“Yeah, he’s doing business somewhere. Washington first, and I haven’t heard anything about him in a while.”
“Hmm.” Sadie allowed herself a brief, nice memory of him. He’d been hot, at least in her teenage estimation. But the memory of him didn’t make her shiver or anything. Not like Eli.
“You stayed,” she said, turning her focus back to Alison.
“I thought about leaving, but my mom’s health wasn’t good. Then right after she died, I met Jared.”
“Ah, yes,” Sadie said, the ache in her chest inverting, splintering and sinking down to her stomach. “I believe I met him today.”
Alison cleared her throat and looked determinedly at the carafe. “I know it looks bad.”
“It is bad,” Sadie said. “Don’t BS me. I’m a therapist by trade, when I’m not renovating bed-and-breakfasts. I see women who have come out of abusive relationships all the time. I see men who are afraid they might be abusers. And more than that, I lived with a man who solved problems with violence for my entire childhood. So, I repeat, do not BS me. I am the wrong person to try that on.”
“He’s not that bad.”
“We can skip that part. We can skip the part where you tell me why you make him do it. And he’s a good guy. And his past was hard. Because I’ve heard it. Just...five months ago maybe, I saw a woman who was in the hospital. Recovering from the wounds her husband had inflicted on her. I’ve seen where it ends, Alison. Unless you make the decision to leave.”
Alison grabbed the napkin to her left and started twisting it, her hands shaking.
“I’m not talking to you as a therapist,” Sadie said. “I’m talking to you as an old friend. As someone who knew you before him. You’re not the only one. And you don’t have to be embarrassed.”
“I don’t have to be embarrassed?” Alison asked. “I think I do, actually. Because...because I think you have to be pretty stupid to get pulled into something like this.”
“That’s not true,” she said. “It’s not. It doesn’t matter how smart you are. It’s not your brain making these decisions. It’s your emotions. It’s the things he’s done to you. The things he’s told you. The stuff he’s twisted all up so slowly over the years you barely realized what was happening.”
The other woman shook her head. “It’s too late for me,” she said. “I don’t have anyone else. I don’t have anything else. Just this job. And that man.”
“Then get more,” Sadie said, frustration burning through her. “Want more.”
Alison stood up. “I don’t remember how. Coffee and pie are on me. Thank you,” she said. “Just...thank you.”
Alison turned, slight shoulders hunched, and walked back to the counter, just as Eli walked through the door.
Sadie stood, not having any of the appetite to finish her pie, even if it was free pie, and walked toward him, shepherding him back out the door before he could ask why.
“Did you get him home?” she asked, barely meeting Eli’s eyes when they were out in the parking lot.
“Yeah,” Eli said. “Do you see what it’s like?”
“He deserved to be hit. He deserved to have his head shoved into the pavement.”
“Yeah, and I can’t do that, Sadie. The minute I act like I can, I’m not a whole lot better than he is. Because I have authority and I have to be careful never to abuse that. But I might have let Mark and the other guys off with a warning if they would have done it. Or if someone would have...said anything.”
“Given you a reason to arrest him,” she said.
“That’s the problem with situations like this,” Eli said, putting his hands on his lean hips and looking back toward the diner. “She’s an adult. I can’t drag her out of that house any more than I can put handcuffs on him for something I suspect but have never seen.” He turned and hit the top of his patrol car with his open palm, a rough growl escaping his lips. “Sometimes the more power you have the less powerful you feel.”
“She won’t... I tried to talk to her,” Sadie said. “But...”
“I know.” He took a deep breath. “Listen, I’m on for a while longer. I’ll take you to your car.”
“Okay. We’ll see each other tonight?”
He nodded slowly. “Yeah. I think I need to.”
* * *
She wasn’t less nervous than she’d been the night before. If anything, she was more nervous. Because now she knew for a fact the intensity between Eli and herself wasn’t a fluke.
Because she was kind of going all in tonight, knowing full well what she was getting herself into. It was a dangerous game and she liked it. That surprised her more than anything.
But today had been beyond upsetting and she was looking forward to something just as strong to help take away some of the unsettled feelings that remained.
At least for a while.
You can’t fix things for people when they don’t want them fixed.
She’d reminded herself of that countless times over the years. Every time she hadn’t called her mother. Checked in on her to see if her father was still ruling the house with a fist of iron. Because she’d tried to help. And her mother had chosen to stay. Her mother had chosen the man who’d put her daughter in the hospital. So Sadie had accepted that she couldn’t change things for her mom and had set about changing them for herself.
She was going to have to let this go, too. Even though it sucked. It was a lot harder when you couldn’t physically let it go by driving into another city and never looking back.
“Bah.” She stalked into the kitchen and hauled herself up onto the counter, her knees planted firmly on the granite surface as she rummaged through one of the cabinets for a bottle of wine. Probably she would have to get a real fancy-ass wine rack for when guests were here. Luckily, she had a little time.
She took two glasses down, along with the wine, because in all honesty, Eli probably needed a drink, too.
She wondered if he would get more relaxed if he had a glass or two. If she could get him to smile. If his lips would taste like merlot and sin and the smile that was the rarest thing she could think of.
She licked her own lips in anticipation and carried the objects she now considered her fantasy aids into the living room.
