Page 10 of Come Back for Me
“I am, for another few weeks, at least. Then I’ll be out.”
I nod, thankful that he’ll be leaving again. “Well, thank you for bringing Hadley home.”
He takes a step closer, making my pulse spike. It takes every ounce of strength I have to stand my ground. “You’re welcome . . .”
My insides battle over telling him my name. I don’t want to lie, but giving him this is like relinquishing all the false pretenses. But I owe him. I owe him so much, so I stop fighting myself and tell him the truth. “Ellie.”
Connor takes another step closer, his deep voice brushing over me as he says my name far more beautiful than I’ve ever heard it. “Ellie. You’re welcome, and it was nice to meet you.”
I smile tentatively. “Yes, same, Connor.”
Saying his name feels like a piece of the puzzle fitting together.
Hadley takes my open hand, and we walk up the steps that lead to the falling-down house we call home, leaving him standing there and watching us, and I wonder if he could see what I’ve been ignoring for the last seven years—that Hadley has his eyes.
* * *
“It’s not broken, but it is sprained,” Dr. Langford says as he checks her arm. “Second sprain in the last two months.”
“Yes, she’s . . . she’s so full of life and loves to run and climb. I can’t keep her feet on the ground.”
Dr. Langford nods. “I had a little one like that. Always covered in bruises and scrapes. It’s also the farm life. Explains why you’ve had a bit of bad luck too, huh?”
I nod.
I hate the lies. I hate all of it, but I’m so afraid.
I know, and I have to leave because, while there’s a fraction of truth that Hadley is rambunctious and always climbing, I’m not home all the time and I don’t trust Kevin. She swears it’s the fall, and I’ve never seen him physical with her, but can I really trust a man who is willing to unleash his anger on his wife not to do it to a child?
I would leave this very instant if I had a place to go, but I don’t. My parents died the week before I married Kevin, and I have no money, no help, no family to take us in. When I leave him, it has to be planned.
That was why taking the teaching job was necessary.
“Now, you need to be more careful and stop climbing while your arm heals.”
Hadley smiles. “I will. I made a new friend.”
“You did?”
“His name is Connor. He owns the farm next to us.”
The doctor’s eyes widen. “Connor Arrowood?”
She shrugs. “He said he was in the navy and a police officer. He carried me with one arm.”
“I’ve known the Arrowood boys for a long time, good kids, had a rough time once their mother died.”
Of course he’s an Arrowood. It didn’t occur to me that he must be if he was on the farm next door. I’ve lived here eight years, and the only time any of them were mentioned was when someone told me they haven’t stepped foot in this town in almost a decade.
“How long ago was that?” I ask.
Dr. Langford looks up, seeming to ponder. “Had to be when Connor was about eight. It was a shame, cancer came and took her fast. They must’ve come back because their father passed.”
“Yes, I felt bad that I missed the funeral.”
He nods. “I wasn’t there either, but I wasn’t a big fan of him. When his wife passed, it changed him. Anyway, makes sense the boys would come to bury him and sell off the farm.”
“Sell it?” I ask.
