In Broken Places Read Online Free PDF

everything to lose.”
    “Okay, so think about how much you have to gain.”
    “Like what? How can I possibly know if there’s anything to gain from any of this?”
    “You can’t. Not until you dive in.”
    “This is me, Trey. I’m not good at diving. And certainly not at diving blind.”
    “Look on the bright side. You’ve lost five pounds in two weeks. Shayla might be the best diet plan you’ve ever attempted.”
    “But what if she becomes just the latest one I’ve failed?”

    “And this,” Gus said, “is Lady Shayla’s bedroom.” He rolled her suitcase across the room and turned to us. “It’s little, but it’s cozy. And that bed right there—” he pointed toward the small bed below the room’s sole window—“is the most comfy bed in the whole town of Kandern.”
    Bev spoke softly by my side as Shayla and Gus tried out the bedsprings. “I made up both beds for you, so you’re all set for now. There’s no hurry to get the sheets back to me. I’ve stocked your kitchen cupboards with the essentials, and there’s a water kettle and fresh bread on the counter. That should get you through ’til morning.”
    So this was home. The past twenty-eight hours of travel and discovery had been a prelude to this. I glanced around the small apartment with the stark white walls and large windows, taking in the hand-me-down furniture and lacy white curtains, and theexhaustion of too much stress descended on me like a lead-filled blanket. I wanted to sleep—desperately so. But I also needed to absorb some of the realness of this moment.
    The ride to Kandern from the Frankfurt airport had been memorable, punctuated with multiple near-death experiences caused by Gus’s enthusiastic driving. It had taken all the self-control I could muster to keep from throwing my body over Shayla’s as a sort of human shield against the collision I knew was bound to happen sooner or later. Driving on a German autobahn was much like playing bumper-car tag at ninety-five miles per hour, but Gus, Bev, and Shayla had seemed oblivious to the danger. While the two adults had carried on a hearty conversation, Shayla had slept, her body warm and supple against my arm.
    “That’s Europa-Park,” Gus had said after a couple hours of driving. “You’ll have to take Shayla there.”
    “What is it?”
    “An amusement park. Costs an arm and a leg to get in, but it’s great fun. The school goes every year. We put our problem kids on the worst roller coasters and see if we can scare them straight.”
    “Gus . . .” Bev shook her head—again—and turned to whisper, “He exaggerates.”
    “I’m sittin’ right here. I can hear you, darlin’.”
    “Only when you want to, love.”
    As we got nearer to Kandern, the Johnsons described in detail every point of interest we passed, but my mind was more on fear of death than on churches, ruins, and distant mountain peaks. Every time Gus turned to point at something, I pushed an imaginary brake pedal and prayed we wouldn’t become the losers in a Porsche-versus-old-beater crash. It was a relief when we finally took the Müllheim exit and merged onto smaller roads that hugged the vineyards.
    “We’ll be there in a few minutes,” Bev said. “I’ve got a pot roast cooking and plenty of caffeine to perk you up! Oh, and there are two families in town who have some furniture to donate, if you want it, so we might go out this afternoon and see if it’s your cup of tea or not. How does that sound?”
    I smiled at her kindness and reached over to stroke Shayla’s hair, hoping she’d wake slowly from her deep, jet-lagged slumber. “You’ve gone to so much trouble,” I told Bev, moved by the Johnsons’ solicitousness. “If you’d rather just drop us off at our place and let us muddle through on our own, that’s fine too.”
    “Nonsense,” Gus said. “You’re our special guests and we take that kind of thing seriously in the South . . . even if this is southern Germany.