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)
Lou and Boomer were watching them, both heads moving as though this was a tennis match and they couldn’t take their eyes off it.
She was coming on way too strong, and Boomer’s girlfriend was obviously not going to take her crap. Daphne took a long breath. “I’m sorry if I sound rude. I’ve been panicking because Boomer didn’t say much beyond apologizing for a bird.”
MaeBe’s shoulders relaxed. “Yeah, I probably should have been the one to call you. Lou showed up around four, and she’s been here ever since. I’ve got a basic description of the man she thought was following her. I pulled the security cameras, but we didn’t find anything.”
“I think I just freaked out,” Lou admitted.
She stared at her daughter for a moment. “What were you thinking?”
Lou’s eyes filled with tears. “I didn’t want to go to Grandmother’s. And I couldn’t call her anyway because I forgot my phone.”
What was she doing? She wasn’t going to have this argument in front of the way too attractive couple. She turned to Boomer. “I appreciate you looking out for her. Thank you. I’ll take it from here, and I’ll make sure she doesn’t bother you again.”
“She wasn’t a bother,” Boomer assured her. “We had fun. She helped me walk Puddles and Sprinkles. And then we made some pasta primavera while MaeBe was running her programs. It’s almost done. We’ve got garlic bread and a salad, too.”
Lou grinned. “It’s a lot of food.”
“You’re welcome to join us and we can talk about what happened,” Boomer offered. “I think she’s okay, but I wouldn’t hate checking out the school with her tomorrow afternoon just to make sure no one’s hanging around.”
Stay and eat with the happy couple when she was crazy angry with her daughter? That seemed like a treat for Lou and total punishment for her. Her righteous anger might subside from having a belly full of food she hadn’t cooked herself, and she needed her rage. Lou had gone too far. “No, but thank you. It’s kind of you. I think I need to take my daughter home and we need to have a long talk. Thank you, again. Louisa, get your backpack.”
“Come on,” MaeBe offered. “I’ll help you get your things.”
Lou looked like she wanted to argue, but Daphne sent her what she hoped was her “do my will, child, or I can take you out of this world” look. Lou sighed and turned to follow MaeBe back into the living room.
“Are you okay?” Adon…Boomer asked. There was a look of deep sincerity in his blue eyes, as though he actually gave a damn about her answer.
“I’m good now that I know she’s safe.” She was lying about the good part. She was shocked at the risks her daughter was taking, but she couldn’t tell that to the gorgeous, probably never worried about anything man. The last thing he would want would be to listen to her whine about how hard it was to be a single mom, how hard it was to be a widow.
How hard it was to worry every second of the day that she was going to fail and she had no one to help her.
“So you work at a bakery?” Boomer asked. “That’s cool.”
“I own it.” She glanced around. There was the aforementioned bird, and she was pretty sure she’d seen a cat slinking around in the background. How many animals did this guy have? She was pretty sure it was more than the building allowed.
“Oh, you’re Daphne. Because it’s called Daphne’s Delights.” He nodded as though satisfied he’d figured out the mystery. “Lou told me all about it. She’s proud of you.”
That wouldn’t save her. “I’m proud of her, too. Usually. I can’t believe no one told me about Mrs. Callahan. She’s watched Lou ever since we moved in here.”
“She wrote a note. She moved fast once she got that phone call. I left it in your mailbox.” He frowned, an expression that did nothing to change how handsome he was. “Now I wonder if I left it in the wrong one. I’m not great with numbers, but I would think I could figure out which one is yours. It’s right beside mine. I would have hand delivered it, but I was late for work.”
Just last week Lou had helpfully offered to check the mailbox on Saturday. What perfect timing for her ever so smart kiddo. “Oh, I suspect you got it exactly where it needed to go.”
“I’m sorry.” Lou was back, and both dogs were at her side, including the obviously ferocious one. And the pit bull. The Chihuahua’s tail thumped against the carpet as though she was ready to launch herself at anything or anyone who got in her way.
“Not as sorry as you’re going to be,” she said before thinking about the fact that she was with strangers who could call Child Services on her. After all, she was so clueless she’d let her twelve-year-old daughter run around the streets of Dallas by herself. “Thanks again.”