I barely got out of the truck before he hit me around the waist.
Rick tried to act older about it, but he hugged me too.
On the drive home, Noah talked nonstop about a science project. Rick complained about a teacher who assigned homework over the weekend.
I barely got out of the truck before he hit me around the waist.
I listened to both of them argue over the radio.
At a red light, I looked in the rearview mirror.
They were there.
That was all I cared about.
For years, Laura had understood one thing about me better than anyone else.
That was all I cared about.
She knew I would accept almost anything if I thought refusing might cost me my sons.
The mistake she made was thinking fear would work forever.
It didn’t.
I didn’t beat her by humiliating her.
I didn’t destroy her marriage.
The mistake she made was thinking fear would work forever.
I didn’t need revenge.
I just stopped protecting her from the consequences of the choices she made.
And once I did that, the threat that had controlled me for years finally became nothing more than words.
