Cherishing You (Thirsty Hearts Book 3) Read Free Page A

the ex-husband.

Chapter Three
    I n the days after Kid’s reappearance in her life, Shannon took extra care whenever she left her house. Talking to the police didn’t give her much confidence.
    They hadn’t spoken to Jonah yet, even though the cop said that he’d called a couple of times to speak to the detective. The whole incident left her shaken, but determined not to let a man interfere with her sense of peace.
    One of the worst parts of the whole mess was having to call her other ex-husband and let him and his wife know Kid somehow sprang himself from jail as he awaited trial. Kid had nearly killed Taryn, who was Jeff’s fiancée at the time.
    Shannon brought Kid into their lives and put everyone at risk, including her seven-year-old daughter, Olivia. After coming back to town, Shannon briefly thought they might have a chance to be a family again—Jeff, Shannon, and Olivia. Now, she could admit it had been a foolish and futile game to play.
    While she and Taryn forced themselves to be civil because of their love for the little girl, Shannon could feel the new Mrs. McConnell’s judgment every time she was around. They could make small talk and smile, but Taryn thought she was trash. Shannon couldn’t necessarily argue.
    That’s how she’d lived. The drugs. The stealing. Walking away from Jeff and Olivia before she turned two, and then dropping back into their lives with barrels of chaos.
    Shannon stopped her train of thought and repeated the phrase her drug counselor had told her over and over, “You are not your mistakes.”
    Over the past several months, she’d done a lot to improve herself and her life. Maybe she’d fallen off the wagon a few months ago, but that didn’t define her or her future. When it counted, she warned Jeff about Kid’s plan to break into his house, and since then, she cooperated fully with the police investigation. Shannon thought her mea culpa, apologies, and months of family and individual therapy proved her commitment.
    I work hard, she told herself. I’m making my own destiny.
    None of the affirmations, however, erased the fear that she might mess up again.
    She had scheduled visitation with Olivia the entire day on Saturday. She had gained the right to unsupervised visits only three weeks before.
    She thanked God she had time alone with her daughter without the suspicious looks from Jeff and Taryn. Now, after the incident with Kid, they weren’t sure, they said, that Shannon taking Olivia by herself was a good idea.
    “Maybe you could spend time with her here. We have gated security,” Jeff told her over the phone. Shannon gritted her teeth.
    “He doesn’t know where I live, and anyway, I wasn’t going to bring her here. I thought we’d have lunch and then go see that Pixar movie at the dollar theater. I’ll be up in your area the whole time.”
    Jeff’s area was a collection of exclusive gated communities in North Dallas. Right after he and Taryn married in July, he’d traded his large, suburban house for an even larger mansion.
    Jeff and Shannon’s lives couldn’t have gone in more opposite directions since their shotgun wedding eight years ago. Jeff had sold part of his business to a big California tech company for tens of millions of dollars. The figures soared beyond what Shannon could imagine.
    Sometimes, she kicked herself when she thought of how she’d once been married to him. That life might have been her life if she hadn’t gotten hooked on drugs and taken off.
    Not that she wanted Jeff anymore. The feelings she thought she might resurrect when she first came to town and reconnected with him had died.
    She knew that even if she hadn’t become a junkie, she and Jeff weren’t meant to be. He never would have left her. No, they would have stayed dedicated to their empty marriage, making excuses for the misery. He and Taryn, on the other hand, fit. On her more hopeful days, Shannon dreamed of finding a man who would love her as much as Jeff loved his