Rekindled Read Free Page B

did I get myself into?” she asked. No one answered, of course.
    She had to wonder, for the very first time, if leaving Daniel had been a mistake.
     She’d been unhappy with him, but she didn’t feel particularly happy now.
    She thought back. Could see his face—distant, haughty, angry, disdainful. Could hear
     his words. So cold, designed to cut away what remained of her self-confidence. What
     remained of the way she saw herself. He was intent on removing vital bits of her,
     leaving her unable to function without him.
    And finally, just as he’d been about to succeed, she’d looked in the mirror and seen
     how much she’d changed. Had seen that she was too thin. Her dark eyes flat, cold.
     The light behind them snuffed out.
    He never hit you, did he, darling?
    No. The answer to her mother’s question had been no. Daniel Carter would never do
     anything so common as to use his fists to control a woman. And he didn’t have to.
     His words were even more effective.
    Everyone has bad days. He has stresses at work, surely. He can’t spend all of his
     time propping up your self-esteem.
    Her mother’s response to her denial of physical abuse had nearly broken her. Because
     it had taken Lucy so long to realize that the things Daniel said to her were wrong.
     To realize that his words were a form of abuse, and that she didn’t have to take it.
    Only to have that realization undermined when she’d arrived home.
    “I didn’t deserve that,” she said. “I didn’t.”
    She only wished her own parents didn’t think she did. Or maybe that was the wrong
     way to look at it—but it felt like they thought she must have deserved it. Like the
     vows she’d taken to the smiling man on her wedding day should have, logically, extended
     to the monster he’d revealed himself to be.
    And she just couldn’t believe it. Not anymore.
    Which meant that regardless of the shabby state of her new home, it was her new home.
     And she wouldn’t doubt her decision again.
    Because no matter how run-down it was, there was no one here to insult here. No one
     here to berate and belittle her.
    Just then, the little house seemed more beautiful than any manor home ever had.

Chapter Three
    How hard can it be?
    Lucy asked herself that question while she rummaged through the pantry. Mac had food.
     Plenty of it. There had to be some way to combine some ingredients to make an edible
     meal.
    She felt a little shot of panic when she looked at the schedule that was posted on
     the fridge. She imagined the schedule—useful, neat and organized—had not been made
     by Mac.
    Another helpful tidbit from Carly, she imagined. But it wasn’t helping her now. She
     only had an hour to make dinner, and she was pretty sure she’d never cooked in her
     life. Unless pouring cereal counted. And she was pretty sure it didn’t.
    Lucy did some more digging and found a cookbook in one of the cupboards. There was
     a recipe for tacos, which seemed straightforward enough. Especially if she opened
     the jar of salsa and the can of refried beans, rather than making her own from scratch.
     And Mac had both of those things ready to go.
    A couple of thawed out chicken breasts would boil quickly, and she put them in a pot
     of water and put the burner on high heat.
    Then she found an apron stashed in the pantry and tied it around her waist, hoping
     to shield her nice outfit from any potential oil splatter as she prepared to make
     the taco shells.
    The instructions were clear, but after mangling a couple of tortillas she opted against
     folding them, and just laid them flat in the pan and let them fry. Tostadas would
     be good too. They were basically the same thing anyway.
    An hour later, she had a spread that looked more than vaguely edible and a sense of
     pride that was so unexpected, so foreign, she was hardly able to identify it at first.
    Along with that came a significant hunger pang. She was more than ready to eat, and
     Mac had invited her to eat with