Let It Burn by Ruth Cardello

Author:Ruth Cardello
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: RCardello LLC
Published: 2017-01-16T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

It was late the next morning by the time Helene and Andrew drove their rental car down a long dirt road that led to the chain-link gate of the Free Again Rescue and Sanctuary. Helene told Andrew the code and the gate swung open for them.

She wasn’t surprised to see both her parents sitting on the porch waiting for them. She’d called them soon after the plane had landed and had been vague about the reason for her return. They sounded worried until she said she had someone with her who she wanted to introduce to them.

“Is it a man?” her mother had asked, her pitch rising with excitement.

“Yes,” Helene had said, grateful at the time that Andrew had stepped away to make a few calls of his own.

“I told you, Art,” her mother had said. “I told you she would meet someone. She just had to get out there in the world.”

She’d heard her father say, “Put her on speakerphone. Who is this guy, Helene? Why is this the first we hear of him?”

“It was kind of sudden, Dad.”

“Art, don’t you dare scare this one off,” her mother had warned.

“Are you still harping on her prom date? All I did was ask him to hold my rifle while I found the bullets. I was kidding,” her father had said. “But don’t worry, had I known how few men would come around, I would have been nicer to even that wimp. I’ll tone it down for this one.”

Oh, God. Even as she started to worry about what her parents would say in front of Andrew, she told herself to be realistic. She and Andrew weren’t in a relationship. They’d shared a batshit crazy day, had sex, and he’d said he wasn’t ready for it to be over yet. It might have referred to simply sleeping with her. He was honest enough to say he didn’t know if it would last a week or even another day. Although the idea of never seeing him again made her feel a little sick, she couldn’t hate him for it. He’d stayed to protect her when a member of her own family had deserted her. He hadn’t taken advantage of her. She’d wanted every single moment of being with him. If it wasn’t meant to last, she’d find the strength to let him go. He had enough pain tearing him apart. She wouldn’t add to it. In fact, no matter how things ended between them, she wanted to leave him better than how she’d found him in some way. Sometimes that’s all a person could strive for. “You won’t have to, Dad, he’s a Marine.”

“Nice,” her father had said. “Enlisted or retired?”

“Where did you meet him?” her mother had asked.

Only because Helene didn’t know if Andrew was between deployments or out for good, she chose to answer her mother’s question. “At the clinic. He came in one day.”

“Is he—?” her father started to ask.

“Does your uncle—?” her mother asked at the same time.

Helene hadn’t been ready to answer their questions yet.

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