"I wasn't. I paused. I stood on the bottom step and stared for, I don't know, a few seconds, anyway. The instinct to help seems to have been replaced with the instinct to run away like a little kid."

"A second, two seconds—that's normal."

"It's not. A real man—"

"Don't be ridiculous. You think you're not a real man because you paused for a second? After what you've been through, a lot of people would have bolted. But you didn't. You rescued me."

"Not really. The guy took off as soon as he heard me. And anyway, he'd only been trying to stick the phone in your bag and create a diversion. He ran when he heard the tires squeal. I did nothing. Just like last time."

She sighed. "You're insane."

"There's that, too."

"That's not... Nate, the man you describe, this coward you think you are, would not have stuck with me through all of this. He wouldn't have gotten involved from the very start. He'd never have left Queens."

He wasn't sure what to say. He'd just been caught up in it, but he wouldn't be able to convince her of that. At least he'd told her the truth. Funny, though. His prison bars still seemed just as solid.

Chapter 16

MARISA STARED AT THE house as Nate parked the truck on the street. This had been home for most of her life. Leslie'd taken good care of it. The wood siding had recently been repainted. It was yellow now, and it looked pretty with white window casings. The windows looked new. Leslie had kept the small front yard in good shape, and the rhododendron bushes looked bigger and healthier than ever.

"How will we get in?" Nate asked.

Marisa stepped out of the car and shivered. The previous day's rain had passed, but the sun had brought a cold front with it. She crossed her arms and walked up the short walk that cut the tiny yard in half. At the front door, she peered at the same lock that had been there since Father had bought the deadbolt when Marisa was little. She could still remember the conversation about "my girls' safety" as he'd installed the lock. That had been just a few months before he'd moved out. Maybe he'd known they'd need something to count on besides him.

"I still have a key," Marisa said. "I've kept it in my wallet all these years."

"A talisman of hope."

She smiled at him. "Something like that." She pulled her wallet from the bag Nate had bought her in Acapulco, found the key in the coin purse, and unlocked the door.