Chapter 34

One week from today, the trial would start.

I'd had a hard time focusing and an even harder time not allowing myself to worry. Shelly had hovered-likely at Dax's insistence. I appreciated the way she got me to talk without asking me to do so directly, and having her around was reassuring. She wasn't my mama, but she came in a close second.

Most everyone was out to lunch when the front door opened. The staff used the back entrance, so I knew it was someone who needed attention. I hopped up from my desk and excused myself from story time with Shelly to go see who it was. When I entered the front room, I was paralyzed. Josh Fost stood in the doorway with a tool bag in his hand. There were no words-fear and panic set in simultaneously, drowning out reality. I stepped away from his forward motion and ran into the wall, my hands splayed against it for support as the images from the assault flooded my memory. I glared at him intensely as he proceeded toward me, and I screamed, "No, pleas