Stepping Up To Love (Lakeside Porches 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

walked ahead of him to the limestone portico. She fumbled with her key until Tony took it from her hand. He made short work of the lock, and pushed open the heavy teak door.
    “You weren’t kidding,” he breathed when he saw the wreckage. Two chairs lay where they’d been hurled. Vases and glassware were shattered, a table overturned. The place stank of liquor spilled from a bottle used as a weapon.
    Tony kicked his way into the room, snapping photos as he went. He spotted what he was looking for on the hearth. When he picked up Manda’s eyeglasses, ground to a mangled mess, he felt in his gut the full force of what she’d gone through in this room the night before.
    “I know you were hoping to find these intact,” he said as he turned back to Manda.
    She had her arms wrapped around herself, shaking, leaning heavily on the doorframe, her face white, her breathing ragged.
    “Come on, honey,” Tony urged. “Look at me, Manda.”
    She met his eyes but did not budge.
    “The war is over, and we’re walking through this together for the next forty-five minutes.” He beckoned with his right hand. “I need your help, if we’re going to accomplish what we came to do. Now walk toward me.”
    She came forward, eyes on him, not daring to look anywhere else. He tucked the mangled glasses in his jacket pocket, reached for her hand, and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “You show me the way to your room. Let’s be quick.”
    While Tony stuffed her clothes and toiletries into a duffle, Manda disconnected her printer and router and laptop. “We’ll take these to the truck and come back for the books. I spotted some boxes in the garage. Let’s move.” It took two trips to collect all of Manda’s books and notebooks. He could see her trembling again, but he knew there was more she wanted to collect. This was their only chance.
    As he shoved the box of books onto the truck, Tony suggested, “Let’s take a five-minute break right now. I want you to calm down, use your head, and decide what else you have here that you need. We will have exactly fifteen minutes.” When she didn’t argue, he walked around the truck and lit a cigarette.
    Manda sat on a boulder at the edge of the driveway, pulled her knees to her chest, and focused on her breathing. She remembered a long walk she’d taken in the snowy woods before Lorraine left. She thought of the bike rides in the morning, and the evening swims in the lake. It had not always been a nightmare. After a few minutes she felt her heart beating normally again.
    She slipped off the boulder and watched Tony stub out the cigarette. She squared her shoulders and told him quietly, “I’m not a thief, and I don’t feel right taking Lorraine’s bike, but I am owed some other things. Lorraine gave me a food budget, but for a year I’ve been paying out of pocket. There are things in the kitchen I can use and towels and sheets in the linen closet near my room.”
    Tony looked at his watch and proposed, “We’ll split up. I’ll grab the linens. Two boxes enough for the kitchen?”
    While Tony packed up the linens, he heard a car crunch on the gravel drive. From the window, he saw two officers emerge from their cruiser. One was his friend Lou. Tony raised the window, leaned out, and waved them over.
    “We’re almost finished here,” he told them. “We want to be out of here by the time Kristof gets back. You’ll want to have a conversation with him and see the state of the living room.” He shook his head, still not believing the scene.
    “The chief says Miriam will be talking with the young woman this afternoon,” Lou told him. “She’s a real pro talking with women who’ve been involved in domestic violence and sexual abuse.”
    “Good. Manda’s a nice kid. Look, let me finish and get her out of here.”
    “Right. We’re continuing to the end of the lane—the usual run—and then coming back here to the house to wait for Kristof. Good seeing you,