How does he know I had an apple on my desk? Janitors must see everything. Of course, he would have seen the apple peel in the trash when he cleaned my room. But he hasn’t done that yet.
Her stomach growled, giving away that she was hungry.
“See?” he smiled. “I’m right. You are hungry and I have a good hot dinner waiting for both of us.” He stepped back and gestured to her. “Come on. I’ll drive.”
“No, I can’t.” She moved around the side of her car and unlocked it to get in.
“Then you can follow me,” he said. “We won’t have to come back for your car.”
“I’m not going to follow you,” she said. “I can’t have dinner with you.”
It was as if a flip switched inside him.
He grabbed her wrist, and yanked her around, making her drop her keys and purse. “Yes, you can,” he said. “I’ve gone to a lot of trouble for you.”
“Let me go!” she yelled and tried to pull her wrist away. “I’m not going to have dinner with you! Not now, not ever!”
What was wrong with him?
Instead of letting go, he yanked harder, pulling her against his chest, as his other hand grabbing her ponytail. “Never is a long time, sweetheart,” he said. “But forever starts tonight.”
He started pulling her toward his truck, which she noticed was parked much closer to her car than it had been this morning when she got to work.
Twisting and turning she tried to get away but his grip on her ponytail controlled her head and the direction they were heading. She couldn’t get him to let loose of that ponytail.
Twisting and turning in the sheets, she fought in her sleep to get away.
In the room next door, Red smashed her foot into the wooden furniture and cursed, loud. “Damn logs! Why’d they put that table there?”
Her yell woke Ellen, who sat up in the tangle of sheets, sweating.
Oh my God. I’m still dreaming of him, even here.
She’d hoped once she made it to Montana, far away from the city where she’d been attacked, she wouldn’t have any more bad dreams about that night.
She closed her eyes.
Please, God. I just want those dreams to go away.
CHAPTER2
Ellen missedthe children in her kindergarten class, worried about them, and wondered if she’d ever be able to teach kindergarten again. Teaching kindergarten was not something you could do while hiding from a crazy man. The last thing she would ever do was to put the children in her class at risk.
She missed them so much that when she closed her eyes, she could see them.
“Let’s discuss your job options for when you leave the program,” Leah said during one of the counseling sessions. “You’ll need to start thinking about what sort of career you want to pursue next. You may need job training or courses depending on what you choose. But even if you are in school, you’ll need a job to help you during that transition period. We can help set that up. Our vocational placement team can set up video interviews for you. Right now, our goal is to select a career path and optimally have a good job lined up for you once you leave us.”
“I appreciate the help,” Ellen said. “But I really don’t know where to start. All I’ve ever wanted to do is teach kindergarten. After I finally had the job, I knew it was the best job I’d ever have in my life. I can’t imagine wanting to do something else. I was so happy teaching them.”
Leah took a deep breath and let it out slow, as if she was thinking.
Ellen could tell her answer had taken Leah by surprise and it appeared she wasn’t prepared for it.
Everything Ellen had read in the program materials and seen in the videos said to get a different job when creating a new life. The materials always mentioned starting over with a clean slate, stronger and better, and leaving the past in the past. She’d tried to start thinking about that, but the whole thing just made her sad.
What if you didn’t want to leave everything in the past? What if you were happy in that past and wanted it back?What if you felt you were doing the job you were meant to do, the job you were born for? How could you find a better job when you were already doing the one that was the best?
“Ellen,” Leah said gently. “What were you thinking about just now?”
