Total pages in book: 178
Estimated words: 170884 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 854(@200wpm)___ 684(@250wpm)___ 570(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 170884 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 854(@200wpm)___ 684(@250wpm)___ 570(@300wpm)
“Where’s Daddy?”
I don’t know and it’s killing me.
Smiling down at the little monster with a light that didn’t reach my eyes, I uttered, “He had to go away for work.”
Molly glanced at me from the table, frowning, and we exchanged a solemn look.
My son peered between us, before asking carefully, “When is he coming back?”
His hesitance slayed me.
I sat beside him and ran a gentle hand through his hair. “I’m not sure, baby.”
A couple days, he said. The note he left said a week. For all I knew, it would be months. Years, even.
Who knew?
My attitude grew more pessimistic by the second, and before I did something really dumb, like burst into tears for the fourth time this morning, I peered down at my little man, and said, “How about we put on a nice dinner tonight? I can call Ana and Julius.”
The little monster’s eyes lit up. “And Uncle Happy and Nikki and Dave?” When I nodded, he went on, “And Aunt Manda?”
A short laugh escaped me. “Yep. Uncle Zep and Nonno Tony too. Everyone.”
“Yes,” he offered immediately, grinning hard. And I was glad for it.
God knew I needed the distraction.
Twitch was noticeably absent during dinner, but only my wonderful, pushy Dave had the guts to ask the question everyone was thinking.
“Where’s Señor Gets-Mad-A-Lot?”
It was after dark. A.J. was in bed after overdosing on chocolate ice cream and passing out on Ana’s lap. Molly was in her room talking to Tama on the phone, which left me able to speak freely. “I don’t know.”
The entire table went silent, and I forced out a laugh before looking around. “Anyone have any idea where he went?” I settled my gaze on Happy. “With a duffle bag.” Then to Julius. “In the middle of the night?” My eyes turned to Papa Tony. “Anyone?” When I turned to face Zep, my voice hushed. “Because I’m going quietly crazy here with every hour that passes. I mean—” My desperate eyes found Nikki’s. “—I don’t even know if he is coming back.”
Nobody responded, and that in itself spoke volumes.
“Don’t be silly,” Nikki started surely, breaking the silence. “He wouldn’t do that.” Her tone lowered a decibel. “Not again.” But her confidence fell as she looked to Happy and found him peering at Julius, an unspoken question in his eyes. “Would he?”
Dave jeered, “Yes, he would.” He held his hands up in surrender and it was directed at me. “I’m sorry, babe, but....” At my pale and drawn face, he drifted off, knowing I wasn’t in the mood for his sass.
I held my empty wine glass out to Manda, and she filled it without hesitating. I twisted to face her. “He didn’t talk to you?”
I was desperate here. Completely frantic.
“No, sorry,” uttered Manda apologetically, putting a hand to my arm in consolation. She then nudged her husband.
Vander shrugged. “Didn’t say shite to me, darlin’.”
My head fell back and my face bunched in despair. “Jesus.” Putting a hand to my forehead, I smacked it, fighting tears, and spoke through gritted teeth. “Where is he?”
“Cuba.”
Dropping my hand, my eyes settled on Zep. “What?”
He cleared his throat. “He’s in Cuba.” When my lips parted and my brow knitted in query, he added, “Looking for someone.”
“How do you know this?” No offense, but, “Why would he tell you?”
But Zep kept quiet, torturing me with that intense stare of his.
My heart began to race. “Is he okay?”
Zep nodded slowly.
I swallowed past the lump in my throat. “You’ve spoken to him?”
An affirmative nod was all I got. Thankfully, it was all I needed, and when my body slumped and I could finally breathe again, Zep uttered, “Just trust him, okay?”
Trust him.
I was trying here. I really was.
I thought about it a long moment before taking in a deep breath, and letting out a breathy, “Yeah. Okay.”
And when I downed my entire glass of wine in one hit, nobody acted surprised.
My eyes scanned the empty driveway, wearily.
It had been three nights since Twitch had left, and although I checked my phone every few minutes, there were no calls. No text messages. Zero notifications.
My phone came up as empty as I felt.
But as exhausted as I was, I looked down at the ring on my left hand, and something inside me held onto the sliver of hope that was vying for attention.
He’s coming back. I know he is.
My heartbeat faltered.
He has to.
Walking back to my bedroom, I climbed into bed and did as I did every night.
I left a light on.
Chapter
Thirty-Six
Ling
What are you doing here, Ling Ling?
I don’t fucking know.
No matter how hard I thought about it, I couldn’t work out what chain of events lead to me being here today, but here I was, and I couldn’t leave. Not until I saw her.
Standing in the dim coolness of the crisp April evening, I lay in wait. Watching. Waiting for a glimpse. And when she finally came into view, my brow lowered in incredulity.