Page 1 of Love and Memories

1

ISABELLA

Isabella stared at the dim orange sun cresting the horizon in the side mirror. It was fitting that the sky would burn this morning. The cab had been quiet for hours, but even the peaceful silence couldn’t ease her racing heart.

Bill kept his attention focused on the road ahead where darkness still welcomed them into the unknown. The older man’s shoulders sagged as he gripped the wheel. He’d been driving all night and probably needed sleep worse than she did.

“Thank you for this,” Isabella whispered. The simple words would never be enough, but she didn’t have anything to give him for basically saving her life.

For now. She was alivefor now, but how long would that last? Her days were numbered. She might only have hours.

Bill nodded once, acknowledging her appreciation without turning his attention from the task at hand.

The nausea gripped her stomach again. She couldn’t go back–couldn’t change things or fix what she’d done.

Did she want to?

The adrenaline amped back up as she remembered, and her shoulders started to shake again. She wrapped her arms around her middle to stop the tremors.

“You’re gonna be okay,” Bill said. His raspy voice was low but sure. “Just keep your head down.”

That was as much of a pep talk as she could hope for from the stoic man who’d put his life on the line to help her last night.

He’d warned her. Months ago. Bill had predicted this long before she’d known to look for the signs.

“Are we getting close?” Bill asked.

Isabella unfolded the map and checked the mile marker that zipped past their speeding car. She’d been planning this trip for weeks. She’d never been to Blackwater. She’d never set foot in Wyoming, but she knew these roads like the back of her hand.

“Another mile or so to the town limits,” Isabella said before an unforgiving yawn took control of her body.

Exhaustion settled over her shoulders like a heavy blanket. The throbbing in her eye and shoulder was a steady reminder that this was her life and not some nightmare.

Isabella studied the worn map. It was the only thing she had left besides the clothes on her back. Circles and dots marked safe places throughout the town, but Blackwater Hope House was her destination.

The home page of the shelter’s website was stamped in Isabella’s memory. The photo of two women had captured her attention amidst all the uproar threatening to tear her apart.

Camille and Laney. She’d repeated those names over and over. Their stories were so different from hers, yet she had some unexplainable assurance they would accept her. Hopefully, the women would be there when Isabella arrived, and she could tell them how far she’d traveled–how she’d risked her life to find them.

Both of the women wore genuine smiles in the photo. The joy in their expressions didn’t match the harrowing stories detailed below their likenesses.

Camille was an attorney, and she was well versed in family and civil law though she didn’t shy away from criminal cases. If Isabella could ever gather the nerve to share the truth with Camille, maybe the woman could help her.

Laney’s smile was even brighter than Camille’s, but her testimony told of a time past when she’d been trapped in an abusive relationship, only to be saved by a family of kind strangers.

She glanced up from the map to the unfamiliar mountains and trees. Isabella needed saving. She’d never been so lost in her life, but hopefully she was headed in the right direction.

Isabella searched around her seat for her purse before remembering she’d thrown it over a bridge and into a river a few hours back. Starting over had to be a clean break. Anything that would link her to what she’d done was dangerous. She kept what few dollars she’d had and got rid of the rest.

That river could have her past. It could have her mistakes and weaknesses. She had to push it away to remember the woman she used to be before a man took her hope and happiness.

No. She would be better. She could be the best version of herself. No one knew her here.

The two women on the Blackwater Hope House website had plenty of hope and happiness. She could see it in their eyes. She recognized the remnants of her old joy that life had crushed a long time ago, and she wanted it back.

Camille and Laney looked kind, and that was what had convinced Isabella to make a run for it. It was a gut feeling, but it was all she had to go on.

An old diner came into view, and Isabella held her breath as Bill turned into the lot. He parked beside a row of worn pickup trucks and killed the engine.

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