Page 15 of Safe With Me

My choice to come here hadn’t been only to put distance between Ted and myself. The stigma over what everyone had witnessed between us and how I’d lost my job clung to me like a fungus.

Friends avoided making plans with me after that night in the restaurant parking lot, and I’d dreaded running into a former coworker on the street.

None of it was personal or my fault, but it had seemed like I had nowhere to go, no one who understood what I was goingthrough except Ally and my cousin—who was far enough away in Brooklyn.

I’d felt isolated and trapped, and while this all still seemed like a weird vacation interlude and not my new home, that shrinking feeling of nowhere to go or hide had finally begun to dissipate once Claudia had given me the keys to my new apartment.

I grasped on to that as a possible good sign that I was headed in the right direction by coming here. But hearing how Ted still seemed hell-bent on contacting me had stolen some of my newfound peace.

Kelly Lakes was an obscure enough town, but I was still hiding in plain sight. If he found me and caused trouble up here, then it would all have been for nothing.

“I told him to fuck off loud enough to make heads turn in our direction and embarrass him sufficiently to walk away. I’m guessing your brother doesn’t know where you are either?”

“I sure hope not. My parents promised not to tell anyone, but they also said that if I explained to Doug why I left, he’d understand and wouldn’t let Ted know where I was if I asked him not to. They’re still in eternal denial when it comes to their only son.”

When I’d called my parents to tell them I’d moved, I was met with a long, shocked silence. I went through all the details I hadn’t wanted to share with them, but, as I’d expected, their non-reaction had dangled between us, exactly as it had whenever I’d had an issue with Doug growing up.

My mother had suggested I just sit and talk to Ted. Angry tears had burned my eyes, but I’d managed to tell them that when and if I felt comfortable enough to visit them, I wouldn’t if I knew my brother would be there, and I’d hung up without giving them my address.

“I couldn’t sit around and wait for Ted to move on or fixate on someone else.” I lifted my hair off my damp neck and twisted it into a bun.

“I agree.” She rolled her eyes when my brows jumped. “Yes, I agree with your decision to move to bumpkinville because Ted is still an unhinged piece of shit who fucked up your life here.”

The laugh rumbling out of my chest relaxed me for the first time since I’d made the choice to leave.

“It’s not quite bumpkinville. It’s different, but not bad. You’ll see when you visit.”

“So, is it true what they say about hot guys in a small town?” Ally asked with a sly grin.

“I don’t know. What do they say?”

“Well, that they’re sweet, helpful, and hot.” Her brows jumped. “Meet anyone like that yet?”

Mike flashed in my mind, and how I hadn’t even been here for a week and yet had made an idiot of myself in front of him twice.

“What?” She scooted closer to the camera. “You did meet someone!”

“No. Well, not really.”

“How do younot reallymeet someone?”

I let my head drop into my hands and pinched the bridge of my nose.

“Please tell me he’s hot.” She clasped her hands under her chin. “I’d feel so much better about all this if he was.”

“He is,” I admitted. “But I didn’tmeethim. Not like you’re hoping anyway.” I pressed the heels of my palms against my eyes. “He’s a local cop. Young. He found me peeking in Claudia’s bar window, and when he asked me if everything was okay, I got dizzy when I turned around and fell on top of him.”

“Ooh, I love where this is going,” she said, bunching her shoulders as if she were about to let out a squeal.

“No, you really don’t. As it turned out, he’s my boss’s son. I managed to clarify that Claudia was expecting me and I was exhausted from the long drive up. Thankfully, he didn’t go into that when he stopped by to see his father. Just told him that we’d met before.”

“You didn’t faint then too, did you?”

“No.” I shook my head. “That would have probably been better. He walked me out after Jake closed the office for the day, and we had the beginnings of a decent conversation until I noticed a hole in one of my tires, and I…reacted.”

“You thought Ted had found you and was hiding somewhere.” Ally winced. “The fainting thing is cute, but ugh, you poor thing. Did he seem suspicious?”

“If he wasn’t, then he’s not much of a cop,” I scoffed.

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