Page 76 of Jael

“You know you can count on me.”

“I know I can.”

But one thing Jael had learned over the years was that you couldn’t count on anyone. No matter how good their intentions were.

Chapter 21

The hot waterran out before Jael turned off the shower. Her head was still fuzzy, but she went through the familiar motions of drying herself off and wrapping her hair in the towel.

In the kitchen, she leaned heavily against the counter, twisting the bathrobe belt around her fingers while she waited for her coffee to finish.

When her phone rang, it showed an unknown number. “Hello, this is Jael.”

“Hi, my names Patricia Sanchez. You don’t know me, but I was given your number by a friend of yours, Melissa Richardson?”

Melissa was a social worker Jael had contact with since opening Vita Nova. “Are you calling about the foundation?”

“Yes. She told me you help women caught in domestic violence.”

“I do. Are you calling for yourself?”

“No, it’s for my sister. She doesn’t know I’m calling. I didn’t want to say anything to her until I knew if there was anything you can do.”

Jael shook her head, wishing she had a better answer. She’d been hoping to secure a second home, but with the way things were… She’d thought it was still a long way off, but now it felt impossible.

“You can give her my contact details, and I can connect her with the right people,” Jael said. “Normally I’d offer accommodation if she needed it, but I don’t have anywhere right now. There are other organizations that could help. If she’s currently in danger, she really needs to call the police.”

“She tried that, but she’s not being physically abused, so there isn’t much the police have been able to do. And I think she was too embarrassed to follow through on it because there was nothing to show.”

“There are people she can speak to. They can help her figure out the best way forward and explain to her how to protect herself. There will be evidence she can gather, like writing down timelines of what’s happening. Things like that. I wish I could do more.”

“That’s okay. I have a lot of names and numbers. I’m trying them all, but I’d appreciate it if you could send through what you have. You might know of someone I don’t.”

“Text me your email, and I’ll send through what I can. And Patricia, your sister is lucky to have you. If she decides to leave her partner, she’ll need your support.”

“She knows she has it.”

“Good. And ifyouneed anything, even if it’s just to talk, you can call me.”

“Thanks.”

After they hung up, Jael waited for the email address to come through, then forwarded it to Hannah before moving to the living room, but she stopped at the door. She wasn’t ready to face the room where her father had died yet. She’d call the plannerher dad used and ask them to change the furniture in the room. That would help.

In the sunroom, her body sunk into the couch as she sipped at her coffee. She had a lot to do but would rather sit where she was and stare at the wall. Then she noticed a magazine on the coffee table.Bride.

She moved it to the shelf under the table top so she didn’t have to look at it. Sofia had probably bought it thinking she was helping, but the last thing Jael wanted to be reminded of was that she’d soon marry a man she didn’t respect. Not only that, but she hadn’t really considered the other expectations of married life. Or even before that. Neither one of them held to traditional values of any kind. She could say she’d converted to Christianity, pretend that Danny had converted her and it was now her position that they abstain, but that excuse would only last until the wedding night.

She pushed the dread away. Whatever happened would happen. She’d simply ignore the tide as it washed over her. Like all those times when her dad had made her watch another man be tortured and murdered. Somehow, she’d resisted it soaking too deep. She’d known that what she had watched was wrong. She’d understood, even as a girl wanting to please her dad, that it wasn’t a place she should ever be. But somehow she’d been protected from the worst of it. It had damaged her, and she continued to feel the weight of responsibility for it, but the horror of what she’d witnessed had somehow passed over her. Was it because her heart was so hardened? Or was it something more?

She leaned her head back, still fuzzy from the pills and her conversation with Christopher, and the world slipped away.

It was the ringing that woke her. She couldn’t remember falling asleep, but now she lurched up, jinking her neck in the process.

She squeezed her shoulder as she lifted the phone and saw it was Becca calling.

“Hey, Bec. I’m so sorry I haven’t been by after I promised you?—”

“Jael?” Bec’s voice was quiet and shaking. “I’m so sorry for everything. I told you I was a burden to you. With your dad and everything, I knew it must have been too much. But why didn’t you just tell me?”

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