* * *
On her trips home after that Sam managed to dodge Mac, but her mother kept her up to date on his movements. Sam displayed not a flicker of interest in his doings, pretending complete indifference.
But secretly she garnered every scrap of information about him like a drowning man clutches at a scrap of wood. She re-read all the letters he’d sent to her over her growing years, admitting that she’d been an utter fool to put such store in his empty promises.