BooksBarbecue
Back When She Returned Save as PDF
Chapters (48)
  1. TITLE PAGE
  2. COPYRIGHT
  3. CONTENTS
  4. PROLOGUE
  5. ONE
  6. TWO
  7. THREE
  8. FOUR
  9. FIVE
  10. SIX
  11. SEVEN
  12. EIGHT
  13. NINE
  14. TEN
  15. ELEVEN
  16. TWELVE
  17. THIRTEEN
  18. FOURTEEN
  19. FIFTEEN
  20. SIXTEEN
  21. SEVENTEEN
  22. EIGHTEEN
  23. NINETEEN
  24. TWENTY
  25. TWENTY-ONE
  26. TWENTY-TWO
  27. TWENTY-THREE
  28. TWENTY-FOUR
  29. TWENTY-FIVE
  30. TWENTY-SIX
  31. TWENTY-SEVEN
  32. TWENTY-EIGHT
  33. TWENTY-NINE
  34. THIRTY
  35. THIRTY-ONE
  36. THIRTY-TWO
  37. THIRTY-THREE
  38. THIRTY-FOUR
  39. THIRTY-FIVE
  40. THIRTY-SIX
  41. THIRTY-SEVEN
  42. THIRTY-EIGHT
  43. THIRTY-NINE
  44. FORTY
  45. FORTY-ONE
  46. FORTY-TWO
  47. FORTY-THREE
  48. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

I quickly texted Scott that we were home. He had done everything he could to stall this morning before he left for his first day back at work, even though he had tried to act like that wasn’t what he was doing. He had made a sandwich for lunch even though he always ate at work, because the company meals were better than anything either of us could have made. He had drawn out the process as long as possible and then had said he needed to check his email one more time before leaving. He’d already texted me three times asking for an update on how she was doing, and it wasn’t even eleven o’clock.

None of his texts asked how I was doing. He hadn’t stopped to consider that this morning might have been difficult for me too. And unlike him, who had a routine he could easily fit himself back into, I had no idea what I was supposed to do with a traumatized cult survivor who was also my husband’s former wife. Dead wife, technically.

Like now. Was I supposed to go up there and ask if she was okay or leave her alone? And it’d be lunchtime in a little over an hour. Did I make lunch for myself or include her? If I made it for both of us, should I call her down to eat with me? Leave it out for her? What did I do for the rest of the day? Was I supposed to pretend she wasn’t there?

Scott’s inability to see how hard some of this was hurt. Obviously, what I was going through paled in comparison to what they were going through, but this wasn’t easy. None of it had been. It didn’t help that he’d barely touched me since she’d been back. Last night I’d made an effort to connect with him before we fell asleep, and he’d pushed my hand off him, mumbling something about being exhausted. It wasn’t just that he didn’t want to make love. He hadn’t hooked my pinky with his like we did every night as we fell asleep, and that hurt more than his rejection.

TWENTY-SIX

TWENTY-SIX

ABBI

NOW

I stared out the passenger window as Dad drove me to school, wishing I was at home with Mom and Shiloh. It was my second day back, and I was dreading it. Going to school meant so much less time with them, since Mom was trying to get Shiloh on a regular schedule. She got her ready for bed around seven, and I didn’t get home from school until after four, so that only left me three hours with them. I was barely going to be able to see them during the week. I crossed my arms on my chest.