Hitting the accept button, I answered. “Hello.”
“Is Stormi okay?” It had been the same question she’d asked me every time but something in her tone put me on alert.
Each time she’d called before, I could tell she was worried. That was to be expected, she was a mother. But this time her voice was clipped and laced with a franticness that screamed something was not right.
“Lake, what’s wrong?”
“Bronson, please tell me my daughter is fine, and do it now!”
I grabbed Stormi’s hand and moved us to the couch as I spoke. “She is right here and perfectly fine. We were just playing hide-n-seek inside.”
A rush of breath whooshed through the line.
Knowing her daughter was safe beside me may have appeased her some but I could still feel the tension she was experiencing through the line, which was causing my own to rise.
“Talk to me, sweetheart. What’s going on?”
Lake sucked in air and I realized that it probably had something to do with the endearment. She acted the same way when I had used her nickname the day before. I knew she was probably shocked that it came from me and also uneasy about it as well.
Can you blame her after how you treated her?I thought to myself.
“Have you noticed anyone outside or around the house while you were there?”
Her question had me standing and I instinctively pulled Stormi up into my arms with me as I went. The sweet girl's face tipped down into a frown as if sensing something wasn’t right. She had good instincts because my gut was screaming the same thing. I didn’t want to scare her though so I gave her a smile.
“Nobody,” I answered to settle her nerves, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to check it more thoroughly once off the phone and I had Stormi settled. Lake had to be asking for a reason and there had already been conversation that someone had been snooping around her place previously.
“I think this sweet girl here would like to talk to you and then once I have you back on the line you can explain better.” Handing the phone to Lake’s daughter, I settled her back on the couch to talk while I checked the locks on the door and took a quick peek out the windows.
I vowed right then and there, she was getting cameras and an alarm system put up as soon as possible. Hell, I was even going to pay for it. Lake wouldn’t be happy with that decision, but she would just have to live with it.
When I wandered back toward the couch, I could see that Lake had done a good job of releasing that tension I’d felt grip Stormi’s body when I was holding her. She was laughing atsomething her mom had said and when she looked at me, she had a twinkle in her eye.
Then she said, “He eats a lot, won’t sing, and he’s so big it’s hard for him to find a hiding spot. But it has been so much fun hanging out with him!”
A deep chuckle rumbled up from my chest as I shook my head at the little turkey. Stormi smiled at me, laughing along with me. Then she cupped her small hand around the phone and whispered into it.
But I could still hear her.
“I think he’d make a good daddy instead of an uncle.”
Holy shit!
I could hear Lake’s gasp through the phone from where I stood, it was so loud. Me, I’d sucked in a gulp of air and my heart was beating at warp speed. Lake must have said something else but did it so quietly I didn’t hear.
“Here you go.” Stormi jumped from the couch and handed me the phone. “Mom needs to talk to you and she said I could watch one episode ofPaw Patrolbefore I need to go to bed. But you have to read to me before I go to sleep,” she announced nonchalantly as though she hadn’t just dropped a bomb of a comment a few seconds before.
Taking the cell from her on autopilot, my mouth still slightly hanging open in shock, I put the phone to my ear. Stormi grabbed the remote. She began quickly and flawlessly moving through the apps to find what she was looking for.
“Bronson, are you there?”
Lake’s voice filtered through the line, grabbing my attention. “Yeah, I’m here.”
I wondered if I should tell her that I’d heard what her daughter said, but she seemed to know.
“From the shock I can still hear in your voice, I’m guessing you heard what Stormi said.” Lake let out a sigh. “I’m sorryif that made you uncomfortable. She is just a little girl who probably sees what other kids have and wishes for the same thing.”
Fuck. I could hear the defeat in her tone. She wouldn’t want her daughter to miss out on anything, especially something as monumental as a father when she knew it was what Stormi hoped for.
