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“Erica, be serious!”
Her friend seemed to crumple a little. “I can’t do it. I won’t. I’m never giving my heart again. You don’t know what it was like. Levi was taken from you and I’m not saying that wasn’t tragic. It was. But you didn’t have a choice and he loved you to the end. Peter didn’t love me. When he said he wanted a divorce, he laid me bare and humiliated me. He belittled me. Not just me, but everything I was and wanted to be. I was left with nothing. I can’t risk that again.”
Allison ached for her. “Killion isn’t Peter. He would never hurt you.”
“Of course he would. That’s what people in relationships do. They hurt each other.”
“You know what I mean. He’s a different kind of man.” A better man, she thought sadly. She could see that now. “He would always be there for you. Trust me on this, Erica, being alone is the worst. Life happens and when it gets bad, you need support. You have your mom and Summer and me, but you need more. If you throw him away, you’re going to regret it for the rest of your life.”
“That’s not true. I barely think about him.”
“Three for three,” Allison whispered. “I didn’t think you were like that.”
“Don’t say that.”
“Then don’t lie to me.”
Erica looked away then back. “Fine. I miss him, but it will pass.”
“And if it doesn’t?”
“I don’t have an answer for that.”
Allison sat on the hard plastic seat and waited for the man she was married to. Even after nearly a half-dozen visits, she still hated the sounds and smells of the prison. Everything was too much. Too bright, too stark, too loud, too fraught. It was not a place any sane person wanted to be. Even the visits had a hopeless, desperate quality to them that made her uncomfortable.
After waiting for a few minutes, she saw him walking over to the table. He moved more confidently, as if he was a man expecting only good things to happen. He smiled as he sat across from her.
“Have you talked to Raymond? He’s making progress with the feds.”
“So he said. Some of the charges have been dropped and he’s hopeful about getting some of our money released.”
She’d gotten a call that morning from the lawyer. She would be getting half the money in savings and the checking account, along with a mature CD that she planned to cash out as soon as it was released.
“You’re going to need some of it,” he said as he reached out to touch her hands. “The rest has to go to my lawyer.”
“What? He has a thirty-thousand-dollar retainer.”
Peter shrugged. “He’s spending a lot of time on my case. The money goes fast.”
Too fast, she thought bitterly, withdrawing her hands and tucking them on her lap.
Peter didn’t seem to notice. Instead he spent the next few minutes talking about his case. She waited, growing more impatient by the second. Okay, yes, she was sitting down and she still had her postpregnancy belly but surely her own husband would eventually notice she’d had the baby.
“Did you want to ask about me?” she asked, interrupting him. “How I am? What’s happening in my life?”
He looked at her in surprise. “Allison, what’s wrong? I thought you’d want to know what was happening with my case.”
“I thought you’d want to know that I had our baby a week ago.”
“What? You did?” His gaze dropped to her belly, then returned to her face. He grinned at her. “You had Bethany.”
He jumped to his feet and waved over one of the guards. “Allison had our baby! I’m going to hug her now.”
The guard shrugged in obvious disinterest. “You’ve got thirty seconds, then sit back down.”
Peter circled the table and pulled her to her feet. “How is she? How are you?” His smile disappeared as he pulled her close. “I wanted to be there. I can’t believe I missed our little girl’s birth. Are you all right? I’m supposed to be taking care of you, but here I am, putting you through all this.”
His arms were familiar. He was thinner than he had been, but still her husband. The man she’d loved and married. The man she had children with.
