Broken Angels Read Online Free PDF Page A

Oreos. After lunch Zach put Will down for his nap, and Kristen and Noah snuggled on the couch to watch their favorite cartoon, Spongebob Squarepants .
    As Rebecca finished washing the dishes, Zach collapsed in a chair, propping his elbows on the kitchen table and supporting his head with the heel of his palms.
    “You look exhausted.” She turned off the faucet and went to join him at the table. “Why don’t you go get some rest? I’ll hold down the fort for a while.”
    “I’m fine.”
    “When’s the last time you slept?”
    He shrugged. “Couple of weeks ago. Can’t seem to drift off even when I try. Too many thoughts in my head.”
    She understood. The mind could be a cruel, unforgiving thing, unwilling to grant you even a few hours of respite.
    “I’m guessing you’re taking some time off work?” Throughout their marriage Zach had been obsessed with his career, often working seventy-hour weeks, but she couldn’t remember ever having seen him this weary.
    “I had six weeks of vacation time saved up. I haven’t had much reason to use it these past two years.” He raised his head and their eyes locked. Something hot and gripping passed between them, laden with meaning. She could’ve sworn she caught a note of remorse in his voice, heightened by a trace of loneliness that perfectly matched her own.
    She averted her gaze; she had to. “What are you going to do with your place in Beacon Hill?” she asked, changing the subject.
    “Sublet it. It’s a nice area. I’m sure it won’t take me long to find another tenant.”
    She glanced out the window at Union Park, where trees fluttered in the wind, fountains gushed amidst lush green grass and neat rows of Victorian townhouses stood framed by quaint brick streets. She thought of the higher-end Beacon Hill with its Federal-style rowhouses and its narrow, gas-lit sidewalks, only a stone’s throw from downtown Boston. “And you’ll be happy living in the South End?”
    “Why not? It’s the kids’ home. They’re more comfortable here, despite what happened. Took them to my apartment for a few days while this place was being cleaned up. All they cared about was going back home.” He rubbed his temples as if to relieve some invisible weight. “Plus, this area has kinda grown on me. It’s metropolitan, close enough to downtown and still kid-friendly. Did you know there are eleven parks here?”
    Her mouth curled despite herself. “Something tells me you’ve become acquainted with each and every one of them.”
    “You betcha.” The quiet resignation on his face, coupled with that boyish grin of his, reminded her why she’d once been so infatuated with him. “Kristen knows them all by name. She strong-arms me into taking her to a different one each day.”
    She swallowed to wash away the syrupy emotion pooling in her throat. “That doesn’t surprise me. She has her mother’s memory. And her uncle’s bullheadedness.”
    “Now there’s the pot calling the kettle black.”
    She quirked a brow. “Are you saying I’m bullheaded?”
    “I don’t think bullheaded is strong enough to describe you. You’ve got a one-track mind. Once you get fixated on something, there’s no derailing you.”
    They were heading down an old, familiar path, and at the end of it only heartache dwelled. “There’s nothing wrong with being persistent.”
    “There is if it slowly tears you apart.”
    She eyed him steadily, accusingly. “When something’s really important to me, I’d rather die trying than give up.” She never would have quit on their marriage the way he had.
    He flinched, and too late she realized her words had scratched open an old wound. “You almost did,” he said flatly.
    She didn’t want to discuss that again. They’d gone over the incident so many times it made her head spin just thinking about it. “I told you that was an accident.”
    He didn’t answer, and she was seized by the desire to shake him. Why did he refuse to believe her?