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roses?”
    “Sometimes.”
    “You’re sure? These are from her?”
    John hesitated. Cassie’s pallor scared him. She really believed the roses were a threat. He couldn’t be totally sure the flowers were from Estelle, but what good would it do to scare Cassie more? If there was no note there was no way to know for sure right then, but who’s to say he wasn’t right? “Yes. I’m sure.”
    Her shoulders slumped with a release of breath.
    He leaned an elbow onto the counter separating them. “Do you really think you and Tim are in that much danger?”
    She looked at up at him. “Yes. We are in that much danger.”
    “Does Tim know?”
    “He knows a stilted version of the truth.”
    “How do you explain this to him? That his own father wants to hurt you both?”
    She narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips. “I know you think I did something to deserve all this, but I didn’t. I didn’t know Marcus was violent until it was too late. Tim has known for a while that his father is in jail because he isn’t a nice man. I’ve tried to explain that we are here only as a precaution to give the police time to find Marcus and put him back in jail where he belongs. I try to hide how serious it is. But he knows. He has nightmares. Sometimes he thinks I’m not going to come back to him. We go through this every time I leave for work. He’s just waiting for the earth to come out from under him. So you can rest assured John, I’ve paid dearly for any sins you’ve imagined I’ve committed.”
    He rolled his eyes. “I didn’t say anything like that.”
    “You say things like that every time you look at me, whether you speak or not.”
    “Well I sure as shit don’t wish this on your son, no matter what I think of you.”
    She stilled. “Okay you probably don’t. Maybe I took that too far. But sometimes so do you.”
    He stared at her. He nodded. “Noted. Sometimes I do.”
    “I overreacted to the flowers.”
    “Well you’re the one with a son to protect. Not me. I can’t judge what’s an overreaction.”
    She glanced up swiftly to him, her eyes big. “Meaning?”
    He shook his head. He wasn’t having that conversation with her.
    Not now. Not ever.
    Cassie sighed and pushed the flowers onto the counter between them. She tidied her desk, avoiding his gaze. Finally she stood and gathered her things.
    He watched her. He didn’t like hearing Tim was scared his mom wouldn’t come home from work. What kind of knowledge was that for a kid to have? Hell, he didn’t like that Cassie was scared that she wasn’t going to come home from work. He didn’t think anyone could fake the fear she had of the innocuous floral arrangement.
    Cassie was just about to hustle past him, when he put a hand on her arm to stop her. She paused, looking at his hand, then up into his eyes. Her lips trembled. She quickly dropped her face from his view. She raised a hand to wipe at her cheeks. Tears?
    Damn it all to hell. A stab of genuine sympathy filled him. He put a knuckle under her chin and forced her to look up him. Her eyes were glazed in moisture. She was trying not to cry. He swallowed, unsure why her efforts to hold back tears from him put a knot in his throat. Had he become so heartless with his anger that he couldn’t let her fear a man she seemed to think wanted to physically harm her?
    “Cassie—”
    The clinic door opened. Cassie jumped back. John turned around as Luke walked into the foyer toward them.
    “What’s going on?” Luke asked looking between them. Cassie was busy wiping her eyes with the backs of her hands.
    “Just closing up.”
    Luke stared at him. His mouth tightened. He crossed his arms over his chest. “You fired her, didn’t you?”
    “No, nothing like that.” Cassie shoved an arm into her coat.
    “What happened then? Why are you crying?”
    “I overreacted to some flowers sent to the office. I thought they were from my ex-husband.”
    “And if they were? What would that mean Cassie? What kind of