“Then how can you go get her if you don’t know where she is?”
I open my mouth to answer and then stall.Fuck it.The damn kid is right. Get to the end of our road, and there’s two options—left or right. After that, the possibilities multiply.
“Can I come?”
Jezabel takes a preemptive step forward.
“You ain’t had any breakfast.” It’s weak, but it’s the only deflection I have.
“I’m not hungry.” Molly drops the blanket and then grabs it with one hand, dragging it alongside her. “I can eat later.” She hustles over to where I stand and plain ignores me as she shoves her little shoes on.
Fuck.I lower myself to her height, elbows on my knees as I crouch.“It’s too dangerous, baby. You need to stay here.”
She glares up at me. “No.”
“Molly,” Jezabel says softly. “Come on. We can bake whatever you want so it’s ready when your daddy gets back with Jenna. Then we can all eat together.”
“I’m going with Daddy.”
Jezabel lifts her gaze to meet mine.
Hand to my daughter’s arm, I stare into her steeled gaze. “Baby. I need you to listen to me, okay?” Her lips purse, yet she stays quiet. “Some things Daddy does aren’t things we can do together. You know that. Some things I gotta do myself. What I need from you is to trust that you’ll always be here for me when I get back, because when I do things like this, I need to know where you are and that you’re safe. Okay?”
She turns the words over in her mind, head hung, before she toes her shoes off again. “Why can’t we do them together?”
“Because you’re too precious to me to risk getting hurt.” Because having that goddamn truck crash in on what should have been a quiet dinner shook reality awake—I can’t protect her from the unknown. And what I head off to do now is exactly that: the unknown.
“You’re precious to me too.” Molly throws her arms around my neck, blanket cascading over my shoulder as she briefly hugs me and then retreats toward Jezabel.
I swallow the rock in my throat and stand tall, committing this feeling to memory.
I’ve been reckless and ignorant most of my adult life, and I get why now: because I never hadthisto give me pause. Love. Somebody who depends on me. Needs me as I need them.
From the day Molly was born, she slowly wormed her way into my subconscious. It took until now to put a name to that itch.
I take a deep breath through my nose as I turn for the door. Rub a rough palm over my face after I drop down to the yard. And exhale heavily as I palm the truck keys. Anything to get my fucking head screwed back on straight. Emotions fuck with decision-making skills, reaction times, all the shit that keeps a man alive. I got no idea what I’m headed toward with Jenna, but I know I need to lock the fuck in.
I’ve messed her around long enough. Half-assed it plenty.
She deserves more this time around.
She deserves all of me. The shit that I’m too scared to say and do, and all.
I toss a few straps onto the bed of the truck along with a couple of rags in case I need them and then hoist the ramp over the side with an almighty clang as it joins the stash. Mind racing, I slide onto the driver’s seat and slam the truck door behind me, promptly stabbing the key into the ignition. Jenna’s got to have at least a ten-to-fifteen-minute head start by now. Depending on which way she turned, she’s either on the far side of Temperance or tearing up the interstate toward Minneapolis.
I crank the engine and slam it into gear. Stones fly when I tear out of the yard, punching through to Darko’s number on the dash as I drive.
He takes a few rings to answer. “None of you fuckers want me to sleep this morning, do you?” he grumbles in place of a polite answer.
“If I have to be awake, so do you.”
He huffs. “What’re you calling me for anyway? Didn’t think you were going anywhere today.”
“Can you get online and check the town cameras for me?”
“Why?” He drags the single word out, lining it with suspicion.
“Jenna took my bike.” I steel my jaw and brace myself for his ribbing. “I need to know what direction she’s headed.”
