Jenna sat in her car parked outside a condominium complex. As faculty members, she and Kevin had been there a couple of times for cookouts at the principal’s home.
The buildings were not new. Views were of freeways and shopping malls. But it was nice, in a central location not far from school. Not far from Jenna’s apartment. She remembered his unit’s décor as tasteful, no frills. Definite bachelor pad.
Her cell phone rang. She recognized his number and answered. “Hi.”
“Do you want to come inside?”
Obviously he had spotted her through a window. She hadn’t told him she was coming. She didn’t know it herself, not until after she’d negotiated the I-5, thinking she needed to turn on the windshield wipers for her tearful downpour. The sun went down about the time she ran out of tears and tissues.
Not much thought had been put into her destination. She had told her dad she planned to go home, but instead she simply zipped past her exit and took the next one. Nor was much emotion involved. She was drained of emotion except for that insatiable ache to feel safe.
The only place she knew that would be real was in Cade Edmunds’s arms.
“Yes, I want to come inside.”
The light above his front door lit up. A moment later, she reached it as he opened it. She paused on the threshold, her heart beating too hard, too fast.
He was dressed casually in khakis and knit shirt. He waited, hands in pockets, his expression soft, concerned, patient.
Stupid glitch in the system. Ridiculous e-mail. Senseless twist of events that ripped her husband from her side and filled the space between them with darkness that grew more impenetrable by the day.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, whether to Kevin, Cade, God, or herself she did not know. What she did know was that when Cade held her, the ache would go away.
She stepped inside.