Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 71110 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71110 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Had a bird murdered Mrs. Callahan?
Her brain was whirling. Lou would need a good therapist. Her in-laws would lose their shit and demand who knew what. They could be so unreasonable, and they held the purse strings. Lou could lose her place at school.
The world would end.
Well, her world.
She knocked on 15D, her heart threatening to pound out of her chest.
It took forever for the door to open, and then her heart was pounding for a different reason.
The man was heartbreakingly gorgeous. He was at least a foot taller than her, with shoulders that barely seemed to fit in the doorway and a body that had been perfected in a gym. Sandy blond hair that was the slightest bit shaggy and a beard that would tickle across her…
“Where’s my daughter?” Lou was missing and she was drooling over the guy next door. What kind of mother was she?
The big guy grinned, an expression that lit up the hallway. “She’s inside. She’s fine. Just a little scared. She’s inside with MaeBe.”
“Maybe? She’s maybe fine or she’s fine?”
His head tilted slightly, like an overgrown golden retriever trying to figure out what was going on. “She’s good. I haven’t figured out if she was actually being followed or if it was a coincidence. MaeBe pulled up the security cams, and no one followed her inside.”
Followed her? “Someone was following my daughter? I need to see her.”
She heard a dog barking and then Lou was standing behind Adonis. “Hey, Mom. I’m sorry I left my phone at school.”
Finally she was able to breathe. She brushed past Adonis and dropped to one knee. “Are you all right? What happened? Where is Mrs. Callahan?”
Lou flushed, her cheeks going the bright red they always did when she realized she’d gotten caught. “Uhm, about that…”
“Mrs. Callahan is in Houston with her sister,” Adonis—she really needed to get his name—said. “She had a heart attack last week. Her sister, that is. Mrs. Callahan went down to take care of her. I took her to the airport myself. I don’t think she’s back yet.”
Daphne stood. “Last week?”
“I can explain,” Lou said, her eyes wide.
“Somebody should.” Daphne heard the steel in her words, the ice coming over her because something had gone wrong and no one had bothered to mention it to her. What had Lou been doing?
Adonis’s eyes had gone wide, too, and he stood next to Lou like her massive accomplice. “Uhm, see, Mrs. Callahan has a sister and she had a bad heart…”
He was freaking adorable, but she had no time for it right now. “I meant about today, Mr….”
“Boomer,” he replied.
“Mr. Boomer.” Weird name, but she was going with it. “I meant…”
“It’s just Boomer,” Lou corrected. “His real name is Brian, but that’s a family name like Louisa, and he doesn’t like it any more than I do.”
“Louisa’s not bad. It’s a nice name,” the man named Boomer corrected, his expression gentle.
Lou looked up at him. “I was talking about Brian. You don’t like Brian.”
Boomer’s nose wrinkled. “Yeah, it kind of sucks. Boomer’s better. Except here. Everyone thinks I’m from Oklahoma because of the OU football team, and people in Texas have serious opinions about that. I’m not though. I’m from Seattle.”
Oh, it was obvious these two had found a rapport, and it was adorable and she had to shut it down. “I want to know what happened today.”
“Lou walked home from school and she thought someone was following her,” a soft voice said. “So she came up here and asked if she could stay until you got home.”
A pretty young woman with dark hair stood in the living room, and there seemed to be a dog behind her. A big dog. Its head peeked around the young woman’s legs and then darted back like it was trying to hide behind the maybe hundred-and-twenty-pound female.
“And you are?”
“That’s MaeBe,” Boomer said.
The younger woman’s brows had risen as though she’d heard the sharpness in Daphne’s tone and didn’t appreciate it. “I’m Mae Beatrice Vaughn. Would you like ID?”
Daphne knew she’d sounded rude, but her daughter had spent the afternoon with complete strangers, and she was flustered. She’d seen Boomer around, but the goth chick was brand new. “I would like to know why my daughter didn’t tell me her babysitter is no longer in the city. I would like to know why she came to you instead of calling her grandparents. And I would like to know why Boomer here didn’t answer his cell phone. It’s obvious he has one since he called me and left a cryptic message about birds.”
MaeBe stepped forward. “No idea about the babysitter. You’ll have to ask Lou. I suspect she came here because it was closer than anywhere else she could go, and she was scared. The bird is a parakeet with some salty language. Boomer didn’t teach her. That was our boss. And Boomer didn’t answer his cell phone because we’re not sure where it is. He’s supposed to leave it on the bar, but he put it down on the table and that’s not high enough. Puddles likes to steal his phone. I suspect he takes it because he knows Boomer won’t leave the condo without it. He’s got abandonment issues. And I suspect your tone is scaring the poor pup right now. He tends to pee when he’s scared, and that will be on you.”