Free The Edge of Sanity by Sheryl Browne Page A

guilty glances.
    Kayla wiped a hand angrily under her nose. ‘You’re … fubar , do you know that? Both of you! Send me a postcard, Dad.’ She threw him a last defiant glare, and then disappeared through the door, slamming it hard shut behind her.
    ‘ Shit !’ Daniel bolted after her.
    ‘Kayla!’ He skidded to a halt ten yards from the house. She was nowhere in sight. How the hell had she moved that fast?
    ‘Kayla!?’ he called again, bolting across the yard. One hand atop it, he cleared the five-bar gate in one leap, scoured the lane left and right and then ran to the first road leading off it. Nothing.
    Dammit . Daniel raked his hand frustratedly through his hair, then cursing himself, turned to walk back to the boatyard, sweat plastering his shirt to his back and tickling his forehead. Wiping a hand across his eyelashes, he dropped down next to Jo, who was sitting on the doorstep, looking exactly how he felt.
    Jo spoke first. ‘It wasn’t wine,’ she said, pulling in a slow breath. ‘The crap I was drinking. It was cranberry and apple.’
    Daniel clasped his hands in front of him and closed his eyes, despairing at his ineptitude. She had taken a step forward. And him, he had taken a step back. What an idiot.
    ‘Tasted like crap though.’
    Daniel smiled.
    Jo took another breath. ‘I can’t promise I wouldn’t have reached for the wine if I hadn’t tipped it all away,’ she admitted, ‘but I’m trying, at least.’
    Daniel nodded. ‘Not easy, is it? Unlearning bad habits? I, er …’
    Give me a chance to try too, Jo, he wanted to say, but didn’t. Clearly, space was what Jo needed, to find her way through. He’d give her that, but he wouldn’t take the job. He’d wait. Try to unlearn his own bad habits. And pray that they could both find their way, eventually, by each other’s side.
    ‘I’ll stay until she gets back,’ he offered. ‘That is, if you want me to?’
    Jo hesitated, and then shook her head. ‘No, no need.’ She sighed and massaged the back of her neck. ‘She’s staying the night at Hannah’s, anyway.’
    Daniel glanced at her. He would have done that once, taken over and massaged her neck, her shoulders. He glanced away. ‘Do you think it’s wise, her staying out under the circumstances? Do we know she’ll actually be where she says she is?’
    ‘She’ll be there,’ Jo assured him. ‘They’re inseparable, those two, lately. As for wise …’ she smiled sadly ‘ … I’d say she’s wiser than we’ve given her credit for, wouldn’t you?’
    Daniel laughed half-heartedly. ‘And some.’
    ‘It will probably do her good to have someone her own age to talk to,’ Jo went on. ‘Let off a bit of steam. And she seems to get on with Hannah’s mother well enough.’
    Jo fiddled absent-mindedly with her wedding ring.
    Daniel trailed a thumb over his own.
    ‘As long as she’s arrived safely,’ Daniel said, after a heavy pause.
    ‘I’ll give Hannah a call. Make sure.’
    Daniel nodded slowly. ‘I’d better go,’ he said, getting to his feet. ‘I’ll get some stuff, if that’s okay?’
    ‘Daniel, don’t.’
    Daniel looked at her, confused.
    Jo looked up at him, hurt piled upon hurt obvious in her eyes. ‘Of course it’s okay,’ she said wearily.

Chapter Five
    Daniel tried not to focus on anything as he walked into the bedroom, especially the bed where Jo and he had lain, limbs knotted.
    Fitting together. Perfectly.
    And then poles apart.
    Where Jo had turned her back on him, apparently hating the very nearness of him. Daniel swallowed hard and tried hard not to notice the lingerie draped over the wicker chair. The scent of Jo. The very essence of Jo, which seemed to permeate every surface and pore.
    Go . Daniel pulled himself up sharp. Get your stuff and get out. While you still have the strength not to beg. He yanked open the wardrobe door, grabbed an overnight bag and a few clothes and stuffed them blindly inside. The rest he would worry about later.