It had taken a few tries, but Sloan was sure she had the gist of the story. Drew had told the girls that he wanted them to move back to Seattle to live with him permanently. When they’d refused, he made a comment about them liking Rafe more than him. Sloan could just hear his tone, backhanded and condescending. Avery told him that was in fact the case and that soon Rafe would be their new daddy, and they wouldn’t need to visit Drew at all. Drew demanded clarification and the girls had some for him. Addison had seen Rafe and Mommy kiss and that meant that Rafe liked Mommy and Mommy liked Rafe.
Sloan could only picture how Drew had flown off the handle. It was bad enough that he was so pissed that he got on a plane. Sloan tried not to picture what would have happened if Rafe had shown up to the airport to get the girls by himself. Or worse, if Drew had shown up at the house.
Two older women and a man a little older than Sloan had come to check on them, asking if they were okay. The three teen girls stayed and one of them had recorded the whole thing. One of the women was still hanging around with her husband. They didn’t say anything else, but Sloan appreciated the silent support.
The officers took Drew somewhere and separated her and Rafe in the terminal so they could question them both. They were done speaking with Sloan, but two cops were still talking to Rafe a few baggage carousels away.
“Mommy, did we get Rafe in trouble with daddy and the police?” Avery asked.
“No, baby. You didn’t at all. Your daddy made a bad choice and did a bad thing. You are not responsible for that.”
Sloan looked up as one of the cops who had just been speaking to Rafe approached her. “Mrs. Copeland. We have your husband—”
“Ex-husband and it’s Dr. Copeland.”
“I’m sorry. Dr. Copeland. Would you like to press charges?”
“That’s not up to me. He attacked my friend, not me.”
“Mr. Whitcomb believes that Mr. Ballos isn’t a threat to him. He said that would be up to you.”
“I—I might have to. He’s not even supposed to be here. They usually fly unaccompanied.”
“We’ll hold him for a few hours and then put him back on a plane to Seattle.” Sloan was reminded then that it was almost Tuesday. There was no way Drew didn’t have patients in the morning. How could he have been so stupid. Reckless rage caused you to do stupid things, apparently.
“I might have to file a restraining order.”
“That might not be a bad idea.”
Finally, the officers exchanged four different head nods, then let Rafe go. He came right back to them and Addison ran into his arms. He scooped her up and hugged her close. “We can go.”
Just then, one of the teen girls came rushing over to them. “Hi. Sorry, we recorded the whole thing. Me and my friend, you know, just in case the cops got out of hand.”
“Thank you,” Sloan said, fighting back tears. Sloan could easily picture how much worse the situation could have gotten.
“We can email you the videos. Just in case you need them for, like, legal purposes or whatever.”
Rafe looked at Sloan. “That’s not a bad idea.”
The girl waved over her friends and the three of them sent her all the footage they had. She thanked them and the couple who had hung around just in case, and then finally all parties went their own way.
“We’re gonna go home now, okay?” Sloan told the girls as they walked to short-term parking. After they got them settled in their car seats, Sloan caught Rafe’s eye as they both moved toward the front of the car. He looked at her over the hood.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Not at all. You?”
“Nope. You find out what set him off?”
Sloan didn’t want to make Rafe even more upset, but he needed to know everything. “Addison saw us kissing. She might have seen more.”
The color drained out of Rafe’s face. “And she told him.”
“Yup. I’ll tell you the rest later.”
“Yeah, okay.” They climbed in the car and Sloan immediately turned and leaned between their seats. She wiggled Addison’s foot.
“You okay, my love bugs?”
