Page 46 of Seal of Approval

“I will.” I walked down the stairs and headed home.

I hated that Max had invaded Jasmine’s peaceful life. She and the children had made a happy life without him. Now it was all at risk. I shouldn’t compare Max to my father. Max had done horrible things but maybe he’d changed. Maybe he wasn’t a narcissistic asshole anymore. But I didn’t think so. He’d never apologised for what he’d done. He played it like he was the victim. He’d tried to play me that first night we’d met. If he had changed, he would have contacted the lawyer and started going through the correct channels.

I also hated that our workplace wasn’t Max-free. Our office had been ours, just Jasmine’s and mine. That was ridiculous. There was no Jasmine and me. We were all show.

I neared the house. Rose was calling out for Timmy, her voice high. She walked down the porch stairs, calling his name and searching the garden.

“Rose?” I sped up to reach her side, and she looked up at me with tears welling in her eyes.

“Ethan, Timmy’s gone.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Jasmine

Ethan strode into the house and threw his bag on the couch. “Where have you looked?” he asked with no preamble.

“Inside. Bailey’s looking again.”

He swivelled back to the front door. “I’ll do a door knock.”

My pulse beat erratically. I caught up to him and grabbed his arm. “You don’t think Max took him, do you?”

Ethan turned to face me and placed his hands on my upper arms. “Timmy can be very quick. He could have got out when we left this morning.”

“Surely we would have noticed.”

Ethan gave my arms a firm rub. “Let’s try to find him before we jump to conclusions.”

“OK.”

It made sense. At least one of us was calm under pressure.

“I’m going to start next door and work my way down. Go and help Rose.”

Did he mean help her or supervise her to make sure she was safe? It didn’t matter. Helping her would serve both purposes.

I went outside and started searching with Rose. It could be a coincidence that Timmy had gone missing the day Max showed up again. Ethan was right. Timmy liked to run out the door with us. Maybe we hadn’t noticed him this morning. And really, would Max stoop that low? Maybe if he was here to save the day and rescuing the cat would make him look good. But he wasn’t here.

Ethan was walking through the house next door calling for Timmy. His footsteps and voice bounced off the walls of the empty rooms. He’d not even given a second thought to helping. If it were Max in the same situation, he would have grumbled about the stupid fucking cat.

If Ethan caring for us as a family was just a front, he was putting up a good one. Maybe I was reading too much into this. For the first time in years, I was uncertain, scared. And Ethan was offering us security. That’s all it was. The way I reacted to his touch and the way he looked at me was a product of that.

Ethan came out of the house. He spotted me and shook his head before moving on to the next house. Rose and I had exhausted searching the yard and under the house.

Bailey came out the front door. “He’s not inside.”

Rose’s eyes filled with tears. “Where is he, Mummy?”

I took her hand. “Let’s check the yard next door. Maybe he’s there.”

The three of us made our way there and started searching. If Timmy was here, he would have come by now. He always came when the kids called. I scanned the beach. I doubt he’d go there.

“Look who I found,” Ethan said, coming towards us with Timmy in hand.

Rose ran to him, took Timmy in her arms, and smooched and admonished him at the same time.

“Where was he?” Bailey asked, giving Timmy a pat.

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