looked all the more worn, with their peeling paint and rusted burglar bars. The lot for sale directly across from her, still filled with concrete debris from the building torn down last year, was as ugly as ever. Even moreso with no shadows to hide the leftovers from the demolition team. She breathed in the stench of garbage and filth and headed for the corner, and Montrose Boulevard. She needed numbness, and there was no place better to find it.
The bright morning sunlight heated her cheeks as she walked, but reality iced her heart as she drank in her surroundings. An old homeless man picked through an overflowing Dumpster. A drunk sat dozing in the doorway of an abandoned building. The graffitied walls of what had once been the entrance to Crackhead Central, a park now closed after two homicides and a mess of drug trafficking, glared back at her. Ugly. It was all so ugly.
Faith walked endlessly, staring at every tenement, every drug addict, every group of delinquents clustered on the street corners, until she was numb again. But no matter how dark and depressing her surroundings, she still glimpsed beauty. Life … In the smile of a mother as she lifted her small child from his stroller, the sparkle of sun off a serene duck pond, the smiles of a group of kids as they played tag.
Frustrated, she returned home late into the evening and collapsed on the sofa. Depression sapped her strength until she was limp with it. The darkness wrapped around her, but sleep didn’t come. Instead, Jesse Savage came to her, his face crystal clear in her mind—his full lips, strong jaw, piercing, pain-filled brown eyes that tugged at too many emotions she wanted to bury forever.
Grubby licked at her ankles. His thin whine shattered the silence surrounding her. Faith opened her eyes and stared at the half circle of moonlight that bathed the carpet near her feet. The wail of a distant siren mingled with the buzz of the refrigerator, thehum of the television in the far corner, the screen still a snowy blur.
Reaching down, she scooped up the puppy and held him close. Still, loneliness crept through Faith, filling the emptiness inside her, making her chest ache and her eyes burn. She forced a deep breath and swallowed against the tightness in her throat. She wouldn’t cry. Crying was useless.
Clamping her eyes shut, she held the puppy and willed away the tears. But she could no more will away Jesse’s image, alive and vivid in her mind, than she could have saved Jane that fateful night. And the more her thoughts centered on him, the more the dreaded loneliness clutched at her, refusing to be ignored or forgotten like everything else.
Like him.
Chapter Four
Jesse cast a quick glance at the locked kitchen door before he flicked off the light. He walked down the darkened hallway of Faith’s House, his boots making a steady thump on the hardwood floor. Rock music drifted from upstairs, along with a steady chatter of voices. He eased his exhausted body down into an armchair in the living room and stared at the muted television screen. Images flashed there sending a dance of shadows across the otherwise darkened room.
He longed to close his eyes. The day had been exhausting. There were eleven kids at Faith’s House, twelve including Daniel, and only two full-time employees—Mike the black belt and Bradley—and Megan, a part-timer who’d eloped with the counter clerk at Bagelrama, home of Texas’s hottest jalapeño bagels. The work at the foster home was endless, overwhelming with so much cooking, cleaning,paperwork, and a million other things. He couldn’t blame Faith for calling it quits.
That was the problem. He couldn’t blame her because he understood exactly where she was coming from. It was easier to stay aloof, emotionless. Jesse had done the same for too many years to count. By the time he’d realized his mistake, it had been too late.
But he had another chance now. If he fulfilled his mission by the deadline he’d get the
The bright morning sunlight heated her cheeks as she walked, but reality iced her heart as she drank in her surroundings. An old homeless man picked through an overflowing Dumpster. A drunk sat dozing in the doorway of an abandoned building. The graffitied walls of what had once been the entrance to Crackhead Central, a park now closed after two homicides and a mess of drug trafficking, glared back at her. Ugly. It was all so ugly.
Faith walked endlessly, staring at every tenement, every drug addict, every group of delinquents clustered on the street corners, until she was numb again. But no matter how dark and depressing her surroundings, she still glimpsed beauty. Life … In the smile of a mother as she lifted her small child from his stroller, the sparkle of sun off a serene duck pond, the smiles of a group of kids as they played tag.
Frustrated, she returned home late into the evening and collapsed on the sofa. Depression sapped her strength until she was limp with it. The darkness wrapped around her, but sleep didn’t come. Instead, Jesse Savage came to her, his face crystal clear in her mind—his full lips, strong jaw, piercing, pain-filled brown eyes that tugged at too many emotions she wanted to bury forever.
Grubby licked at her ankles. His thin whine shattered the silence surrounding her. Faith opened her eyes and stared at the half circle of moonlight that bathed the carpet near her feet. The wail of a distant siren mingled with the buzz of the refrigerator, thehum of the television in the far corner, the screen still a snowy blur.
Reaching down, she scooped up the puppy and held him close. Still, loneliness crept through Faith, filling the emptiness inside her, making her chest ache and her eyes burn. She forced a deep breath and swallowed against the tightness in her throat. She wouldn’t cry. Crying was useless.
Clamping her eyes shut, she held the puppy and willed away the tears. But she could no more will away Jesse’s image, alive and vivid in her mind, than she could have saved Jane that fateful night. And the more her thoughts centered on him, the more the dreaded loneliness clutched at her, refusing to be ignored or forgotten like everything else.
Like him.
Chapter Four
Jesse cast a quick glance at the locked kitchen door before he flicked off the light. He walked down the darkened hallway of Faith’s House, his boots making a steady thump on the hardwood floor. Rock music drifted from upstairs, along with a steady chatter of voices. He eased his exhausted body down into an armchair in the living room and stared at the muted television screen. Images flashed there sending a dance of shadows across the otherwise darkened room.
He longed to close his eyes. The day had been exhausting. There were eleven kids at Faith’s House, twelve including Daniel, and only two full-time employees—Mike the black belt and Bradley—and Megan, a part-timer who’d eloped with the counter clerk at Bagelrama, home of Texas’s hottest jalapeño bagels. The work at the foster home was endless, overwhelming with so much cooking, cleaning,paperwork, and a million other things. He couldn’t blame Faith for calling it quits.
That was the problem. He couldn’t blame her because he understood exactly where she was coming from. It was easier to stay aloof, emotionless. Jesse had done the same for too many years to count. By the time he’d realized his mistake, it had been too late.
But he had another chance now. If he fulfilled his mission by the deadline he’d get the
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