Chapter 57

I reached over to him and covered my hands over his. “Let it go,” I said.

He looked bewildered, speechless, staring around at the other parishioners emptying the room.

I caught his eye. “Don’t carry these hard feelings with you. They’ll eat you up.”

I watched his chest rise, as he inhaled and held it for a few seconds. Exhaled, then asked, “They’re more like demons.” He turned to me. “Do you have them? Demons, I mean?”

“How can you not in this life?”

“So, how do you deal with them?”

“Talking about it, like you’re doing now.”

“How does someone who’s messed up his or her life find the strength to keep going?”

His words recalled a period in my past I wanted to forget. My ex-boyfriend, Russ, flickered across my mind. I smiled at Bret. “Our past does not define us. But we cannot run away from it either. You have to face your fears, whatever they are. Deal with them head on. Then they won’t hurt you anymore.”

“I feel lost, like I’ve been through war.”