Chapter 4

Haisley didn’t want to tell Robert what had happened. The day she’d shown up at the church to confront the pastor, Ellen had been there. The man had threatened to call the sheriff and have her arrested. Ellen had believed her and taken her in. She’d learned the hard way that the men of this town were disgusting. She would have to leave now that her protection was gone.

Maybe she could find a shelter that would take her in. The only problem was she didn’t want to have her baby while she was living in a shelter, but she had little choice.

“You don’t have a car, do you?” Robert asked.

Haisley squeezed her fists. Will had taken everything and ruined it. She had no proof that Will had popped her car into neutral and pushed it down the hill, sending it into a deep ravine, but she never would have put the vehicle into neutral and jumped out. Also, there was no way possible she could have gotten out of the vehicle if she'd left it in neutral. She usually sat in her car and checked social media even when she arrived home late at night or in bad weather. She liked the peace of her car and not dealing with household chores.

When Will had emptied her bank account, opened credit cards in her name, stolen all her jewelry, and taken everything, even her dignity, it had crushed her. She hadn’t recovered even after moving in here because Will had made sure she’d been fired from her job.

She shook her head. “No.”

“How are you getting food?”

“Walking.”

Robert pressed his lips together, looking disappointed. She wondered how long it would be before he kicked her out. Ellen talked highly of her son, but most mothers did. Even when there were glaring problems, mothers didn’t give up on the fantasy that their sons could do no wrong.

“Let's go to the store now. I need more food for dinner, and you can pick up what you need. I was thinking of making burgers. Would you eat that?"

She shook her head. “You don’t have to cook for me. I’m fine.”

“I’m going to be making burgers, anyway. Would you eat one?”

She nodded, feeling weird that this guy she didn’t really know was cooking for her. Even when she’d miscarried and been curled up in bed for days, Will hadn’t made her any food.

"Go get your shoes, and we'll go," Robert said.

“It’s kind of late.”

"It's barely afternoon."

Haisley didn't leave the house during the day. It would be too dangerous because she might run into someone. But explaining that to this guy would be hard. "I can just stay here. "

He shook his head. “No, come along. I don’t want to be responsible for picking out what you want.”

There wasn’t any way she was going to get out of this. Robert wanted her to go with him. On the way out, Haisley grabbed her purse. She had some money, but not much so she could pay for his food, too. If she moved to Atlanta, she could get a job, maybe. But who would want to hire a pregnant woman?

She headed out to meet Robert beside the car. “Did you rent this?”

He nodded. “I flew in this morning. Took the red-eye.”

“Oh, that’s right. You’re from California.”

He nodded. “Yeah. I should have come home more. I didn’t realize my dad wasn’t taking care of the lawn.”

Her gaze slid over the lawn with the tall grass that was mixed with weeds. Guilt filled her. John had been too busy in the last few weeks. Though, based on the peeling paint on the shutters, she figured he had stopped taking care of the place for other reasons.

She should have mowed for him, but he hadn't picked up gas for the mower, although he said he would. Since she no longer had a car, it was hard for her to get to the station.

They'd helped so much, and now they were both dead and she felt responsible. Eventually, she would have to tell Robert everything, but she feared his reaction. She needed to come up with a plan for where she could go because she was sure he would make her leave soon.