Mending Fences
by Sherryl Woods
Summary
Two families . . . bound by friendship . . . devastated by secrets
Recently divorced Emily Dobbs has shared a tight bond with her neighbor Marcie Carter for more than ten years. But the women, and the friendship between the two families, are devastated by the news of Marcie’s son’s unthinkable crime. Will the bond between these close friends be shattered forever once all the secrets come to light?
When things seem darkest, both Emily and Marcie discover that sometimes the best step toward a better future is mending fences with the past.
Excerpt
Grady Rodriguez had been a police officer for nearly twenty years, but he’d never gotten used to interviewing young women who’d been the victims of date rape. It wasn’t quite the same as talking to those who’d been assaulted by strangers. For those women, there was little ambiguity about the attack. It was usually random, unexpected, violent and degrading. It could happen to any woman at any age who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Date rape tended to happen to young, often inexperienced women who knew their attacker. They were left with a million and one questions about what they might have done differently, how their judgment about the guy could have been so wrong, why saying no hadn’t been enough. He’d responded to too damn many of those calls, listened to too many brokenhearted sobs, seen too many injuries.
In either case, the women questioned everything about themselves. They dealt with unwarranted shame, sometimes made a thousand times worse by the well-meaning reactions of the people who loved them. In all instances, it changed who they were, made them more cautious, less trusting. Sometimes it destroyed relationships or even marriages.
From everything he could see as he and his partner, Naomi Lansing, walked into the off-campus Coral Gables apartment where tonight’s attack had happened, Lauren Brown was typical. A pretty college student with shiny, long blond hair, she barely looked old enough to date. A kid that young shouldn’t have had her innocence stripped away in a manner that left her eyes glazed with pain and disillusionment. Seeing her huddled in a corner of the bed in her room in tears, Grady wanted to punch his fist through a wall, but Naomi was cool and calm, the kind of soothing presence the situation required.
Naomi’s compassion allowed him to remain in the background, to study the scene in a coldly analytical way. They were the perfect team for this kind of investigation, something he’d never have predicted back when they’d first been assigned to work together and every encounter had been a test of wills.
“She was like that when I came in,” Lauren’s roommate, Jenny Ryan, told them in an undertone. “Just rocking back and forth and crying. She said her date had hurt her, but she wouldn’t say anything else. She asked me not to, but I called nine-one-one anyway. The creep shouldn’t get away with this. I don’t care who he is.”
Something in her words gave Grady a chill, the hint that Lauren’s attacker was well known, perhaps well-respected in the University of Miami campus community.
“You did the right thing,” Naomi assured her. “We’ll take it from here. Could you wait in the other room?”
For a moment, Jenny hesitated. “I’m not sure I should leave her.”
Naomi sat on the edge of the bed, careful not to crowd Lauren. “You’ll be okay, right?You’re up to talking to me?”
Lauren’s head bobbed once, but she didn’t look up.
Reviews
http://bookloons.com/cgi-bin/Review.asp?bookid=8435
http://www.aromancereview.com/reviews/index.php?app_state=show_event&bookid=12330
Author's Biography
With her roots firmly planted in the South, Sherryl Woods has written many of her more than 100 books in that distinctive setting. Sherryl’s books all share the theme of enduring friendship. To support that theme, Sherryl launched a new blog site at http://www.justbetweenfriendsblog.com where women can gather to discuss issues near and dear to their hearts.