Taken In by the Pack: Second Chances Read Online Free PDF Page A

woman would do.
     
    I ran for mommy.
     
    Well, okay, drove, not ran. Never mind that Charlottesville was better than an hour away; never mind that it probably would have made more sense to go to the police station; I wanted the safety and security of my mother.
     
    I spotted the truck a few times after I first got on the highway, but it grew further and further away, until I lost it completely about halfway there. Not too surprising, since I made the hour long drive in around forty minutes. That old beater probably wasn’t even capable of going that fast.
     
    As I hit the outskirts of town and had to slow, I fished my cellphone out of my purse and called my mom.
     
    “Hi, honey!” she answered cheerfully. The relief I felt to hear her voice was almost startling.
     
    “Hey, mom.” I tried to make my voice sound as casual as I could. “You guys at home?”
     
    There was a pause, then a confused, “Yeah…?”
     
    “Mind if I stop by?” Despite my efforts, my voice quavered a bit. All the emotions and adrenaline of the last two days was catching up with me.
     
    “Of course I don’t mind. What’s wrong?” Of course there was no way she would have missed that tremble in my voice.
     
    I sidestepped her question. “I’m just getting into town, I’ll be there in five minutes or so.”
     
    “Adalyn, what is wrong?” she persisted.
     
    “See you soon. Love you.” I hung up before she could protest. At least I didn’t see the truck again.
     
     
    ❖ ❖ ❖

 
     
    I went slowly once I got onto the street my family lived on, watching my rearview to make sure the truck didn’t magically appear again. It didn’t; I seemed to have lost it, for now at least. I pulled in on the driveway as far as I could next to the house, hoping my car wouldn’t be immediately visible from the road.
     
    I hopped out of the car, and resisted the urge to sprint for the door. It opened just before I got to it, framing my mom in light from inside. I gave her a tight hug as I stepped up the three steps to the door, which she returned, pulling me inside.
     
    My stepfather, and my three younger half-sisters, were all in the den on the couch, and greeted me with smiles and waves.
     
    My mom shepherded me into the kitchen, sat me down at the table, and put a big plate of some sort of casserole on the table in front of me. This was always my mom’s answer to stress: good food. It’s a wonder we weren’t all horribly obese.
     
    “Not that I’m complaining, having a chance to see you, honey, but why are you here, unexpectedly?”
     
    I must have really worried her, for her to be so direct. I took a bite of the food, frowning thoughtfully.
     
    “I uh… I think there’s been a guy following me.”
     
    “Following you? For how long?”
     
    “Just today. But I saw him a few different times in different parts of campus, but he didn’t look like he was supposed to be on campus, really. Then I saw him again at the mall, and he seemed to be following us. And then , after I dropped Angie off, there was an old pickup following me.” I took another bite of the casserole, bracing myself for hysterics.
     
    “Oh, is that all?”
     
    I choked on the bite of food. “’Is that all?’” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “Aren’t you the one supposed to freak out? Who are you and what did you do with my mother?” I tried to laugh, but it wasn’t really very funny.
     
    “Oh, honey, you know I worry about you. But thinking you saw the same person a couple of times in one day isn’t exactly something to panic over.”
     
    “I didn’t “think” I saw the same guy. Trust me, it was the same guy. He was… really distinctive.”
     
    “Still, seeing a guy a couple of times in the same day is hardly proof that he’s following you. I’ve had that happen dozens of times, and it never amounts to anything. It’s probably just coincidence.”
     
    I was seriously beginning to wonder if I had somehow ended up in