Page 92 of Night Hawk
Toni had taken her time packing her bag, waiting to hear the sound of the front door closing and the SUV taking off before creeping out of the bedroom she shared with Kelsey and Sierra. She was sad to leave them. Leave the whole family. But she had to get away to a place where there weren’t so many people who would advocate for Clay and cloud her mind and to allow them to talk freely.
She set down her suitcase at the door, plastered a smile on her face, and stepped into the family room. Peggy and Russ sat together, each reading a book, but Drake was missing. Maybe he was packing too.
She hated to steal him away from his family, and she really didn’t think she would need his protection. After all, no one had tried to kill her since the high school fire. But if it helped him and his family worry less, she would accept his help.
Peggy came to her feet. “Oh, sweetie, I’m so sorry you feel like you need to leave.”
“It’s okay, really.”
“No, it’s not. You’re our guest, and we treated you badly.”
“You were wonderful.”
Drake came down the hall and joined them.
“Clay is sick over what he did,” Peggy went on. “But I won’t try to defend him to you. That’s his job.” She eyed her son. “And onlyhisjob.”
“I got this, Mom. Don’t worry so much.”
“Mothers are made to worry.”
Drake’s dark eyebrow went up in a perfect arch. “What about you always telling us to trust God?”
“Trusting Him doesn’t mean that one of you won’t go and do something to create a problem.”
Case in point, Clay’s recent decision, Toni thought and waited for Drake to say it, but he didn’t.
She looked at him. “I booked two rooms at the Rugged Point Inn, and they’ll let us check in now.”
“Great. After you.”
“Wait,” Peggy said, and Toni expected a plea to stay, but she hurried to the kitchen and came out carrying a few containers. “I packed some goodies and snacks for the two of you.”
Toni took the containers and smiled at Peggy. “That was very kind of you.”
Peggy stepped closer and lowered her voice. “I want you to enjoy them, but it’s for your self-preservation too. Drake gets a bit ugly when he’s really hungry.”
“I can hear you, Mom.” Drake grinned.
“Well, you do.”
“I do at that.” He kissed his mother’s cheek. “Thanks for the snacks, and I’ll check in routinely.”
“Which means don’t keep bugging him with texts and phone calls, Peg,” Russ said, his tone joking.
Peggy grabbed Toni in a hug. “I hope we see you again.”
Toni didn’t think it was likely, evenifshe’d been invited to Sunday dinner, she would never join them now. So she kept her mouth shut and tried not to cry over Peggy’s kindness and the way she reminded Toni of her mother.
Drake picked up Toni’s bag.
“We’ll come back for my boxes of records.” She hurried out the door with the containers still smooshed against her chest from the hug.
Drake inserted his key in the passenger door and unlocked all the doors. “I’m surprised you don’t have electronic locks on this fancy vehicle.”
“We did but found out they were hackable. So we replaced them with old-fashioned keys.”
She set the containers on the floor and turned back while he put their bags in the back. She went inside to move two of her file boxes to the door and took one last look around the dining room to be sure she had everything and that she was only leaving Ziegler’s and Clay’s files.
