Her tire wasn’t only flat. It had been slashed.
Wendell could still remember how he had stood up and looked at her. The fear in her eyes was eclipsed by a raw embarrassment. She hung her head and a few tears fell onto the parking lot asphalt. It was early fall and not that cold. But it might as well have been snowing for how Alicia shivered.
For a long while they just stood there, the truth hanging between them. Something was deeply wrong. After a few seconds Alicia brought her hands to her face and her tears came in earnest. “I’m . . . sorry. I didn’t want you to find out.”
“Who did this?” Wendell touched her shoulder. “Alicia . . . please. Tell me.”
“I can’t.” She stepped back from him and glanced toward the road in front of the school. “I’m . . . so afraid.”
The moment might have happened a year ago, but Wendell could still feel the way his heart had melted for her. “Come here.” He held out his arms and despite her reluctance, she closed the gap between them. The smell of her perfume filled his senses and for a moment her trembling stopped.
But right when she had seemed comfortable in his arms, when Wendell was thinking this might just be where she actually belonged, Alicia pulled away. “I’m sorry.” She looked at him. “He might come by.”
“Who?”
She was shaking harder than before. “Can . . . we go inside?”
“Of course.” Wendell wanted to put his arm around her or take her by the hand. Anything to make her feel safer. Warmer. But she was clearly afraid of being seen with him. The two walked back inside and into his office. Wendell closed the blinds and motioned for Alicia to take the seat opposite him.
That’s when he heard the story. Every sad detail.
For the past few years Alicia had been dating Jack Renton. He was a well-bred accountant on the right side of the city. Alicia explained how at first things had gone well. Jack had money and connections and a Princeton education. He liked fine food and he had a penchant for extravagant nights on the town.
But then, according to Alicia, one morning she walked out of her house to find Jack sitting on the curb in front of her house. Right next to her car. He accused Alicia of staying out late and cheating on him—none of which was true. After that the man became increasingly possessive and threatening.
The slashed tire was another of Jack’s abusive ways. His attempt at punishing her for imagined offenses.
Wendell had listened to her story that day, and suddenly so much about Alicia Harris had become clearer. Wendell looked at her for a long moment. “Alicia . . . why are you still dating him?” Even if he couldn’t believe it, Wendell had to ask. “Is it because you’re afraid he’ll hurt you if you stop?”
Alicia tilted her chin, as if she was trying to save what little pride she had left. “He has his good days, Wendell. It’s just . . . he thinks I’m cheating on him. He watches me all the time.” She hesitated for a long moment. “Last night he took my cell phone. So he could check it.”
Wendell had been shocked. A year later the memory still surprised him. So that had been the reason Alicia couldn’t call for roadside assistance. Because Jack Renton had her phone. And her tire was slashed because whatever he’d seen on her phone had made him angry. Clearly.
That day, when Alicia’s troubles fully came to light, Wendell had looked her square in the face and told her the truth. “He’s a dangerous guy. You should end things. Immediately.”
For a long while she only stared at her hands. Her shoulders still shook. When she finally lifted her eyes to Wendell, she nodded. Her expression was dark with fear. “You’re right. It has to end.” She started to cry. “He’ll kill me. I know he will.”
Wendell couldn’t believe she was actually afraid Jack would kill her. Then Alicia admitted that Jack’s threatening behavior had been going on for two years. Wendell remembered being sick to his stomach. No wonder the light in Alicia’s eyes had grown dim.
And there in that moment Wendell’s sense of protection and attraction had come together in a rush of emotion greater than anything he had experienced in years.
Not since he’d lost Joanna.
He stood and walked to the other side of his desk. Then he reached out his hand. When she took it, when their fingers touched, Wendell wondered if he might spend the rest of his days loving Alicia Harris.
He drew her onto her feet and into his arms, and for the longest time he held her, running his hand along the back of her head. Her tears stopped and she let herself relax against him. This time she didn’t pull away. “I feel safe here, Wendell. With you.”
And like that Wendell was hooked.
Forever Wendell would remember the way it felt to hold her that day. He would do whatever he could to protect her and treat her the way she deserved to be treated. Alicia felt safe with him. She still did.
That day in his office had only been the beginning. Over the next few weeks Wendell met with Alicia after school. He would talk about God and the Bible, especially the verses that spoke of life’s battles. “God wants to fight those battles for you, Alicia. Do you believe that?”
She told him she did believe. But her faith had been stymied by two years of living in fear. Two years of letting Jack Renton dictate her actions and feelings and emotions. “It’s like I forgot God was there at all,” she had told Wendell one afternoon.
Wendell looked forward to their times together like nothing in all his life. This was different than his love for Joanna. He and Joanna had been confident in their relationship, comfortable with life and each other. Joanna didn’t need special protection.
Alicia did.
And that only intensified Wendell’s feelings for her.
Back then, after three weeks of meeting with Wendell, Alicia had been ready to break things off with Jack. Wendell prayed with her about the outcome, then she went home and called Jack. He had worked late that day, otherwise he would’ve been waiting for her at her house. The way he usually did.
Wendell had known this was Alicia’s one chance. He had even given her the words to say. I’m done. I want out. If you come here tonight, Jack, or any other time, I will call the police.
At first it seemed the plan had worked. Jack understood things were over, and he agreed to stay away. But nothing about Jack Renton was ever that simple. Jack was a master manipulator. Alicia was his target.
In the week that followed Jack sent her a series of messages apologizing and begging her to come back. He talked about the early days and how he had let stress from his job affect the way he treated her. He was sorry about being so intense, sorry about not trusting her and sorry she felt the need to move on.
Alicia took Jack’s apologies as proof that she was supposed to get back together with him.
And so began a roller coaster of events and emotions for Alicia. It was also the start of Alicia’s crippling panic attacks.
Wendell was there for it all—even before she’d been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. Before he knew about her panic attacks. Wendell was there time and again when Alicia got back together with Jack, and he was there each time Jack started his creepy, obsessive behavior again.