Page 8 of A Constant Reminder

“No, he won’t. I’ll make sure he pays for this.” I said the words with such conviction that the tiny speck of doubt running through my mind was almost chased away. Almost.

I knew the police in Boston would take this much more seriously than the small-town force back in Kansas, but something still wasn’t sitting right with me. James would certainly have something up his sleeve.

“I just don’t understand why he’s coming after her after all this time. Why not just let it go? He got away with it the first time,” I said.

Jessie shook his head. “James’ pride has always been his biggest downfall. Sammie made him look like a fool that night she dumped him.”

“But I mean he got his revenge, right? He had everyone blaming her.”

“Yeah, people thought Sammie was at fault for a long time, and some still do think that. But there were still whispers. It didn’t take long for people to start questioning if Sammie’s story was true. He still tried to play the perfect gentleman, but some were beginning to see right through it. James left town shortly after Sammie, but we heard he moved to Texas.”

This was all new information to me. “Does Sam know any of this?”

Luke spoke this time. “Needless to say, Sammie doesn’t really want to talk about him much. Honestly, she doesn’t want to talk about the town very much at all, so we leave it alone. We are lucky she comes home at all for visits when it’s her own personal hell.”

Jessie spoke again, “Yeah, that’s why we don’t give her shit about not wanting to leave the house. She’s terrified of what people might say to her, or worse - she might run into him.”

“Only now, he’s found her. In the place that was supposed to be her safe haven,” I muttered wondering if we shouldn’t go back to the house once we left the hospital.

My thoughts were interrupted when a nurse entered. “Mr. Wendell…Sam’s awake and asking for you.”