“Oh god, that’s great news, David. Send Teresa my love, and tell Filipe I will send him a new superhero to keep his Superman doll company.”
“What Superman doll?” David asked.
“I gotta go; we’re arriving at the courthouse.”
“Good luck. Call us later, okay? No matter what time.”
* * *
His back was turned, but I would have recognized him in the middle of a crowd. If he was a needle in a haystack, my eyes would be the magnet that would find him.
“Max!” I cried. He turned around as I ran straight to him.
I caught his mouth like I needed to catch a breath. His arms were strong and tight around me. I didn’t care that we were on the steps of the courthouse or that everyone could see our display of affection. I wanted to touch him and never let him go.
“Baby,” he said in my ear as he inhaled my scent, “fuck you smell nice. I missed you so much.”
“I missed you, too. So fucking much,” I said between kisses to his neck. “You need a shower, though.” The rumble in his chest made me all hot inside, and I nearly forgot we had an audience.
“Micah!”
I turned to see Lucy hugging a tall guy I hadn’t noticed was standing next to Max.
“Hey, how about me,” Max called out.
Lucy came over and placed herself between us, hugging Max tightly. “Hey, big brother.”
“Hey, little sister. How was your date yesterday?”
“It was good. I’m sure Isaac will fill you in.”
I winked at Max, and he smiled back before kissing Lucy’s curly hair. “Lucy, I will do everything I can to keep you with me. I promise.”
“I know, Max. I love you.”
Max said, “I love you, too,” as he pulled her into a tight hug.
“We should go. We have a room we can use to prepare for the hearing,” the big blond guy said as he shook Peter’s hand.
“Isaac, this is Deputy Chief Micah Nowac. He’s the reason they kept me in jail overnight.”
“What?”
“Calm down, let’s go inside. I’ll explain when we get in.”
The room we were in was set up like a conference room with a big TV screen at one end and a whiteboard at the other. Peter took a seat, and Micah sat next to him. They went through Peter’s notes, although I still didn’t know what Micah’s role was in all this. Max pulled me and Lucy to the opposite side of the table and sat between us, holding our hands.
We spent the next hour preparing for the hearing. Peter explained the order in which everything would happen. He prepared us in case we were called.
“If I’m honest, I hope you are all called to the stand. You both have reputable jobs, no convictions, and it’s clear you really care about Lucy.”
“Does it go against us that Lucy hasn’t been at school?” I asked. I was afraid this would be a sticking point, but the reason we’d agreed to keep her off for now was because we weren’t ready to face questioning from the school about Lucy’s whereabouts and were worried it would somehow be fed back to her dad.
“There’s a small chance, yes, but Lucy ran away before she came to you, so there are extenuating circumstances.”
“Will they be here?” Lucy asked.
“Who, sweetheart?”
