Free You Don't Know Me by Susan May Warren Page B

be there.” She dropped the paint roller into the tray, grabbed the rag. “But I don’t really care if you win or lose, Nathan, because I am happy with our life. And your being mayor just might destroy all that.”
    Her words jolted him. What—?
    A door upstairs slammed, and he heard footsteps on the landing before a voice called, “Annalise?”
    Frank.
    “Down here!” she called, nothing of welcome in her voice.
    Nathan would agree that her relative had lousy timing. He heard Frank’s footsteps thump down the stairs.
    “Annalise, I have to—”
    Nathan turned at Frank’s clipped sentence.
    “Nathan. Uh, what are you doing home?”
    Nathan couldn’t help his tone. “I live here.”
    Frank had seemed friendly when he showed up, sort of an unassuming man, the kind who might take his kids fishing. Now the old man pulled himself up and for a second looked like, indeed, he had military training. His eyes went cold, his mouth tight.
    Then it passed and he nodded. “Right. Sorry. I need to talk to Annalise. Family stuff.”
    “I’m her family.”
    Funny, though, the way Frank looked at him, Nathan didn’t feel that way. The eerie feeling climbed back into his belly, latchedon. For a moment, it seemed that he stood outside a secret, that he knew nothing of a sacred, even terrible truth.
    It reminded him of the way people looked at him that day so many years ago when he went to school, unaware of the wretched news of his father’s death.
    Then Annalise saved him like she always did. “Oh, for pete’s sake.” She dropped the rag and brushed past him, leaving the calla lilies behind. “I have to get to the luncheon. Whatever it is, I’ll talk to you tonight, Uncle Frank.”
    Strange, the way she said Uncle . Like it might be a threat.
    But as Nathan watched Frank’s eyes on him, perhaps it was.

    Annalise had stood, hands folded in front of her, Nathan’s hands hugging her hips, and tried to find a real smile. Something that didn’t betray panic.
    “One more shot,” Erland said, looking over his camera.
    She’d tried to manufacture an expression that would make her unrecognizable to anyone who might have once known her. Like Luis Garcia.
    Or her mother.
    She hadn’t realized how much of her life had gone public. Viral, even, if Lorelei’s words as Annalise escaped to the punch bowl held any truth. “I love Nathan’s new Facebook page. Such a cute picture of you and the family. When did you have the photo taken?”
    Annalise scrolled back to the last time they’d all been in one place, with clean shirts, combed hair, and smiles.
    Maybe this summer, when Jason had his senior photos taken.She’d asked the photographer to snap a few shots of their family. The one with them sitting on the rocks with the lake in the background and Nathan holding her hand had turned out well.
    The perfect family.
    Not for long if Garcia ever saw her picture. But would he know her? Twenty years ago she’d had short black hair, angry eyes. He hadn’t a prayer of finding her. And Blake—Blake wouldn’t mention it. He’d probably forgotten her.
    She should just relax. “Thanks, Lorelei.”
    In the corner, next to the expansive picture windows that overlooked the lake, Nathan talked with Lorelei’s husband, Barry, who owned the convenience store in town. Nathan was gesturing as he spoke—dangerous with the cup of coffee in his hand. She walked over to retrieve it from him before he spilled it down his pressed shirt or across a prospective voter. Their fingers brushed as she took the cup, and their fight burned inside her. She set the cup on a table beside him. He caught her eye, smiled.
    She shouldn’t have been so hard on him today—the flowers were sweet, his apology for nothing he’d done even more so.
    She was just on edge. Having Frank around made her lies, her secrets, seem so large. Fresh. Inescapable.
    Still, she couldn’t erase Nathan’s words. It’s not enough.
    Which meant she wasn’t enough. Their lives