Jobe: Alvarez Security Series Read Online Free Page A

knowing she had caused that second of pain. “You don’t have to answer,” she quickly stated.
    He reached across the table and rested his hand on hers. “It’s okay, Ma. You’re right, all my friends are settling down and I know you’re chomping at the bit for more grandchildren.”
    She shook her head as she squeezed his hand. “Oh no, son. That’s not it. I mean of course I’d love more grandchildren, but Jobe, honey, I just want to see you happy…like before.”
    Silence once again settled as they sipped their coffee. “Can I ask if you ever tried to find her—”
    “No,” he bit out sharply, then immediately softened his voice. “Sorry, Ma. No, I didn’t. After what I did to her…well, she did often write, begging me to not walk away from what we had. But I never wrote back. Then finally I got one last letter that said that she was giving me what I wanted and that was her out of my life.”
    She watched her son relate his story, seeing the searing pain in his eyes. “You don’t have to talk about it, Jobe. I shouldn’t have asked.”
    He inhaled deeply before slowly letting it out, then continued, “By the time I was getting out of the service and into counseling, I realized I had thrown away the best part of me. Not only thrown it away, but shredded it, stomped on it, and then threw it away.”
    “I used to love it when you would bring her over for Sunday dinner. Her parents were so sweet too,” Rachel reminisced. “I never told you this, but I tried to reach out to them, but they had moved when she graduated and I never knew where they went.”
    “I thought about trying to find her,” he admitted. “Not to contact her, but just to see. With the resources Tony has it would be easy.”
    Cocking her head as she gazed at him, she asked, “So what’s stopping you?”
    He ruefully looked directly into her eyes and replied, “I want her to be happy. You know? Met some great guy, fell in love and be living her dreams now in a nice house with a white picket fence. And maybe had a baby or two.” He sighed again before continuing, “But since it can’t be with me, then I honestly don’t know if I can handle seeing pictures of her living the dream with someone else.”
    She nodded, not saying anything. After a few minutes, Joseph called from the living room asking if anyone was going to watch the game with him. Rachel shook her head in exasperation as she rose from the chair, taking their empty cups to the sink. Looking over her shoulder, she said, “You go on in and sit with your father, Jobe. Me and God have some more dishes to take care of.”
    *
    That night, lying in bed, sleep was not coming to Jobe. He climbed out of the bed and softly padded over to his closet. Kneeling in the corner where he kept his Army footlocker, he opened it. Among some of his memorabilia, he pulled out a small packet of letters. The letters that she had sent after he broke off their relationship. After he had destroyed the others. He knew them by heart. The first ones, full of begging promises and tearful pleadings from someone with a broken heart. He shifted them around in his hands until his fingers moved to the one in the back. The last one. The one where her anger had finally won the day and she poured it out on him. Deservedly so.
    Replacing the letters back in the chest, he closed it methodically. Crawling back into bed he lay there until the morning light peeked through the blinds.

Chapter 3
    M ackenna Dunn expertly parallel parked her little car in front of the brick building, set back from the road. She glanced to the seat beside her and saw the curious, but nervous face of her passenger.
    “Come on,” she said brightly. “Let’s get you settled.”
    Mackenna stepped out of her car and leaned into the back seat to grab the small suitcase and two grocery bags. She led the way up the steps and used her key to open the door. The young woman followed obediently. They passed the front room, occupied with