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СКАЧАТЬ been two years since my recovery, ladies and gentlemen. And I stand before you today, a fully alive, contributing woman who truly enjoys life. My life. I got lucky. I landed in a perfect place—The Lemonade Stand—a place you all will hear about before this session is through.

      “But first, my challenge to each and every one of you is to listen. To hear what I have to say. And to look inside yourselves. To ask yourselves the tough questions. And for those of you who receive positive answers, to help. Even if you are in the field you need to be in, you can still help raise awareness of the need for counselors who specialize in intimate partner violence. And for those who don’t have special training in that particular field, you can help by being willing to refer their own clients to those who do...”

      Bloom was on a roll. Confident. She gave statistics. Mixed in with difficult, but potent personal anecdotes. She grabbed her scholarly audience by the throat. Figuratively.

      Much like she’d once been grabbed physically.

      She took them down her road with her. As a victim and also as a psychiatrist with a successful practice.

      Sparing them nothing, she made them feel her pain.

      And brought them to her happy ending.

      Thanks to a counselor who was a specialist in treating intimate partner violence, she was no longer a victim.

      She was a survivor.

      And it was up to all of them—herself included—to save every other victim out there.

      * * *

      SAM’S HOUSE WASN’T MUCH. The fact that it was a cottage not far from the beach was the nicest part. Inside, the floors were linoleum—old linoleum that, before his time, had likely been laid for its ability to withstand sand and water more than for its ambience.

      For his current purposes, however, the house was near perfect. Set up on a cliff, on private land, with only a skinny, private, fenced path down to the beach, it was the perfect place to hide.

      Or to have someone else hide.

      He’d spent Saturday morning cleaning the floors, the bathroom. Changed the sheets on both beds—his own and the one in the spare room. She could use whichever one she wanted.

      He’d even thrown the rug in the front room, the one Lucy thought was hers, in the wash.

      Probably should have given the Irish setter a trip to the tub, too, but his five-year-old mistress preferred to take her baths in the ocean—an arrangement which benefitted his bathroom walls—and he’d run out of time to make it down there.

      He’d stocked the fridge with vegetables and several salad dressings, eggs and milk. Chosen two different kinds of bread. Brought in a box of sensible cereal and a box of sugared, too. Three types of crackers, microwavable popcorn and ice cream bars. Colombian dark coffee and breakfast blend.

      He’d bought a new set of towels, two kinds of body wash, extra tissues, paper towels and toilet paper.

      He’d packed a bag. Found a room he could rent by the week where Lucy would be tolerated.

      And if he didn’t get his ass in gear, it would all be for naught.

      He had a plan. Possibly not his best, but the only one that was going to work.

      And just a little more than twenty-four hours to put it in motion.

      A little over twenty-four hours to convince a confident, intelligent, determined woman-in-charge that she was going to have to leave her home, her life and do exactly as he said.

      * * *

      BLOOM WAS IN her office late Saturday morning, just a few miles from The Lemonade Stand, having finished with her last client. She had a busy day planned—shopping to do, friends to meet in LA for a coffee house concert one of the women was playing in, a run on the beach—but was taking a moment to reflect.

      To breathe. And be present.

      Her speech the day before—and the lunch following—had been successful beyond her hopes. Lila had names of volunteers, counselors had Lila’s card and many of her peers had exchanged cards with each other—those with specific domestic violence training and those without. She’d given out contact names for members of the High Risk Team.

      And she’d talked Lila in to staying for lunch, her treat. She’d seen the woman, who was in her fifties, smile more that day than she could ever remember.

      And hoped it wasn’t just a reflection of the success of the morning. Bloom had no idea what Lila’s personal life looked like. The woman was like a phantom—at the Stand seven days a week and some nights. She had an apartment someplace close by, but didn’t appear to have any family. Or friends.

      Which wasn’t natural. And raised Bloom’s professional radar above comfort level.

      If anyone deserved to be happy, it was Lila.

      And she hoped she was.

      Because she had a few minutes before she had to leave for the city, Bloom caught up on enough world and state news that she’d be able to contribute to conversation at dinner that night.

      A headline caught her eye. Because of the name. There couldn’t be too many prosecuting attorneys named Trevor Banyon in Southern California.

      He’d been arrested on gun running charges. She wanted to open the article. Like a bystander wanted to get closer to a car accident. You just had to see. To know.

      But she knew better. Reentering any part of Banyon’s life would take her places she didn’t need or want to go. She’d left her past behind. And wasn’t going to let it pull her back.

      The past was an unhealthy place for her. The present, which contained her hopes for the future, was the road she was consciously traveling. A road that was already giving her a happy life.

      Closing the news app, she gathered her things, planning to leave straight for LA from the office. Her overnight bag was in the trunk of her six-year-old hunter green Jaguar.

      A gift from Ken—Dr. Kenneth Freelander—after he’d verbally brutalized her the first time. Before he’d started drugging her to keep her in line. She loved the car, as she’d once loved him. And kept it as a reminder that lemons could always be made into lemonade. That thorns had roses.

      That it was up to her what she saw when she opened her eyes in the morning.

      Out of the office, door locked, she nodded at a couple of people she knew, professionals who shared her office building, as she walked down the hall. Shared the elevator with a woman and a young girl, presumably patients, as they’d pushed the button for the fourth floor, which housed all pediatric and dental specialties.

      Bloom exited the elevator and then the building, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the bright sunlight. Even in July the California coastal air wasn’t smoldering with heat. But it was warm enough to be a comfort to her skin after spending several hours in air conditioning.

      A man approached her on the sidewalk. She moved to one side in preparation for their eventual passing, not really noticing him any more than she noticed any of the other patients СКАЧАТЬ