These Girls by Sarah Pekkanen

Author:Sarah Pekkanen [Pekkanen, Sarah]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Romance, Adult, Contemporary
ISBN: 9781451612547
Publisher: Washington Square Press
Published: 2012-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Eighteen

ABBY WOKE UP SCREAMING.

Someone was hurt. There was blood and yelling and a long, hopeless wailing that blended with the shriek of the ambulance siren. And in the background that song was playing, the one that caused panic to swell up like a balloon in her: “The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round . . .”

Abby had to get help. A person lay on the ground, not moving . . . She had to do something!

“You’re safe,” a voice broke apart the dream. Arms reached for her, folded around her.

“Annabelle!” Abby cried. “Where is she?”

“It’s okay,” Renee said. “You were just having a nightmare.”

Abby took in a shuddering breath as tears streaked down her cheeks. She could still hear the echo of that wail—that awful, anguished sound. Fragments of her dream rushed back: the squeal of a car’s brakes. A scream. “No,” Abby whimpered.

“Shhh,” Renee was saying. “I’m here with you. You’re safe, Abby.”

“It was a dream,” Abby said in a halting voice.

“That’s all it was,” Renee agreed, smoothing back Abby’s hair.

Abby’s ragged breathing slowly evened out. Renee reached over and flicked on the light on her nightstand. “Can I get you some tea?” Renee offered. “Or do you want to go back to sleep?”

“No!” The word shot out of Abby. She clutched at Renee’s hand. “Please don’t leave.”

“I won’t,” Renee promised. She climbed onto the bed and tucked her legs underneath her. “I’m not going anywhere, okay? I’ll stay as long as you want me to.”

“Thank you,” Abby whispered. Slowly she began to orient herself: She was in New York. She’d run away from Maryland, taking nothing but her wallet and cell phone and a change of clothes. “I had to leave my job,” she said, almost to herself.

Renee nodded and spoke gently. “Trey said you were taking care of a little girl. Annabelle is her name?”

“I was her nanny,” Abby said slowly. “I love her so much. But there are . . . things about me that no one knows. Things I did. I had to leave.”

“Abby, I couldn’t imagine you doing anything wrong,” Renee said in a reassuring tone that had the opposite effect.

“But I did!” Abby’s tears exploded again, rushing down her cheeks as her thin shoulders convulsed. “I didn’t mean to, I didn’t know I was doing it, I just . . . I just . . .”

Her words dissolved as the sobs overtook her. Renee patted her back and made soothing sounds, but Abby couldn’t stop crying. Her tears came harder, and she struggled to draw in air. She didn’t know how she could endure this. Her life was ruined. She had no job, and she’d dropped out of school. She’d lost Bob and Annabelle. And she missed that little girl so much it was a physical ache. She couldn’t bear it, she couldn’t—

Words intruded into her thoughts. “Tell me about Anna-belle,” Renee was saying, her voice surprisingly firm. “Abby, tell me something you love about her.

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