Free Things Made Right by Tymber Dalton Page B

quickly as possible, hopefully with little drama.
    She didn’t know exactly what Melody Axlerod knew about what happened. Considering the way the campus cops had acted, and the fact that no one had ever followed up with her with any questions after the “accident,” Loren had operated on the comforting belief that no record remained of that night.
    She’d hoped.
    Ross didn’t have a public Facebook profile for himself. He had one for the office, an official page for the firm, but he didn’t even have Loren friended on Facebook. He had his profile set so only friends of friends could send him friend requests, and there was absolutely no information on his profile except the information for the firm.
    But Ross hadn’t been in the fraternity. As far as she knew, he didn’t share any classes with the four guys. In the days, then weeks that followed the incident, he’d never even been questioned, his name never brought up.
    The few times she’d heard him talking with anyone about it in the days immediately following, he’d always responded with an appropriate level of shock and dismay, saying something like, “Yeah, I left Loren’s early that next morning and didn’t even see the news until that night. I heard about it from others talking about it at school.”
    Loren stared out over the water, trying to keep her mind calm. She’d worn one of her heavier day collars today, a chunky stainless steel necklace with a tag on it. It hung under her blouse, comforting weight against her flesh. She’d thought about wearing one of her leather play collars around her wrist, wrapped a couple of times and buckled, like a funky bracelet, but opted not to.
    She could do this. She’d survived what had happened that night. And the aftermath. Yes, with Ross’ help and love and guidance, but she was stronger now. She was no longer the terrified, traumatized coed.
    Tilly would call me a tough bitch, if I could even confide in her about this.
    Which, of course, she couldn’t. She shouldn’t have even told Sully, except she’d needed his counsel.
    And that will mean more strokes.
    It was a gorgeous afternoon, just breezy enough to temper the warmth of the day, a few clouds in the sky but no rain in the forecast. Even the tide cooperated, coming in and not going out to give them an unpleasantly aromatic addition to their waterfront seats.
    The hostess showed a woman out to the table about five minutes early. Loren didn’t stand, but she did lean forward and offered her hand. “Melody?”
    The woman looked to be in her late thirties, maybe. Certainly not older than forty. “Yes. Loren?” Loren nodded. “Thank you for meeting with me.” She slid into the seat across the round table from Loren.
    Loren wouldn’t make this easy on the woman. Loren didn’t know what the woman wanted, and she didn’t want to give anything away.
    Being married to an attorney hadn’t been wasted on Loren.
    After the waitress came and took Melody’s drink order, the woman seemed to settle in, her body stiff as she stared at the table for a moment. “I guess you’re wondering why I wanted to talk to you and wouldn’t do it over the phone or in an e-mail.”
    “Yes, I was.”
    Maybe Melody had thought Loren would be a chatterbox. The younger woman seemed knocked off-kilter by Loren’s lack of nervous chatter.
    Let them run their mouths, Ross always said about a negotiation. Let them fill the silence.
    “My brother died when I was very young,” Melody finally said. “I barely remember him. I was the baby, and he was the eldest.”
    Loren nodded but didn’t reply.
    “I’ve read all the stories about the accident,” Melody continued. “Watched news footage. Studied the accident reports.” She sat back while the waitress set a glass of iced tea in front of her. When they were alone again, she continued. “My kids never got to know their uncle. After the accident, my parents ended up getting divorced. It pretty much destroyed my