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you tracked me down on my jog this morning because it was something I thought I was telling someone else I did…with my son! Oh my God, what if my baby was with me?”
    “Karli, I would never hurt you or Hunter…”
    “Stop it! Stop saying his name! Who do you think you are? Of course you’re stalking me. None of this was on accident. It was all by design. For months you’ve been lying to me.”
    “No…I’m just…I was just…”
    “You weren’t lying?” She hadn’t left yet. I think she was just trying so hard to make sense of what I’d done. I could have told her that the more she knew, the less sense it was going to make. Instead, I kept trying to explain it only making it worse as I did.
    “Yes, kind of. I mean I was lying about who I was, sort of. But I was being myself as much as possible…”
    “As much as possible?”
    “Well, I wasn’t sure what he told you about himself…”
    “You’re crazy.”
    I hated the look in her eye. It was disgust. I disgusted her. “I’m sorry, Karli. I really am. I was lonely…and you seemed so nice.” The fire was still in her eyes, but something softened in her expression. I think she was beginning to realize that I was simply a loser and maybe not dangerous. In a tone any mother or teacher would be proud of she said, “That’s no excuse. You can’t lie and justify it by saying you felt a certain way…And to top it off Leif still doesn’t even know he has a son. God, no wonder he hasn’t come home. He has no idea how to get in touch with me.” She pushed back her chair and stood up.
    I stood up too and said, “Karli, there’s something else.”
    “I don’t want to hear it. You should be so ashamed of yourself.”
    “I am, I really am, all the time. But Karli you need to hear this, he was never going to get that letter—even if I hadn’t kept it.”
    She narrowed her eyes at me and said, “What do you mean?” I almost couldn’t do it. I almost waited too long. She got frustrated again and started to walk away before I said, “Because he’s dead. He was killed, Karli, eleven months ago.”

CHAPTER FIVE
    PRESENT DAY
    KARLI
     
     
                  Leif and I stared at each other while everyone else at the table stared at us. Finally my stepfather said, “Do you two know each other?”
    “Yes,” Leif said.
    At the exact same time, I said, “No.”
    The truth was that I didn’t really know him. He’d lied to me so much. My best friend and Mack were the only two people I ever told about him. As far as my parents were concerned, Hunter was the product of an affair with a soldier who was killed in Iraq—and that’s the truth. This Leif was inconsequential.
    Blake Donavan stood up then. He was kind of a big, scary guy. He gave Leif a hard look and then said, “This is my associate, Leif Thompson. He’s the man I’m going to leave to guard you.”
    “Oh no! No way.” I stood up and held my arms out to my son. He was on my mother’s lap and he didn’t budge.
    Instead he made a pouty face and said, “You said we are staying the night with grandma.”
    “We have to go baby.” Mr. Donovan gave Leif another look. Leif hadn’t said a word so far.
    “Miss Baker, that’s not a good idea. It might not be safe. Whatever is going on here, I’m sure we can work it out.”
    “I’m not staying in the same house as him.”
    “Karli, what’s going on?” my mother asked. She looked worried. I looked at Frank, my stepfather, and he had the same worried look in his eyes. They’d both had more than their fair share to worry about lately. I suddenly felt bad.
    Before I could say anything, Blake said, “Will you excuse us for just a moment?” My parents were confused. They both just nodded, and then looked at me for an explanation. I wasn’t sure what to say, so once Blake and Leif were gone I told them Leif and I had gone out once or twice and it just hadn’t worked out. They had a lot of questions since I’d been so adamant