my arm and I glance at Cora, who shrugs. As nice as a home cooked meal sounds, I’m afraid if I get too comfortable, I’ll just pass out wherever I land. I gently pull my arm from her grasp and shake my head.

“No, that’s all right. I don’t want to intrude and I’m sure y’all have a lot of catching up to do.”

“Besides, I’m sure he’ll want to get some sleep. He’s been up since three this morning,” Cora adds and I nod, wondering if it would be possible for me to catch a nap in my truck before I have to go pick up Juliette. Lana frowns.