Mine to Keep Read Free Page A

beginners.
    Gabriel held the door for her, and she thanked him. She gasped as her arm brushed his, the electric shooting straight through her body. Steven had never made her feel like this. She knew her attraction to Gabriel was wrong. He was older and the man who’d rescued her from her husband. Is that why she was attracted to him?
    They found a table in the back. She looked at Billy and Mia. Her two children had seen more violence in their life than she cared to think about. What would she do with them? Her parents had disowned her, and she didn’t want to ask the two friends she’d made in case they felt she were using them.
    She’d become a parent too young, and she knew she couldn’t do it on her own. The stress of trying to raise them was too much. Staring down at the menu, she tried to read, but it became blurry as the tears filled her eyes and dripped down her face. For many years she’d learnt how to cry without making a sound.
    Glancing around the pizza place, she noted the sniggers and the pointing of other townspeople. She hated this. The judgement and pain. A woman came to their table.
    “What do you want?” The treatment was appalling compared to the times she’d gone with Steven. Those times with Steven had been few and far between. He didn’t like to spend money. The only thing Steven liked was to cause pain on those people he claimed to love. She shook the thought of her ex out of her mind. Steven was her past, and she refused to be held by his actions a moment longer. Gabriel stared at the waitress.
    “A better attitude,” he said.
    The waitress stared at him. Amy watched him take a stand. Eventually the woman stared at the floor with a red flush.
    “You know what? I make better pizzas than this shit-hole. How about we go and have some quality food rather than eat here.” Gabriel threw the menu on the table and stood. He grabbed Billy and Mia before turning to leave. She saw Tim the owner standing in his way.
    “We don’t take kindly to that kind of language,” Tim said.
    Amy didn’t want to cause any trouble, and she knew Gabriel would be spoiling for a fight. In the short time she’d known him, she had learned he didn’t like the judgement of others.
    “Get out of my way.”
    “You may be the Sheriff in town, but folk don’t take kindly to you spending your time with trash.”
    What?
    She couldn’t believe the way people were talking about her. Her husband abused her and almost killed her, and yet she was the one in the wrong? No fucking way.
    “You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Tim. I’ve known you my whole life, and I went to school with your son. This used to be a place to come for fun. You’ve lost your way, and the whole town has lost their way. Come on, Gabriel. They don’t need our money, and I certainly don’t need them.” Amy grabbed his shoulder and brushed past the owner, holding her head high. She was done being the scapegoat. Steven had almost killed her, and she wouldn’t let a backwards town make her feel small for sticking up for herself.
    “My truck is parked over there. Come on. Let’s go and have some real fun.”
    She followed behind Gabriel. Her heart pounded inside her chest. Her pulse was beating rapidly, and she felt like she was going to throw up. Standing up to the people in there had felt good. She never dreamed of speaking back to the people who’d been her friends. Amy knew she had to get past her thoughts. CapeFalls was her town, but the people were no longer there for her.
    Gabriel had two booster seats in the back of his truck, and she found herself touched by him thinking about her. Billy and Mia travelled to his home without a hitch. Her hands were shaking from the anger inside her. She couldn’t believe she’d never fought back. Steven had kept her trapped from the moment he put the ring on her finger. She’d been too young and stupid to see what an asshole he was. Gabriel was a different man. She saw the goodness inside him even