Page 94 of Trial By Fire
The two glare daggers at each other, and I let them, too tired to intervene. "I got the message after you agreed to give me custody."
"But you didn’t tell me," she says, scoffing.
"No, I didn’t. Pam, Madi's been gone all night, and I have no idea how she managed to make it to where she is now. Shouldn't you be glad she's been found and in one piece instead of upset?"
Once again, her expression changes to one of guilt and regret, and I wonder if she's that clueless when it comes to emotions. That removed. It doesn't matter. I don't want to waste time here arguing with Pam. I want to see Mads. Make sure she's okay.
And then… talk to Lindsey about what she'd said in her text this morning.
"Fine. Have it your way. I'll just wait here while you go get her."
Sully holds out one of his big hands. "Keys."
"What?" Pam asks.
"Give me your keys, or I take them," Sully adds. "You're not following us and stirring things up."
"You're unbelievable."
"So I've been told."
"Recently?" I ask, curious as to who he referred to. I might have been extra moody at the wedding yesterday, but I'd seen Sully and Violet talking, and things had looked a bit heated.
Sully shoots me a glare before turning back to my sister. When she doesn't budge, he grabs her bag and digs inside, fisting her keys and holding them away from her while she curses him.
I grab my crutches and stand. "Be back later. Don't burn the house down."
Sully follows me out the door while Pam's still going on about overbearing jerks along with a few other descriptive words.
We climb back into Sully's truck and as he pulls out of the driveway, he asks where we're heading.
"The bookstore."
"For real?"
"Yeah. Apparently she made it back to Bronwyn's and let herself in."
"The one place we didn't think to look. Smart girl."
"Yeah." Smart. Vulnerable. And now mine.
Sully takes the side streets to get us there, and we park behind Lindsey's car. I see the lights on in Bronwyn's loft, and when we get out of the truck, I hear Dani coming down the stairs to the gate.
"Daddy!"
"Hey, Dani-girl. I've missed you."
"I've missed you, Daddy."
"Hey, what about me?" Sully asks, reaching out to tug on her hair.
"I missed you, too." She lowers her voice. "But do you know the secret?"
Sully and I chuckle at Dani's question. "Yeah, baby girl, we do. You going to let us in?"
Dani opens the gate, and Sully swoops Dani up, swinging her around a few times and getting some giggles before he sets her down, and the three of us make our way upstairs.
I see Lindsey and Madi through the glass door. Madi looks pale and tired, her arms hugging her front as Lindsey talks to her. They both turn to look our way as Sully opens the sliding door, and Dani darts in ahead of us.
