Free When I’m With You (Indigo) by Laconnie Taylor Jones Page A

project.”
    “Fran told you?”
    “Yes.” She looked down at her hands, which shook like a leaf in the middle of a windstorm. “I found out at last night’s board meeting.” She glanced at him with a soft look in her eyes. “Thank you so much.”
    “No. Thank you. If it hadn’t been for you, I never would have known about the youth center.”
    Caitlyn nodded.
    Marcel cleared his throat. “You said there were two reasons for your visit.”
    She swallowed and opened her mouth to speak. Whatever she was about to say died on her lips the moment she spotted the car-shaped charm she’d given him hanging from a gold chain around his neck. “You kept it?”
    He looked down at the charm and smiled. “Absolutely. Did you think I’d get rid of it?”
    She shrugged. “I figured since we—”
    “I’ve worn it since the day you gave it to me, and I don’t ever plan to take it off.”
    She released an anxious chuckle. “It was a silly gift.”
    “It’s the most precious gift anyone has ever given to me.”
    She bowed her head at his words. “Marcel, I owe you an apology.” Slowly lifting her head, she looked over at him. “I took my inability to trust out on you, and for that I’m so, so sorry.” The tears she’d willed to stay hidden suddenly made their appearance. “It took the tongue-lashing of a good friend to help me understand that I’m just as guilty of the crime I accused you of. I was wrong, and I’m sorry.”
    He scooted down the couch until he was next to her and laced their fingers together. “We’re both to blame, all right?” He lifted their hands to kiss the back of hers. “I’m willing to trust. What about you?”
    “I’m willing to try.”
    With his finger, he lifted her chin, brushing his lips across hers. “I’m sorry, kitten. And on my mother’s grave, I swear I’ll never do anything to hurt you again, and I’ll do whatever it takes to gain your trust.” With the pad of his thumb, he gently wiped away the wetness that still clung to her cheek. Between a kiss at each corner of her mouth, he whispered a request. “Will you let me earn your trust?”
    She tilted her head back to look into his eyes.
    “Will you at least try? That’s all I’m asking.”
    “Yes,” she replied breathlessly.
    He gathered her close. “Missed you, hellion.”
    “Missed you, too.” She leaned back just a bit, not wanting to be too far away from his warm embrace. “The first step toward trust is sharing.” Releasing a hard breath, she turned to stare at the wall. “Remember the night in your car when you asked me how he hurt me?”
    He nodded. “Yes.”
    “Well, I think now it’s time you knew.”
    “All right.”
    “Four years ago, I met a man who on the surface seemed nice, but in the end, he made my life a living hell.”
    Marcel frowned. “How?”
    “He started out being charming, attentive, showing me all the attention a woman dreams about. I think some of my vulnerability to him was because I’d grown up in foster care and didn’t have a family of my own. Two months later, things changed.”
    “How?”
    “He became controlling and obsessive.”
    “I don’t understand what you mean.”
    “He would call my job at least twenty times a day. He wanted an account of my whereabouts every minute. It became real clear that it wasn’t going to work. I knew he wasn’t going to change, so I called it quits.” With the back of her hand, she wiped at another tear that had fallen. “But he refused to accept that it was over.”
    “What happened after that?”
    She released a long sigh. “The phone calls increased, and he started showing up at my job. When I would come home, he’d be parked outside. It seemed everywhere I went, he was there. He stalked me. Besides my foster mother, Ms. Ruby, I didn’t have a lot of close ties in New Jersey, so I decided to relocate.”
    “To where?”
    “I asked for a job transfer and moved to Atlanta, but he tracked me down.”
    Wrinkles appeared