Stranger in Town (Dundee, Idaho #5)(54)
Author: Brenda Novak

“Gabe doesn’t need anyone to take care of him. He can take care of himself,” she said.

“So you are seeing him?”

“No…I…leave me alone, Russ. Just go.”

“You can’t walk out on me for a damn cripple, Hannah!”

“I walked out on you for other reasons.” She tried to close the door, but he was pushing the opposite way, forcing his way in. “Russ, get out,” she said between gritted teeth. “Before you wake the boys.”

“If you want to see someone, see me. I’m the one you should be with. I’ve changed. Give me another chance.”

She pushed harder, but it didn’t help. He was too strong. “I don’t want to be with you, Russ. Ever. Do you understand?”

“You’d rather be with Gabe?”

She finally released the door, letting it swing wide. “What do you think?”

He stopped trying to get in and blanched so white Hannah couldn’t help reaching out to comfort him. “Russ, I’m not trying to be unkind but you—”

She didn’t get to finish because he belted her across the face. The blow came with such force that she staggered back several feet and almost lost her footing.

Grabbing the door for support, she gaped up at him, tasting blood where her teeth had cut her lip, and he immediately crumpled.

“I’m sorry, Hannah. Oh God, I didn’t mean to do that. You…you make me crazy. Sometimes I…I think I’ll die if you don’t come back to me.” His hands clenched and unclenched. “This was your fault. Do you understand? I’ve never hit you before. I didn’t mean to do it now.”

Hannah raised her fingers to her stinging cheek. “Go away.”

“Please, Hannah. Don’t be angry. It…it was the back of my hand. I didn’t use my fist. I—I didn’t hit you that hard.”

Whether he’d used the back of his hand or not, the blow had rattled her teeth. Tears filled her eyes, and her lip and cheek grew numb and swollen.

“Don’t ever come here again, unless it’s to pick up or drop off the boys,” she said. “Or I swear I’ll get a restraining order.”

She shut the door, then locked it and leaned her forehead against the wood as tears rolled down her cheeks. Sometimes, she hated Russ so much she could hardly contain the emotion. Why had she ever gotten involved with him? Why had she ever succumbed to the pressure? If not for Kenny and Brent, she’d curse the day her mother had ever moved next door to the Prices’….

She listened, wondering if he’d bang on the door again, wanting to continue his apology. But what had happened must’ve shocked him as badly as it did her because he didn’t even try. A few minutes later, she heard the Jeep start up and the engine noise dim as he drove away.

He’s gone, she told herself, sagging against the door in relief. He’s gone. But the pain from his visit wasn’t.

Using the walls to help fight the dizziness, she cleaned her mouth and retrieved some ice. Then she carried Gabe’s shirt into her room and curled up in bed, blocking out everything except the smell of Gabe on soft cotton.

THE NEXT MORNING, Hannah had a fat lip and bruised face to rival Kenny’s. When she first got up, she stared disconsolately at herself in the mirror, wondering what to do about Russ. He’d never struck her before, and he’d seemed sincerely contrite the second after it happened. But she needed to document the incident in case he wouldn’t leave her alone in the future. With a sigh, she decided to go to the police station later and file a police report.

Making her way through the quiet house, she checked on Brent to see that he was still sleeping, then headed outside to turn on the sprinklers. The sun was just beginning to rise, casting the world in a promising pink glow. She loved this time of morning—but today she wasn’t quite sure what to think of anything. Her life had definitely taken an unexpected twist since she’d started seeing Gabe. Part of her wanted to embrace the change. The other part wanted to hang on to the relative safety of the life she’d built since the divorce. For one thing, Russ had never resorted to violence until Gabe came on the scene.

Hannah picked up the newspaper lying on her walkway, but instead of opening it, she sat in her new chair and stared at the flowers that had surprised her so much last night. Gabe must’ve brought them to the door after she’d said good-night to him—

“There you are.” Kenny opened the screen door.

“You’re up early,” she mused.

“I couldn’t sleep any longer.” He stepped out to join her but froze the moment he got a good look at her face. “What happened to you?”

“I got into a fight with Sly’s mom,” she said.

“What?”

She attempted a chuckle, even though her split lip resisted a smile. “I’m kidding. I got up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night and accidentally ran into the door.” She didn’t want Kenny to know what had happened with his father. Because of what Tuck had gone through when he was little, Kenny was particularly sensitive to domestic violence. And she didn’t want to drag her sons through any more of her and Russ’s problems.

“I guess now you know how I feel, huh?” he said.

She adopted a rueful expression, which at this point came naturally enough. “I guess.”

“We’d better lay low. We don’t look so good today.”

“No kidding.”

He sat on the porch railing, watching the sprinklers. “I can’t believe school starts tomorrow.”

She snuggled deeper into the big sweatshirt she’d pulled on over her pajamas. “Neither can I. It seems like only yesterday that I was sending you off to kindergarten.”

The phone rang.

“Who’d be calling this early?” he asked.

Hannah doubted it was Gabe, but she hopped up, just in case. “I’ll get it.”

Slipping into the house, she jogged across the living room to the kitchen, where she snatched up the cordless phone. “Hello?”

“Hannah?”

It was Patti, but her voice sounded unusually harsh. “Hi, Patti. Is something wrong?”

“Is it true?” she demanded.

Hannah searched her mind, hoping to grasp what her ex-sister-in-law could be talking about. “Is what true?”

“Are you sleeping with Gabe Holbrook?”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

HANNAH’S HEART POUNDED as she searched for an answer to Patti’s frank question. How could her sister-in-law know? Especially so soon? She and Gabe had been together only yesterday!