Dante's Fire by Jennifer Probst Read Free Book Online Page B

him and lowered her head on his chest. Her tight muscles slowly began to relax.
    Conversation both grounded and soothed, so he stroked her hair and began speaking. “Have you ever seen the movie, Happy Gilmore with Adam Sandler?”
    She paused. Dante figured she was trying to figure out the ridiculous change of subject. “Umm, yeah. It wasn’t an Academy Award winner, but pretty funny.” He remained silent, waiting for her to push. “Umm, Dante?”
    “Yeah?”
    “There’s a point to the question, right?”
    He smiled. Distracting her was the best form of medicine, and when she calmed down, she’d be able to sleep. That’s where real healing began. “Of course. Do you remember the main theme of the movie?”
    This time she snorted against his chest. “Golf?”
    “No. Finding your happy place.”
    “You cannot be serious right now. If the whole point of this conversation is about midgets on bikes, I may need to kick you out.”
    He laughed. “Close. His was midgets on bikes, sure, but who are we to judge? As cliché as it sounds, finding a scene in your head to concentrate on when you’re panicking is a good way to calm down. Between controlling your breath, and focusing on your happy place, the bad things go away faster.”
    “What’s yours?”
    He rarely shared personal information with the survivors he helped. Being with women in such intimate settings was a fine line to walk, and he was already emotionally involved with Selina. But tonight, for a little while, he needed the connection just as badly as she did.
    “I was ten years old, and it was the last day of school. Instead of taking the bus home, my parents picked me up and took me out. They’d planned the entire day around things I loved, saying I worked hard and got good grades. You know, I hear about these big vacations like Disney World kids go on, but nothing was better than that day. We went to the park and ate hot dogs. Rented these paddleboats and sailed them on the water. We stopped at the Central Park Zoo, and ate ice cream, and then they we drove upstate and I went to my first drive-in movie.”
    “What movie?”
    “ Batman Forever . So cool. When we got home, I was exhausted, but I’d never been so happy in my life. Everything was just...perfect.”
    He let her process her thoughts, her silky hair wrapping around his fingers in a caress. “I like that day,” she said.
    “What about you? Something you remember from your parents?” She stiffened beneath him. What had he said wrong? Did she have issues with her family and he’d brought up something painful? “You don’t have to share with me, Selina. It can be a private memory; I had no right to ask.”
    Sometimes, in sifting for a happy memory, people shut down. The past was a closet full of secrets, and many he’d found were not pleasant. He craved to know everything about Selina, but he needed to keep the distance between them or he could make a terrible mistake. The most important goal was to heal her.
    “I didn’t have any real parents,” she said softly. Her face pressed against the cotton of his shirt. “I was in foster care my whole life.”
    Shock filled him. She was so capable and confident; he would’ve never guessed she didn’t have a solid family supporting her in the background. He remained silent, waiting for more. Finally, she spoke.
    “My parents died when I was little. Car crash. I lived, but they didn’t. I don’t remember much about them, but I was in the hospital for a while, and then I went into the foster care system. I didn’t speak for a long time, so I saw a lot of therapists, and I guess I was too damaged to have anyone want me full time.”
    His gut clenched. He never knew she’d experienced such pain, had always assumed her past was blessed, the complete opposite of his. Shame filled him. Dante never realized he could be judgmental until now. He pressed his lips against her hair.
    “No one ever hurt or abused me. I bounced around a lot for a