Free Unlovable by Sherry Gammon Page B

was a beautiful, bright, young woman
who had dedicated her life to helping others. We are asking anyone
with information that could assist the police in capturing the evil
person or persons responsible for stealing our daughter’s life away
to please come forward.’
    People in the area are
being advised to use caution when going into the park after
dark.
     
    “ Can you believe it? Someone
was killed within a few blocks of your house last night. Freaky,
huh?” Melody reread the words aloud over my shoulder, smiling.
Waves of nausea rolled through me as my hands fisted around the
newspaper. It felt like the breath had been stolen from my
chest. It should have been me, if Seth hadn’t shown up when he
did it would have been.
    “ Sorry, Melody. I have to …
go … do something.” My brain was no more than a mass of incoherent
thoughts.
    “ You look like you’re going
to be sick. What’s wrong?” I ignored her, running out into the
hall. I had no idea where to go, I just needed to be out of the
crowded cafeteria. I ran down the hall and right into
Seth.
    “ Are you alright?” He held
tight to my shoulders, a good thing too since it was the only thing
keeping me from hitting the floor. “I’m guessing you’ve heard about
the Tammy Byrne murder?” I stared at him wide-eyed, unable to
speak. “Maggie, you’re okay. Take a slow deep breath. Maggie, take
a deep …” I heard nothing else, it was as though I were sinking
through mud, when suddenly, something strong and warm pulled me
out. Seth. I laid my forehead on his chest, his wonderfully
muscular chest.
    “ Deep steady breaths,
Maggie.” Nodding against his chest, I inhaled deeply and held it
for a few seconds before letting it out slowly. I repeated the
process until eventually my head started to clear. I pulled back,
but Seth held tight to my shoulders.
    “ If you hadn’t come to the
park, it would have been me.”
    “ Maggie, you’re safe.” He
slipped a hand around my neck, resting his thumb along my
jaw.
    I looked up into his eyes as tears
spilled down my face. “But Tammy Byrne’s dead. Her family will
never see her again, never hold her again.” I dropped back onto his
chest again crying even harder. He stroked my hair and continued to
hold me, uttering soft words of comfort. After several minutes, I
forced myself to regain my composure. Seth gently wiped the tears
from my face.
    “ Sorry, I shouldn’t cry like
a babbling idiot.” I felt humiliated by my childish
outburst.
    “ Showing sorrow for someone
you’ve never met is hardly foolish, Maggie,” he said. “It shows
compassion.”
    “ Thank you for helping me
last night. I didn’t tell you that, not really.”
    “ Don’t mention it.” He
brushed a stray piece of hair from my face, sending a shiver racing
down my spine as my eyes dropped to his lips. I took another deep
breath to clear my head again.
    “ We should let the police
know we saw that man in the park.” He agreed, dropping his hand
from my face. I immediately missed the comfort of his touch. “I’ll
call them after school.”
    I stepped back to make some room
between us. I was too caught up in the emotion of everything and
needed a little space. Not realizing we were next to the stairwell,
my foot slipped back and down a step. Seth caught me around the
waist before I fell. He also caught me just as Hillary came around
the corner. Her eyes lit up when she saw me in Seth’s arms. I
quickly righted myself and pulled away. Regrettably, I hadn’t
noticed that the heel of my shoe had broken off, and I stumbled
again. Seth caught me, again.
    “ Am I interrupting
anything?” Hillary stepped closer, her grip tightening on her book
bag. She was probably imagining it was my neck.
    “ No.” I pulled free of Seth
and removed my ruined shoe, thanking him once more. I used the
opportunity to get away and raced to the bathroom. Once inside, I
ran into the first open stall and plopped down, still wrestling
with the nauseous