Free Second Chance Hero by Liz Lee Page B

voice and those tears might not mean the opposite, but they needed the opposite.
    He twisted the doorknob, opened the door slowly and there she was.
    Devastated.
    Sitting in the big chair by his bed, wrapped in a UT throw, papers in her lap, her tear-stained eyes accusing.
    “I said go away.” She hiccuped after away .
    He stood there at the door, taking in her somewhat packed suitcase, her tears, those papers and that ratty UT blanket.
    He thought about her need for distance when she was upset.
    This was different. He crossed the room, knelt in front of her and gently brushed the tears from her cheeks. “I know what you said, but I couldn’t just let you cry.”
    She gulped but she didn’t pull away. “Yes you could. Trust me, I’ve cried lots and you weren’t around.”
    “Lil, don’t make this about us.”
    She shook her head and pulled back. “I was out there playing pretend. For a few minutes I almost forgot. But I won’t again. I don’t know what I can do to help, but I’m sure going to try.”
    Playing pretend. They’d both been doing that. She was right. He looked at the papers in her lap. “You’re looking again.”
    She nodded and sobbed. “It’s not doing any good. I keep reading these essays thinking there’s got to be some clue but there’s nothing. Nothing. The only thing close is Miguel’s essay on Heart of Darkness but he just talks about the potential for evil in everyone. Not Degas.  
    “Solidad’s been gone longer. She talks about boys and motherhood, her favorite church. I’m an English teacher. My skills aren’t going to fix this.”
    She pushed the papers to the floor and sidestepped him as she stood and walked to the window. The dawn sky was dark and he could see her tearstained face reflected in the glass.  
    He didn’t know what to do or say but then she started crying again and he couldn’t just let it go. He couldn’t.
    He walked to her side, pulled her close, felt her tense at first and then sink into him.
    “Shhh.” He whispered the words into her hair. “It’s okay. It’s okay to hurt, to feel powerless, to cry.”
    She sobbed into his shirt and shook her head. “No, it’s not. It’s not okay at all. It’s pointless. It solves nothing.”
    “It’ll make you feel better.”
    “I don’t see you doing it.” She glared at him through her tears.
    “I didn’t know these people. It’s different for me. Just go ahead and cry.”
    For a minute he thought she was going to pull away from him, grab her suitcase and leave. Instead she let her head fall to his shoulder. He hugged her close, ran his hand over her soft hair as she cried and cried and broke his heart even more.
    It was true. He didn’t really know the Hernandez family. But he knew Lil. He knew these tears didn’t come easily. That trusting him with them came at a huge expense for her.
    He didn’t want to abuse that trust. He just wanted to ease some of her pain.
    That’s what he told himself as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head. As he thought of the way her soft lips would feel beneath his.
    She tensed in his arms. Pushed away. “God, this is so like you.”
    What? “Lil?”
    She stalked away, shook her head as she glared at him. “Don’t even try to deny it. You were going to kiss me. I saw the look in your eyes. That tender oh-baby-let-me-help look. I can’t believe you.”
    She pulled the blanket tighter around her shoulders.
    Ah damn. “You were crying.”  
    She stopped him with a harsh laugh. “I’m so stupid sometimes.”
    How had it come to this? David tried to replay the last few seconds in his mind. Tried to see how she’d misunderstood. “Lil, it’s not….”
    She held out her hand. “Don’t bother explaining, David. Just leave me alone.”
    David thought about trying to explain but decided it wouldn’t make a difference.
    He picked up the scattered papers handed them to her and tried not to flinch when their hands touched.
    Lil yanked her hand from David’s,