“Elvira, I… well, thank you for… I mean, I don’t really know you but thanks for looking out for me but it’s unnecessary. It’s all good.”

“Just you sayin’ that means it’s all bad. We’ve decided its cosmos at Gwen’s. Trace and Cam are in and so is Martha. Tonight. Eight o’clock. Don’t worry about eatin’ ’cause I’m doin’ boards.”

“I can’t make it because I’m having dinner with Brock.”

This was met with a moment of silence, then a muttered, “Oh boy.”

I looked through the windshield up to the top floor and saw it. Apartment sixteen, on the end next to some tall, bushy pine trees that meant if he had side windows, those trees would block out the light.

I pulled in a light breath.

Then I looked at my dashboard and whispered, “I left my husband the day after he raped me.” I heard her suck in a breath and hers wasn’t light. “This was after eight years of a not-great marriage then two years of him hitting me, not regularly, but when he did it, he did it hard. This came out during the questioning at the station and Brock was observing. When he heard me say I’d been raped, he threw a chair. I heard it. I heard the crash. He threw a chair and they had to drag him out so he wouldn’t interrupt the questioning to get to me.”

Elvira, for once, was silent.

I, for once, was not.

“His sister was raped, as was an old girlfriend. His father jacked his mother around and he assumed the role of man of the house at seven years old. When a woman means something to him, he takes care of her. He told me this and I believe him. I mean something to him. I don’t know what you’ve heard or who this Hawk guy is but I know who Brock is to me. Now I’d love to have cosmos with you and the girls. But I won’t listen to anyone trash talking Brock because he also means something to me and only he and I know what’s going on between us. All that other shit, well, Elvira, it just doesn’t matter.”

She, again, was silent.

I, again, was not.

“Honey, you’re the third person in six years I told that to. Martha just found out last night. Brock heard me say it and he’s unfortunately got experience with this kind of thing. He knew I’d buried it and he’s helping me to move on from it. This is not a man you don’t trust. He has my back, he has my front, and he’s handling me with care. Trust me.”

“All right, girl,” she whispered.