Page 83 of Silent Threat
She fell silent, closed her eyes, and sent her own words.
Oh, Trev. I wish you’d come to me. I am sorry I didn’t pay more attention. I am sorry I was caught up in my own nonsense. I wish you’d felt all the love everyone had for you. I know that in that dark moment, you couldn’t see the light, but I wish you had waited just another minute to see the clouds part. I wish you peace, my friend.
She did a few more cleansing breaths as she wiped away her tears.
Then she said a prayer for Mitch Moritz too. He’d been so excited about going home to his wife and kids. Annie couldn’t even image how devastated they must be at his loss.
For a moment, she thought about whether Murph was right not to tell the men that Mitch had died. In the end, she decided she was glad it was Murph’s call to make and not hers.
When she opened her eyes, she saw that about half the men were still doing the exercise. The other half, including Cole, were finished, eyes open but not looking at anything in particular, the men lost in thought.
She let another few minutes pass before she said, “You all know that there is help available, right? I am available. Around the clock. I’ll be actually staying at Hope Hill for the foreseeable future.”
Kevin said, “Yeah.”
Then Liam said, “Thanks.”
“Things are good,” Brett told her.
Even Rob—the most taciturn of them all—chimed in. “Not gonna do anything stupid. You can have my word on that. Don’t spend all your day worrying about us.”
Annie smiled at him. Three complete sentences were more than she heard out of Rob sometimes in a whole therapy session.
Cole just nodded.
Annie wasn’t sure whether he’d come along because he truly wanted the walk and talk, or because he’d appointed himself to be her protector. Either way, she was glad he’d joined them.
She pushed to her feet and brushed off her pants. “How about we go back to the path and finish the loop?”
Brainlessly putting one foot in front of the other while soaking up the silence of the woods was a meditation in itself.
All five guys decided to go with her.
Once again, they were walking in a loose formation, in a single line, since the trail was narrow in most places. For the most part, they walked in silence.
Annie moved up next to Cole. “How are you doing?”
“OK.”
“This must bring back memories of your father.”
“I was chained to the wall in a cave when he died. I didn’t find out about it until we escaped and I got back home.”
“That had to be difficult.”
“More difficult for my mother. She had to deal with the funeral, and everything else, alone.”
“If you want to talk about it ...”
“Not right now.”
He hadn’t ruled out later. She hoped hewouldcome to her.
She hadn’t figured out yet how to handle what was happening between them. Ignore? Discuss? Avoid all contact?
She didn’t want to avoid him.
She wanted to ...
