Free The Way Back by Stephanie Doyle

athletic ability in her body. But she’d carried Shep up a steep climb and that said something about her heart if not her strength.
    He formed the meat into patties. Then he plugged in his countertop grill. Normally, he’d fire up the barbecue outside but this was faster and since it advertised on being a healthier way to cook, it might make her feel better about eating ground beef on a bun. Because he was going to add cheese. There was no way to eat a burger without it.
    Before long, the patties were cooked and Jamie added the condiments then served.
    “This looks so good right now,” she said with a half smile. “But you know I can’t—”
    “Eat,” he ordered and did the same.
    Hunger and wooziness must have won out over calorie counting because she took a bite and then another. He watched her and thought about the last time he’d been in this situation. Having a meal in his home with a woman he was attracted to. It felt uncomfortable and good all at the same time. Then he considered what she was feeling in return, if anything.
    Did she even see him as a man or only as the means to an end? He recalled making the comment about their meal together at the diner being a date and the way she practically freaked out on him.
    It wasn’t the typical eyebrows raised look of a woman who simply didn’t trust dating a known adulterer. It was more like the reaction of a woman who was simply afraid of men.
    “So do you see your father at all?” Jamie asked.
    Gabby put the burger down and nodded as she swallowed her bite. “Holidays and such. Not too often though since my half-sister got married.”
    “Don’t like the husband?”
    “I liked him well enough when I was engaged to him.”
    Jamie winced. “Ouch.”
    “Yeah. It wasn’t pretty. In a weird way, I have you to thank for it, too.”
    This wasn’t going to be good. He braced himself.
    She finished the last bite, closing her eyes as though to savor the taste of it. The action made him instantly hard. Then she wiped the grease off her mouth with the napkin he held out for her.
    “When everything was happening to you and the stories were all over the paper, at first I thought it couldn’t be true. Then when it was proven true—those pictures of you at the motel with your wife and that woman… I thought no woman is safe. All men must cheat. So I started paying a little more attention to those late nights Brad claimed to be working and the sudden weekend business meetings. I followed what turned out to be some pretty obvious evidence and at the end of the trail was him in a bed with my half-sister. At the time I wanted to write you a letter thanking you for saving me.”
    “That might have been the only letter I received that wasn’t hate mail. I would have treasured it.” He laughed to show exactly how serious he wasn’t.
    She looked at him with an expression he knew well. This wasn’t condemnation or disgust. This was hurt. As though he had walked up to her and popped her balloon with a pin.
    “Why?”
    She wasn’t the first to ask. And she wouldn’t be the last he refused to answer.
    “I think you need to go.”
    She gave him that wounded expression again. He was sorry for it, but he didn’t change his mind. She was making him feel things he didn’t want to feel. His emotions were a little too close to the surface at the moment. And his best way of coping, of containing those emotions was to get the hell out of this situation.
    “You said you could spend the night in your car. Well, you’re going to have to. You can’t drive anywhere since I pumped you full of booze. And you can’t stay here. So, the car it is.”
    “I can’t stay?”
    “No, because if you did, I might want to restore my image as a hero in your eyes just to make the hurt you feel go away. And that wouldn’t do either of us any good because I’m nobody’s damn hero.” Yeah, that was true. But that wasn’t the entire reason. And somehow he felt as though he owed her his