Free Hers for the Holidays by Samantha Hunter Page B

forgiveness. It wasn’t even possible. She deserved their rebuff, and worse. She had been wrong to avoid them, however. Maybe allowing them to say what they’d said was only fair. She’d never given Ginny that chance before.
    Everyone thought Lydia was so cool, so brave. She was the most cowardly person she knew, she thought miserably. Leaning into the car, her face fell into her hands, the cold air helping her to settle down a bit.
    “Hey, what’s going on—are you okay?”
    Lydia jumped at the sound of Ely’s voice. In her shock and upset, she had completely forgotten about him.
    “Um, I just have a really bad headache,” she said.
    “You’re white as a sheet. Get in the car,” he said, opening the door and ushering her in before he went around to the other side to climb in. He turned the heat on full blast and took her freezing hands between his, warming him.
    “Are you sick? Or did something else happen?” he asked, his gaze severe and concerned all at once.
    Lydia couldn’t talk about it, least of all with him. What would Ely think, or Tessa, or anyone, if they knew what she’d done? Maybe they deserved to know, too, but she couldn’t do it. Not now.
    “The headache just got to me. That’s all,” she hedged, and could see in his face that he wasn’t buying it, but he nodded.
    “Okay. Did you get your groceries?”
    “No.” Her eyes burned and she cursed, not wanting to cry in front of anyone, especially Ely. Biting down, she swallowed hard, and took a breath, straightening her spine. Looking up, she watched as Ginny and her husband left the store and made their way to their truck.
    “This store didn’t have what we needed,” she fibbed. “Maybe if we try the one in Billings? They have the larger places to shop.”
    Ely nodded. “Sure. We can do that, but are you sure you feel well enough?”
    “I’m fine. Really. Just tired, and a headache, but I’ll be okay. Let’s go?” she said, anxious to escape.
    Nodding, he put the car in gear and pulled away from the curb. Lydia focused out the window, getting a hold on herself, trying to focus away from the nauseous feeling that hadn’t quite passed. She was running away again, and she knew it. But what did confronting anything do—it just made everyone unhappy.
    She would see Ginny’s unhappy face in front of her for the rest of her life, and maybe that was as it should be. The only solution was to wrap things up here and leave as soon as she could, after Christmas, as her mother’s will provided. Then she could go back home and try to bury it all in the past, for good.
    * * *
    E LY WAS ABLE TO get his truck out of the snowbank the next day, and was in the sheriff’s office, waiting to see the man himself. It was the one thing he was unable to do the day before when Lydia had come into town with him, though he still hadn’t been able to get that out of his mind.
    On the way to the city and back, she had been quiet, pale, and not entirely like herself. He knew it was more than a simple headache that had set her off. When he’d found her by the car, she had been shattered—he had actually been afraid for her until she seemed to calm down.
    She didn’t say another word about it during their entire drive and had gone to bed after they finished putting away the supplies. Ely had a feeling she had a scare of some sort, and he wasn’t going to just sit by and do nothing.
    A group of sullen teenage boys slouched on the bench in the corner, looking like they didn’t care about anything, but their clenched fingers, tapping feet and sidelong glances betrayed their worry. Ely caught the eye of one who looked like the youngest of the four and leaned forward.
    “What ya in for?” he said with a conspiratorial wink.
    The kid started to say something when the older boy next to him elbowed him in the ribs.
    “Shut up, doofus. He’s trying to get you to confess.”
    Ely’s eyebrows rose. “Confess? Nah, I’m just making conversation,” he