Memory's Edge: Part One by DelSheree Gladden Read Free Book Online Page B

she could muster when she sensed his
frustration building.
    It was
several long seconds later before he shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. Still not
your problem.”
    “How can
you say that?” Gretchen demanded. “Who else has he got to look out for him?”
    Carl didn’t
have an immediate answer, but that didn’t stop his brows from pinching together
in irritation. “I don’t know, but it doesn’t have to be you. You don’t have to
let one chance encounter derail your entire life.”
    Shaking her
head, she brushed past him and made for the front door of her house. He caught
up to her before she could get her keys in the lock. His hulking presence behind
her was both calming and irritating. Even though Gretchen appreciated how much
he cared, he had no right to criticize her decisions. Not that she had
even come to one yet.
    “Nobody has
any idea what might happen with John,” she said without looking at Carl, “least
of all me.”
    Sighing,
she felt him move closer, his body heat attempting to reassure her. “Maybe not,
but I know you too well to believe you’ll walk away without knowing this guy is
all right.”
    Irritation flushed
through her. “You’ve known me for all of seven months,” Gretchen snapped. She
jabbed her keys into the lock, but Carl’s hand immediately covered hers,
halting her escape.
    “Seven
months of spending most evenings together. Seven months of being by your side
as you’ve worked through whatever baggage drove you from Colorado. Seven months
of being there for you when you were alone and didn’t know another soul. Seven
months of being your friend,” he said, his voice soft yet edged with anger that
she would deny his knowledge of her. “Tell me you won’t go back, that he’s
someone else’s problem now. Tell me that and I’ll drop the issue.”
    Her silence
was more than enough of an answer.
    “This is a
mistake,” Carl said, almost a whisper.
    Gretchen’s
chin was trembling, because she was on the verge of agreeing with him, but
John’s frightened eyes called to her. She knew she couldn’t abandon him to
whoever might be willing to offer him charity. Maybe it was chance. Maybe it was a mistake. Maybe it was exactly what she needed.
    “I’m too
tired to argue about this with you,” Gretchen said.
    It was
testament to the fact that Carl did know her well enough to sense that
if he pressed the issue it would be their last discussion for some time, and he
wisely chose to back off.
    “Let’s not
argue then,” he said. There was a certain level of defeat in his voice, but
weariness and worry outweighed it. “You haven’t eaten yet, have you?”
    Gretchen
hesitated a moment before shaking her head. She expected him to pull her away
from her door, toward his, but he surprised her by turning the doorknob and
pushing the door open.
    She’d been
too wrapped up in her own thoughts to have noticed where Carl had come from
before appearing next to her car. Aromas wafted from the kitchen, making her
mouth water, and instantly heaping on the guilt as she realized he’d used the
key she’d given him for emergencies to let himself in and make her dinner. Even
with as worried as she was about John being left alone all night, stress melted
from her body as she basked in the delicious smells of posole.
    Following
the scent of her favorite dish since moving to New Mexico, Gretchen paid little
attention to Carl as he locked her front door. She was ladling stew into two
bowls before he made it to the kitchen and leaned against the door jamb,
watching her without speaking.
    Carl had
been her lifeline since arriving. Only one state away from where she’d grown
up, it had been a much more difficult transition than she’d expected. Part of
that was due to starting her first full-time, grownup job, having no family
nearby for help, and running from more than she wanted to discuss. Her life had
gone from sobbing on her parents couch to being expected to function in a
professional