Trust in Me by Kathryn Shay Page B

chocolate.”
    “Mommy’s favorite,” Faith commented idly.
    As well as Beth’s and Margo’s. Annie smiled at the thought. “Lock up and put the alarm on. It’s getting dark.”
    Long ago, she’d accepted the fact that she might never feel completely safe, but, with the necessary precautions, she could live with that. Smiling, she stepped out into the cool night air.
    o0o
    JOE Murphy sat in his brand-new Bronco, staring at the Social Services building, his new place of employment, starting in a couple of minutes. A compact little brick structure, it was attached to the town hall and new to Glen Oaks in the last six years. Nestled across the street was the high school, which brought back bad memories.
    Better get used to it, buddy. The reminders are going to be popping up at you like jack-in-the-boxes.
    But he could handle it. He could handle anything. Once you’d lost all you had, once you’d hit bottom hard enough to knock some sense into your head—and survived—you could handle whatever came your way. That lesson was one of the many things he’d learned in the years since he’d hopped a bus out of this town on a snowy February night, the reality of what he’d become slapping him in the face harder than the cold raw wind.
    You’re not that man anymore.
    No, he wasn’t. But sometimes he’d wake up sweating in the middle of the night, worried that monster still lurked inside of him, like Hyde to Jekyll, and someday would claw his way out.
    “You can beat Hyde, if indeed it’s true,” Pete, his counselor in the recovery program, had said. “You’re one of the strongest men I know, Joe.”
    Strong enough to face Glen Oaks tonight? Strong enough to face Annie? Linc?
    Yes.
    Grabbing his briefcase from the seat behind him, along with his tweed sports coat, Joe exited his car, donned the jacket and took a deep breath. But setting foot on Glen Oaks soil again caused another spurt of anxiety to race through him. What if this wasn’t the right way to reenter? Should he have let them know he was moving back here?
    Pete had asked him the same question. As Joe strode up the sidewalk and approached the door, he soothed his nerves by recounting why he’d opted for his return to be a surprise....
    “I’m going back to see Matt. If I let them know I’m coming, Annie could take him somewhere, keep him from me. Even get a restraining order. But if I take this job, publicly show her I’ve changed, she might reconsider doing anything hasty. Also, if I’m established in a respected position, she might not be able to keep him away from me.”
    Pete had scowled. “Sounds risky to me.”
    “All that matters is I get to see my son.”
    “Your health and happiness matter, too, Joe.”
    “I need to see my son. To...make sure he doesn’t end up like me. You know the statistics.”
    Pete had nodded then, and wished him luck....
    Slowly, Joe pushed open the heavy aluminum door to the agency. In his head, he enumerated who would be there tonight. The new high school principal, Sandra Summers. A police lieutenant named Mike Pratt. A probation officer, Jim Tacone. There was a secretary, Jane Meachum, to take notes. Then five people he knew, Mayor Al Hunsinger, Roman Becker, attorney-at-law, and retired teacher Janice Breed. Of course, his former best friend, Linc Grayson, whose brainchild this Council had been.
    And, last, his ex-wife, Annie Lang. She’d dropped his name with the divorce.
    Taking in another cleansing breath when he reached the meeting-room door, he stepped inside. The area was about fifteen foot square, wallpapered with muted colors. The scent of strong coffee dominated the room. Carpet covered the floor. Two people were sitting down at a rectangular oak conference table. Four others were gathered by a coffeepot, chatting. Two more were off to the side in intimate conversation. It was those two who drew him like a lodestone. But he couldn’t focus on them just yet.
    Scanning the group, pasting on a smile