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Despite telling herself not to read too e’s heart beat a little faster

Everything on theThey ordered sal soup, then dishes with duck, filetingredients like tamarind and coconutto try every bite A couple of glasses of Sullivan Cabernet complemented the food perfectly

"So tell me," she said after the waiter left "What happened with the boyfriend?"

"I told hiain Then I called the cops to have theed nonchalantly, as if it didn’t mean much to him

But she knew it did And it was obvious she’d have to pull the details out of hiht?"

"He asked for ust, he shook his head and said, "It could have been a bluff A way to test my resolve Who the hell knows? Just like an abusive, out-of-control drunk, he said he was sorry and it would never happen again"

"That’s not what your father used to say, is it?" Though she was poking a raw nerve here, she wouldn’t be ti her truest feelings, her most real emotions inside, she couldn’t do it anymore Not even when it came to his mother "He never said he was sorry Never said it wouldn’t happen again"

Evan stared at the wine glasses the waiter had swooped in and deposited on the table "You’re right We always kneould happen again when he got mad or drunk When he didn’t have any reason at all, actually"

Abuse occurred at all socioeconohborhood It was coers She’d heard the same tale so many times She’d talked with abusers as well as the abused She understood frustration and pain and anger and hopelessness and the need to lash out, yet there was always a part of her that absolutely could not fathom how anyone could ever strike a child Or hit so the Evan had been that child? It tore her up inside

"How did you feel? Confronting hied the word to, "Theresa"

"In a way," he said slowly, "telling the asshole boyfriend to lay off was like telling ood"

"You knohat?" His brow creased, and he looked pensively at the utensils in front of hiaze rising to hers as a surprised sood"

It was a huge step for hiin to lay to rest She sensed the infinitesi dark off his shoulders, saw it leaving his eyes, ht the safest thing was to keep his distance from his mother, he’d obviously found it impossible to stay away Because he was a born protector

She wanted to risk touching him, but didn’t Not yet Not until she could believe he wouldn’t beat hi her the way she wanted hiht, it see it ilad, Evan"