Don't go there. There's no need.
The sting of rejection is there, regardless. Especially if that car belongs to a new caretaker.
I inhale deeply before getting out, but as I do, I hear yelling.
"Stop it!" Madi says. "You're crazy!"
I freeze briefly before I race for the carport and see Madi, Dani, and a strange woman. "What's going on here?"
Dani is frozen, straddling her bicycle and watching her cousin and the woman with saucer-wide eyes, but when she sees me, she dumps the bike and runs toward me. She wraps her arms around my legs and holds tight. She isn't crying, but she is trembling, and that brings out the mama bear in me I'm only just developing.
"Don't let her take her away," Dani whispers in a desperate tone.
Take her away? Realization dawns as to the woman's identity, and the resemblance hits me first. Not in beauty or softness but in the sharp edge of anger and fear stamped all over Madi's face. "You must be Pam."
Pam doesn't take her eyes off Madi to acknowledge me. "Madison, I don't have time for this. Get your crap and get in the car. Now."
"I can't leave Dani," Madi says.
The woman waves her hand at me.
"Someone's here now. Get. Your. Crap."
My heart picks up speed and I take a breath, brain scrambling to figure out how to deal with this situation. "Madi, have you called Kace?" I ask.
My question draws the woman's attention, and she glares at me.
"Leave my saintly brother out of this. She's my kid. Not his. How dare he inform me he's going for custody?"
I blink at the woman and move closer, holding Dani's hand safely tucked in mine. "You left Madi here without a word," I somehow manage to say calmly, aware of Madi quickly typing out a text. The girl's thumbs fly over the phone, but I try to give her the time and distraction she needs to contact her uncle.
Pamela lifts her shoulder in a shrug. "For a visit. I said I'd be back. I'm back."
"You left her months ago," I say. "You haven't responded to calls or texts."
"I texted Mads."
"Once," the girl said. "One time the entire summer. Just go away again. Leave me here. I don't want to go with you. You're not even going home."
To me, Madi says, "She got us evicted. She wants me to go live with her boyfriend of the month and be groped every time I turn around."
Pam's face heats up like a red pepper. "How dare you!"
"See? You always defend them! Not me."
"I've never let them hurt you."
"You don't think the awful things they say to me hurt?"
Pamela stiffens. "You're my kid, and you're coming with me. Go get your crap, or it'll get left behind, and you'll have nothing."
Pamela moves toward Madi, and the girl quickly steps back, which infuriates the woman.
I scramble to think of something to diffuse the moment. "Pamela, can we— Can we go inside? Sit down and get a drink? Have a conversation?"
Pamela sends me a derisive glare. "Who are you?"
"She's Lindsey," Dani says, her voice squeaking a bit from her fear. "She's our friend."
