Page 28 of The Stone Family Warrior

Liberty sobered a bit, and she thought of what Trent had said about Cheryse and everything that had gone on in her life that he wouldn’t talk about. She cleared her throat. “With Roger?”

“Yeah, he’s a guy I’m dating. He raises money for different charities, and I told him to pick me up here in about ten minutes. I wanted to come and see you and apologize first.” Cheryse put a light hand on her shoulder. “I’m so sorry about your grandmother, too. And your mom. I should have reached out a long time ago.”

Liberty was caught by another pang of anger. Then she thought of her grandmother’s letter. Forgiveness. She let it go. “It’s okay. I wish I could have been here for you too. I don’t even know about your life, except that you’re divorced.”

A dark look clouded Cheryse’s face. She nodded to her door. “Let’s have a bit of privacy and I’ll tell you all about it.”

“Hey, I’m not a child.” Trent got out of the hot tub and trudged toward them, dripping. “Got a towel, Lib?”

Liberty shook her head and threw her own towel at him. “I’m dry.”

Trent caught the towel, but his eyes swept up and down her body. Tension crackled between them. It was unsettling how attractive she still found Trent. Focus.

A tiny smile played at Cheryse’s lips. “This is the exact reason I didn’t give him the note all those years ago. He totally liked you then.”

Trent pointed at her. “I thought you didn’t know what was in it.”

“I didn’t, but I was jealous of how much you liked her.” Cheryse gestured at Lib. “See? She still has this smoking hot body.”

Liberty met Trent’s gaze. Trent didn’t comment, only wiggled his eyebrows.

“Come inside,” Liberty said curtly, not knowing how to handle all this banter. She opened the door and lead them toward her grandmother’s kitchen. She knew she was blushing, the same way she had been blushing around Trent Stone for so many years. She didn’t want to acknowledge it, so she just laughed and moved into the house. “I’m going to grab a T-shirt. Go ahead to the kitchen.”

She rushed inside her room and threw on a T-shirt and shorts. When she got back to the kitchen, both of them were standing by the sink, looking outside.

“Do you guys want anything?” she asked.

Cheryse turned to her and shook her head, smiling. “No, thank you, but … I want you to know I am sorry. I never should have let things go between us. I never should have not given the note to Trent.”

The jovial mood had passed, and Trent turned and looked at her. Surprisingly, he looked somber. “And you know I was just teasing.”

She relaxed and found herself opening her heart to these two old friends. “Oh, so you wouldn’t have written me?”

Trent grunted. “I would have skyped you.”

She laughed and turned to Cheryse. “It’s all good.”

Cheryse hugged her. “Thank you.”

They stayed like that for a few moments. Then Liberty pulled back, feeling like she wanted to ask more about Cheryse, but she was unsure.

“What’s wrong?” Cheryse asked.

“I want to know about you.”

Cheryse hesitated, then glanced at Trent.

Trent’s gaze narrowed and he massaged one hand with the other. He seemed nervous.

“I … will tell you,” Cheryse finally said. “It’s not something I tell people, but of course Trent and Hunter know. My husband was abusive. We struggled with fertility for many years. Well, two years. There was a lot of fighting, and the abusiveness had gotten worse, when one night he came home and attacked me. We were in the kitchen, and I thought he was going to bash my head in. I grabbed a knife, just thinking that I could get him to stay back, but he was drunk and he ended up running right into the knife. His injury killed him.”

Stunned, shocked, paralyzed, Liberty had no idea what to say. “Oh my gosh, Cheryse.”

Before she could really react, Cheryse squeezed her hand. “It’s okay. I never had to go to court. We had actually put video cameras up in our house because there were some break-ins and we both worked during the day, so we wanted to have good security.” She shrugged. “The police officers watched the footage, and I was never charged. I came back to South Port over three years ago, and I’ve been trying to rebuild my life.”

Liberty felt like she had awakened from a dream. For the past year, ever since the car crash that had claimed the lives of her husband and child, she had been consumed by her own pain and her own demons. Now, compassion overwhelmed her for her old friend. She threw her arms around her. “Cheryse.”

As she held her, she met Trent’s eyes. He nodded to her, looking sad.

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