Free Here And Now (American Valor 2) by Cheryl Etchison Page B

swallowed down her fear, determined to stand up to him one last time. With trembling fingers she texted her reply.
    I didn’t take anything of yours.
    I’m sorry but it’s over.
    Please stop texting me.
    Even as she hit send she knew it wouldn’t be as easy as asking him to leave her alone.
    I’m sorry for calling you a bitch.
    I love you.
    I don’t understand why you left.
    Please come back home.
    There it was, a prime example of the up-and-down roller coaster he’d kept her on for nine months.
    She opened the contacts, scrolled to his name, and selected the option to block, then did the same on her Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts. Then she finished strong by deleting every picture of him from her photo gallery, effectively erasing him from her past.
    But the text messages she kept, a perfect reminder of a mistake she didn’t want to repeat.

 
    Chapter Seven
    L UCKY ALWA YS LOOKED forward to his Thursday morning breakfasts with his dad. It was a chance for the two of them to talk and catch up about things they typically didn’t talk about in the company of others. Like his mother or his time in the 75th. For Lucky, this one-on-one time with his dad was the best kind of therapy session, a time when he could say anything without someone passing judgment or twisting it into a political argument. His dad just listened. And if there were times when Lucky couldn’t find the right words or needed to change the subject, his father happily took the lead.
    But this morning, the conversation was light as they sat in their regular booth against the front windows. His father was looking to buy a RV, something he and Brenda could use for travel since she had a fear of flying. While she thought a small trailer that could be hitched to their truck would suffice, he was looking at something bigger. Something more along the lines of a luxury motorcoach.
    “You do realize you could buy a couple vacation homes for the cost of one of those?”
    His dad smiled and shook his head in disbelief. “You’re starting to sound like Brenda.”
    Lucky was taking a drink of his coffee when the bell on the front door jingled and a flash of red caught his eye over the rim of his cup. At first he thought his eyes were deceiving him, that it wasn’t really her at all. Then Rachel pushed her sunglasses onto the top of her head and smiled a polite smile at the woman standing behind the register.
    “Dad, would you mind if I . . .” He watched as the hostess grabbed a single menu and led her to an empty seat at the counter. Before he finished asking the question and before his father could even answer, Lucky was waving his hand in the air.
    Duke twisted around in his seat. “Is that the Dellinger girl?”
    “It sure is. You don’t mind, do you?”
    His father might have answered, he didn’t know, didn’t care, because Rachel smiled the moment she saw him. Lucky rose from his seat, watching as she made her way through the maze of tables.
    “Dad, you remember Ethan Dellinger? This is his sister, Rachel.”
    His father slid from the bench seat and held out his hand. “Duke James. Nice to meet you.”
    “Nice to meet you, too,” she said, shaking his hand. “I’m sorry to interrupt your breakfast, but I wanted to thank your son again for helping me move.”
    Lucky avoided his father’s eyes, knowing that he was secretly having a heyday about that little piece of information. Especially since he had avoided telling his dad exactly why he needed to borrow his truck.
    “Well, look at the time.” His father pulled his wallet from his back pocket and tossed a twenty-dollar bill on the table. “Rachel.” He gave a slight nod of his head. “It’s nice to meet you. Good luck with your new place.” And then he turned to Lucky. “I’ll be seeing ya.” He gave a quick pat to his shoulder and headed out, leaving them standing in the aisle.
    She watched his father leave, then turned back to him. “Are you on your way out,