Free From the Damage 1 - Opposites Attract by Jasmine Denton, Genna Page A

a problem.” He rested his head against Lizzie’s. “She’s a lifesaver.”
    “I can see how she can save a life.” She folded her hands together. “How long ago did you lose your wife, Gage?”
    “It feels like it’s been forever,” he said, absentmindedly smoothing his thumb over his wedding band, “but it’s only been about three months.”
    “The cops were questioning you about it, and that’s why you lost it on them?”
    He nodded. “They kept badgering me—asking me where she’d gotten the gun or how I couldn’t have seen it coming.” His eyes clouded over as tears welled up, but he blinked them back and took a deep breath until he’d reeled the emotions in. “I didn’t have answers for them. I have no idea where she got the gun, and I don’t know why I never saw it coming...how was I supposed to have foreseen the shooting? How could I have possibly known that was going to happen?”
    Daphne’s heart went out to him, and she wished there was something she could do to help, but she didn’t know what that would be. “You’ve had to grow up really fast, Gage, and that can make somebody cold and bitter, even eventually destructive. That’s why it’s important for you to come back to group. If you don’t, you’ll be breaking your probation, and you could go to jail. And what will happen to Lizzie then?”
    “I know. I just…” He sighed. “I don’t want to talk. I want to move on with my life. I want to get out of this town and start over...for Lizzie.”
    “Have you thought about where you’re going to go?”
    “Anywhere—as long as they haven’t heard about Peyton or the shooting. I mean, Peyton killed two people that day.” He looked her straight in the eye. “I can’t let Lizzie grow up with that hanging over her head. I don’t need people telling her that her mother was a...a murderer.”
    She chewed on her bottom lip while she thought. “Well, you’re probation ends in two months, right?”
    “Yeah.”

    “I’ll make you a deal,” she said. “I have a friend who owns a garage in Charlotte, an upscale place with benefits. His wife works at a private daycare service, specializing in cheap but quality daycare for single parents. Are you interested?”
    “It sounds perfect. Too perfect. What’s the catch?”
    “You have to keep coming to group, with an open mind, and let it help you.”
    “Okay, but even if I did that, your friends aren’t going to want anything to do with me. I have a criminal record.”
    “Please! So you punched out a window after your wife was killed. That hardly makes you criminal.”
    “Why would you do that for me?”
    “Because you deserve it.”
    He looked down at Lizzie then back up at Daphne. “You’ll really do this? You won’t flake out on me?”
    “I won’t flake out on you. I promise.”
    He reached out to shake her hand. “Then we have a deal.”
    The relief washed over her because she truly wanted to help every kid in her group. “You won’t regret it.”
    “Can I ask you something?”
    “Sure.”
    “That first day, you said you were messed up too. What happened?”
    She looked down at the floor for a minute before she answered. “In high school, I met this boy. He was the most gorgeous person I’d ever met, and he wanted me.” She clutched her hands together to keep them from shaking. “It started with a fight. He punched me. When he said it’d never happen again, I believed him. It took two years, a marriage, and countless beatings for me to realize that it never would.”
    “That’s rough.”
    “Yeah.”
    “You bounced back from that though. A lot of women don’t.”
    She nodded. “Too many. That’s why, if I can help just one person, I’ll die happy.”
    “That’s very…valiant of you.”
    She beamed a smile. “Did Gage just give me a compliment?”
    He fought a grin. “Don’t get used to it.”

    ***
After the group meeting, Meagan jogged to catch up with Ryder, but he wouldn’t slow down. He kept