Holding his Hostage - Amy Gamet Page 0,19

second what she was going through, he would have been there in an instant, and he cursed his own stupidity for leaving her alone. But he needed to hear all of it, the entire story. “Go on.”

“David was nice to me. He used to come into the diner, then when that burned down, he showed up at my house. He brought me flowers. He stood there in his chinos and button-down shirt, talking to my drunk-ass father like it was a totally normal conversation.

“I was so damn sad,” she said quietly. “David was there for me. He was going to college in Chicago and wanted me to come with him. He wanted to marry me. I wanted a new life, Sloan. One where I wasn’t the poor kid from the wrong side of town, I wasn’t just a high school dropout, alone. I saw the chance for a fresh start with a man who loved me, and I took it.”

He could hear the tears in her voice, feel the mirrored tension in his own tight throat, and he swallowed against it. “I came back for you.”

“What?”

Why was he telling her this now? Nothing good could come of it. The past was the past. It couldn’t be changed. But it was clear to him he’d been holding on to it, refusing to let go of the woman who’d given up on him so easily.

There had been no serious relationships in his life, and while he’d told himself it was because he liked to keep things light, not be weighed down, he could see now that was utter bullshit. Once bitten, twice shy. It was time to let this wound heal so he could have a real life for himself, unravel this knot and move on. Maybe have an RV full of his own kids one day.

He looked away from the road to meet her stare, then turned back. He needed to finish this once and for all. “When my training ended. I came home from basic with a ring in my hand. I came back for you, Buckley.”

12

With those six words, Sloan took Joanne’s entire history and turned it on its head. The past thirteen years had seemed like an inevitable course of events, every decision forcing her into another situation where she had no control over what would happen next.

She stared out her window as they drove into the dark campground, the winding road white with salt residue and flanked by snow-covered evergreens. They came to a small parking lot and Sloan got out to register, her eyes fixing on a fallen tree at the edge of the forest.

Once, she’d stood tall as those trees, believing in herself and the possibilities. But she’d married David in a blind leap of desperation, needing an escape route from her home life and grabbing on to him like a life preserver in a storm. There’d been nothing but emptiness after Sloan left, no hope for any improvement in the future. At least with David, there’d been a chance.

She could see now, she should have been stronger, should have stood tall on her own instead of marrying him to escape. But David’s offer had played off Sloan’s rejection in her mind like the perfect cure for the hole in her heart. Life had taken away one man but had given her another.

How foolish she’d been.

Her eyes burned, but she held the tears at bay, refusing to bend under the weight of this revelation. Sloan had come back for her. He had loved her, after all.

The words were crushing, making her feel like she couldn’t breathe despite the air that filled her lungs and rushed out again. It was such a shame, a waste, an ironic twist of fate, and she wondered what terrible thing she must have done to deserve it.

She ached to hold on to him, to fall apart and let him shore her up like he used to, to have him tell her everything would be okay, to lean into his body and take strength from it. But she couldn’t do it. That kind of weakness had knocked her life off course, the desire to be protected forever paramount over the desire to stand straight and tall.

She had to do better this time. Her life and her children’s lives were at stake. It was time to be brave, even if that meant being alone.

The driver’s door opened, the cold air blowing in as Sloan sat down. “Only two other campers in the