Page 71 of The Amendment

“Understand what?” she asked, shaking her head.

“She’d never let me go. Not ever.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. It’s obvious you’re not happy. People get divorced all the time.”

“Not Annie.”

“What do you mean? What could she possibly do?”

I began pacing, trying to think. “She’d do anything to keep me. She’s dangerous. If she knew about you, about us, she’d kill you.”

Fear flickered in her eyes, and I returned to her. “Don’t worry. That’s why we’re taking this slow. It’s to protect you.”

“You wouldn’t let her hurt me, would you?” she asked, not appearing entirely reassured.

I sat down in front of her again, my hands on her knees. “I’ll always protect you, Joanna. But you have to trust me on this. You have to let me handle her.”

“I do trust you,” she vowed. “Of course I do.”

“Good.”

“And you can trust me.”

I nodded. I knew I could. “I do trust you.”

“Then that’s all that matters. We’ll be together when we can.”

I smiled at her. “As soon as we can.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

AINSLEY

“Hey, love, what are you up to?”

It had been weeks since I’d heard from Glennon, and it felt so good to hear her voice. I leaned forward, turning up the car’s speaker.

“I’ve just left work and am on my way to therapy. What about you? Where are you jet setting this week?”

She laughed. “Oh, I don’t know. I can’t keep track anymore. I swear, it’s no wonder Seth has always been so exhausted. I don’t even remember if I ate breakfast today.”

“You’d behangryif you didn’t,” I teased. “Maybe you should ask Seth.”

“Ha.” She gave a sarcastic laugh. “I miss you.”

“I miss you, too. When are you coming home? I want to do a whole big thing.”

“Oh, you don’t have to do a big thing. A quiet night with pizza and beer sounds amazing to me.”

I mock gasped. “What? Hate to break it to you, sister, but pizza isn’t typically vegan.”

“Eh, well, that lasted all of a month.”

“Seriously, when are you coming home?”

“We’re going to try and squeeze in a weekend next month.”

“Next month? Really? That’s so far away…” I had so much I wanted to talk to her about, but I couldn’t do it over the phone.

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