Read Online Remember Love by Jessica Nelson - Free Book Online

The last thing he needed was
to butt heads with nosy Rachel. She’d try to block Katrina from him.
    He frowned and
started the car. No one could keep him from Katrina. She deserved every bit of
what was coming to her.
    Justice.
    *****
    A rescue mission
wasn’t Katrina’s idea of fun. She scrunched into the seat of Rachel’s SUV, consumed
with thoughts of Alec. She shot a look at Rachel’s determined profile. Was this
even necessary, dragging Sharon from her home? After lunch with Widow Carmichael
the other day, Katrina had sucked up all the guts she had and forced herself to
ask Sharon if Steve hit her.
    Sharon denied any
wrongdoing on his part, insisting he would never do something like that.
Katrina wasn’t so sure. She’d met him a few times and found his unblinking
stare disturbing. Over the years, avoiding him became a pattern because he sent
chills up her spine.
    She shivered and
hunched lower in her seat as Rachel swung around a curve in the road. Rachel
could have done this herself. What if Steve were there? What if he came home
from work while they loaded up the kids?
    She frowned and
stared out the passenger window.
    Rachel pulled
onto a driveway of cracked asphalt. The dilapidated house caught Katrina by
surprise. "Was it this run-down last week?"
    "You were in
a fog and didn’t notice." Rachel turned off the engine and they both got
out of the vehicle.
    "Let’s do
this." Rachel marched to the door and rapped three times.
    Katrina gaped at
the disrepair of Sharon’s yard. Her employee usually came to work
professionally dressed with neat hair and organizational skills that would put
Martha Stewart to shame.
    But her yard … Katrina’s
nose wrinkled at the weeds and debris littering the patches of grass, the
crooked shutters in need of a paint job, the stench of rotting garbage. For all
of Sharon’s years at Kat’s Korner, now Katrina knew why she’d never been
invited over.
    "Is she
home?" She stepped behind Rachel.
    When Rachel called
this morning and announced her rescue plan, regret had thrown Katrina into
sadness. She’d failed her friend. The belief hovered over her as she stared at
Sharon’s cracked-paint door.
    "I should’ve
urged Sharon to leave Steve sooner," she said.
    "Probably
wouldn’t have made a difference." Rachel rapped again, louder.
    "But I should’ve
seen the truth. I was with her almost every day." The afternoon sunlight heated
the back of her neck. A warm trickle of wetness slid down her temple. She shifted,
uncomfortable with seeing herself in a different light. She’d hardly noticed
Sharon’s jumpiness until recently. If there’d been bruises, she’d missed them. Locked
in her own grief, she’d reasoned Sharon could take care of herself. The
inaction covered a cowardice Katrina only now realized ran bone deep.
    "Truth can
be hidden pretty easily. Stop worrying. I told her to be packed and ready."
Rachel pounded on the door this time, and it cracked open. A pair of almond-colored
eyes peered out. The door swung wide and little Paul launched himself into
Katrina’s arms.
    She’d watched the
kids over the years so Sharon could have nights out and without fail, Paul
always snuggled right up to her.
    "Auntie Kat,"
he whispered. She hugged his wiggly little body, inhaling the fresh scent of
Johnson and Johnson before setting him down. She swallowed the catch in her
throat and followed him into the dim house.
    "Sharon,
where are you?" Rachel called.
    "In the
bedroom," came the muffled answer. Katrina tried not to notice the stained
carpet or the peeling wallpaper as they moved down the hallway.
    Sharon stood in a
small bedroom, throwing clothes into a suitcase. Her blonde hair hung in greasy
clumps and her clothes bagged around her as if she’d shrunken overnight. Tear
streaks stained her cheeks and her eyes were puffy. Katrina winced. Sharon’s
black eye looked even worse, the purple and green fading to a sickly eggplant
and mud.
    Focus.
    Escape first,