Page 70 of The Candle Palace (Jamison Valley 6)
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as a man’s voice carried across the yard.
I knew that voice.
Milo and I both turned as Dr. Vernon ran over from his car parked on the street.
“Dr. Vernon?” I hissed at Mom. “You’re staying with Dr. Vernon?”
“We’re sort of seeing one another,” she whispered with a shrug.
The wide-eyed, shocked look on Milo’s face probably matched my own. It felt like days ago, not hours, that Vernon had come after me outside the hospital. I’d thought I’d left him behind today when I’d quit my job.
Nope. Here he was, at one of my lowest points, all because of my mother.
“Abby, oh my God.” He pushed right past me and pulled Mom into his arms. “What a disaster. You’re not hurt?”
“I’m okay now that you’re here.”
I was going to be sick. I stood dumbfounded as he kissed her temple and then her lips. Was this really happening?
Was my brother in the back of a cop car, my dad’s house in ruins and my mom in the arms of the man who’d assaulted me?
This had to be a nightmare. Soon, I’d wake up safe and warm in Milo’s arms.
“Let’s go.” Milo took my hand and pulled me away. He hauled me to my car and opened the door, loading me inside before getting behind the wheel. Then he pulled away from the curb, flipping a U-turn so we wouldn’t have to drive by the house.
“How long do you think that’s been going on?” he asked.
“If I had to guess? Since the day he met her.”
Vernon had probably been dating Mom—or fucking her—at the time he’d kissed me in the locker room.
“Does she know he came after you?”
I shook my head. “No.”
“You need to tell her, Sara.”
“I will.”
Would it do any good? If Vernon was spinning a web of lies and excuses to HR, then he was doing the same with Mom. Would she believe me when I told her the truth?
Probably not.
Mom was infatuated with a new boyfriend. Everything else, especially her daughter, was not going to take priority. Maybe she’d surprise me, but I wasn’t holding my breath.
We drove the rest of the way home in silence. This day had been one of the longest in my life and all I wanted was for it to be over.
Milo must have felt the same, because as we pulled into the garage and got out of the car, he led me straight into the bedroom, where we stripped off our clothes and huddled under the covers.
“Sleep. We’ll figure it out tomorrow.” He wrapped me tight in his arms, so close I couldn’t move.
“Don’t let me go.”
“Never.”
“What did she say?” Milo asked.
I shrugged as tears swam in my eyes. “She said I was being dramatic. That she knows Greg and that doesn’t sound like him at all.”
