The Healing Place. Leigh Bale

sidewalk, hands in his pants’ pockets, staring after her.

      Too close. Too close.

      She had promised herself she wouldn’t become friendly with him. But she’d ended up telling him things she hadn’t confided to anyone, not even herself.

      Her heart slammed against her chest. She almost ran a red light and the breaks squealed as she forced herself to slow down. She pulled over and stopped the car at the side of the road, trying to calm her nerves before she killed someone—probably herself.

      “Oh-hh,” she groaned, and leaned her head against the steering wheel.

      She brushed angrily at the tears falling down her cheeks. “I don’t believe in You, God. You’ve never been there for me. Why should I believe in You?”

      Silence filled her heart. A dark, forbidding void that left her feeling vacant as she stared out her windshield.

      Wiping her nose and eyes, she tried to calm her shaking hands and struggled to think of something else. She had two days before Mark came to pick her up to take her shopping. Two days to settle her nerves and gain control.

      “I can do this.” She clenched her hand and pounded it against the dashboard. “I know I can do this. I won’t become emotionally involved with him and I won’t let him get close to me ever again.”

      No matter what, she was not going to start to care for him or his sweet little daughter.