Read Online What He Promises by Hannah Ford - Free Book Online Page A

weeks passed, and as every day, every hour,
every minute went by, the horror of what had happened began to fade from my
mind.
    I named the dog Docket, and we fell into a comfortable
routine.   I still hadn’t gone back
to school, and so every morning we would wake up after Noah went to work, and
spend the morning walking around the city, sitting in the park, me sipping
coffee and Docket watching birds.
    He was a good dog – he listened for the
most part, although he could be a little zealous.   He was rambunctious and excitable, like
a bull in a china shop, knocking things over with his tail and his paws.
    It was on one of our morning walks that we ran
into Julia.
    She was walking across the park holding a sheaf
of papers.
    I’d had a couple of texts with her, just
letting her know that I wouldn’t be coming back to our apartment, and I’d
arranged a time with her for Jared to go and get the rest of my things, but
other than that, we hadn’t spoken.
    She looked good, her hair pulled back in a
dancer’s bun, her lithe frame dressed in a grey pants suit with a light pink
shell underneath.
    My first instinct was to avoid her, but she saw
me at the same time I saw her, and we did that awkward thing where we weren’t
sure what to do.
    Finally, she walked over to me.
    “Hey,” she said shyly.
    “Hi.”  
    Docket began wagging his tail, his whole body
shaking with excitement.   Julia bent
down to pet him, and he jumped up, putting his front paws on her legs.   “Docket!” I scolded.
    But Julia didn’t mind.   She kneeled down in the grass and he
immediately turned over, waiting for Julia to rub his belly.
    “Oh, Julia,” I said as the grass stained her
knees.   “Your pants.”
    “It’s okay,” she said, her hand moving through
Docket’s fur.   “I’m done with my
meeting.”   She glanced up at me
shyly, hesitating.   “I had an
appointment at an adoption agency,” she said.   “I’m thinking… I might be putting the
baby up for adoption.”
    “Oh,” I said.   “And Josh is…”
    “He’s fine with it.”   She stood up and brushed the dirt from
her knees.   “We broke up.”
    “I’m sorry.”
    She laughed.   “Really?”
    “No, not really,” I said.
    She tilted her head.   “I heard about what happened to
you.   And to Noah.   Are you okay?”
    “I’m getting there.”
    “Good.”
    She stood there awkwardly, until finally I
said, “We should get together some time.   Have coffee.”
    “Yeah, definitely,” she said.   “I’ll text you.”
    It was the kind of thing that people said, but
I knew neither one of us really meant it.   We wouldn’t text.   We
wouldn’t get together for coffee.   We would become part of each other’s past, an inconsequential part, actually, the way people did when there was nothing
holding them together except for circumstance.
    “Take care of yourself, Julia.”
    “You too, Charlotte.”
    I watched her walk away.
    Then I got up and went home.

 
    ***

 
    There was another letter waiting for me when I
got there.
    From Professor Worthington.
    Something about it, coupled with the fact that
I’d just run into Julia, made my stomach flip.
    I opened it.
    It was more of the same, he loved me, blah blah blah .   But this time, he mentioned Mikayla.
    I know you want to know about her,
Charlotte.   You want to know where
she is.   I can help you.
    I pushed the letter back into the envelope.  
    This time, instead of a sick feeling bubbling
up inside of me, I was angry.
    I wanted him to stop contacting me.  
    I wanted him to stop.
    I was going to see Noah.
    I was going to tell him about the letters.
    And I was going to let him take care of it.

 
    ***

 
    I left Docket at home, snoozing comfortably on
our bed, and walked to Noah’s office, my heart pounding the whole time.
    I’d been trying to move on, I really had.
    But if these letters continued to come, that
would be impossible.
    Noah would stop them.
    He would call the jail