Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 99918 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99918 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
“Which are all things you can deal with tomorrow. Tonight let’s get our girl and go home. Focus, Teri. No matter what, Chloe shouldn’t have driven all the way back here during mid-term week. Agreed?” Dylan asked, and she glared at him before finally giving him an impatient nod. Dylan slowly lifted his fingers from Teri’s lips.
“How about this? Why don’t we blame this whole thing on social media and you play a huge part in that blame…” Teri started, but Dylan placed his fingers back over her lips again.
“No. Not tonight. Again something we can discuss after we get our daughter.” He didn’t care about civil liberties or the impact of social media at the moment. This was about Chloe and getting her away from the police station and home where she belonged, safe and sound. They could deal with the rest later.
Teri actually stomped her foot. She could have easily gotten out from under the slight pressure of his fingers as he held her lips together, but if nothing else, over the last nineteen years of their marriage, they’d become friends as well as each other’s sounding board. They respected one another.
When he heard their name called, he lifted a brow, but kept his fingers over her mouth. “I’m walking inside to get our daughter and then coming back outside where you’ll be right here. Correct?”
“Go, before I change my mind,” Teri said, stepping back as she crossed her arms over her chest. A last call came with their name again being yelled out into the masses. Dylan entered the lobby, and there stood Chloe, right beside the officer from before. He saw the apprehension in the officer’s scowl, but he ignored that and scanned his daughter to make sure she was in one piece. Besides the worry on her face, she looked okay, perhaps a little tousled, but in good shape.
“I’m Dylan Reeves,” he said to the officer, keeping his eyes on Chloe.
“Sir, you need to sign this paperwork saying you aren’t contesting any part of this.” Dylan quickly scribbled his name on the bottom of the form before Teri heard the rumor of this part of the deal and went nuts. There were so many issues with this night, the first being, technically, their daughter wasn’t a minor anymore. They held no responsibility.
“Thank you,” Dylan said and took hold of his daughter’s arm, pulling her along with him out to meet her mother. Out of all his children, Chloe was most like Teri. He could see the indignation forming on her face as the fear of being picked up by the police started to subside.
“It’s so stupid that the cops found out about this. I’m gonna strangle the person who posted this on Facebook,” Chloe said the second they got outside and she walked into her mother’s arms. Dylan didn’t have time to register those words as Allison broke free of her parents. The girls ran to each other, hugging out their frustrations. By the time he and Teri walked the distance to the girls, there were tears and rambling bits of an angry conversation shooting out between them.
“It’s just not fair. That stadium has been here since my granddaddy was a boy,” Allison exclaimed. For Dylan, that was a solid reason to destroy the old crumbling building. It had safety hazard written all over it.
“I know, and it was the stupid seniors from this year that put that post up on Facebook. We had it perfectly quiet on your dad’s network. No one would have known, and we would have been chained in before the wrecking crew got there in the morning!” That sent a whole new round of tears between the girls with Teri turning to glare at him. Great.
“Come on, you two. Let’s get you home. We can talk in the morning.” Holly wrapped an arm around Allison, guiding her toward their car.
“I have to get my car or they’ll impound it,” Chloe said after a big sniffle.
“Allison, where’s your car?” Jack asked.
“I rode with Chloe,” Allison answered.
Again, another great moment in this night from hell. Turned out, his daughter had been the instigator between the two of them.
“We’ll stop by and get your car, honey, and your dad can drive it home,” Teri said, wrapping an arm around Chloe.
“I’m sorry you had to come to the police station. I knew you were packing for your trip, that’s why I asked them to call dad,” she explained, hugging her mom tight. Dylan and Jack traveled a step or two behind them toward their parked cars.
“Call me about tee times this weekend.” Jack pointed toward Dylan as they walked toward their respective parking spaces. Dylan was smart enough to keep his mouth shut as Holly slapped at Jack’s arm.
“It’s not time to talk golf, Jack. This is serious.” Dylan smiled at their exchange and looked up to find Teri and Chloe already waiting by the car. She still looked mighty angry, with it all directed toward him.
He used the key fob to unlock the doors and held a finger up at Teri as they stared at one another over the roof of the car. Chloe’s eyebrows rose, and she quietly got inside the backseat and shut the door. “You and I will talk about this later. This is about her right now.” Teri kept that angry, focused gaze directed toward him. Her eyes spoke volumes and her stance never changed, but she didn’t say anything when they got inside the car.
Dylan started the engine and began to back out. “Where’s your car, babe?”
“We left it at McDonald’s and walked to the stadium to try and keep it more secret,” Chloe said, the tears had slowed as she stared out the backseat window. He braked the car in the middle of backing out of the spot.
“You walked almost a mile down Lovers Lane by yourselves? Chloe, do you have any idea how dangerous that is?” Dylan scolded, placing a hand on Teri’s seat as he turned fully back toward his daughter. Or someone that looked a lot like his daughter because no way any child he raised would be this reckless.