Page 76 of Seal of Approval

I manoeuvred myself from under Jasmine and sat up. “What’s wrong?”

“I heard a sound outside.”

Jasmine rose into a sitting position.

I swung my legs out of bed and looked at the clock—2am. “What sort of sound?”

“I don’t know. Footsteps. Tapping.”

Jasmine hopped out of bed.

I grabbed my board shorts and tank top off the floor. “OK. I’ll go check.”

“You’re going out there now?” Jasmine stood beside Bailey.

“Well, yeah.” Didn’t we want to know what was out there? “It’s probably some sort of animal.”

“Maybe we should leave the animal alone. It will be gone by the morning.” The slight tremor of her voice showed her fear.

I looked between her and Bailey. I needed to reassure him somehow. “I’ll go turn the outside lights on. The nocturnal animals won’t like that.” And while I was doing it, I’d check the doors and windows. Just to be sure. “Wait here.”

I turned the lights on and stared into the pool of brightness. There was no movement. But who knew what was beyond in the darkness.

Creaking behind me. Tingles raced through my body. I swung around. Jasmine took a step back.

“I told you to wait with Bailey.”

She peeked over my shoulder, looking into the shadows.

“I can’t see anything out there,” I said.

“He wouldn’t make it up.” Her voice was full of accusation.

“I didn’t say he made it up. I said I can’t see anything.”

She turned on her heel. “I’m going to sleep with the kids.”

I watched her retreating back.

I tried to tell myself we were all on edge. We were all waiting for something, but we didn’t know what. And that was why she was upset with me. I lay on the couch and closed my eyes. I went over everything in my head from the moment Bailey had woken us up, trying to figure out what I’d done wrong.

Were my actions like what I’d expect from my father? My brain failed to make a connection.

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

Jasmine

I hopped into bed beside Bailey. Being close to them was my best option. I needed to know they were safe.

I couldn’t believe Ethan playing hero, wanting to go out there to see what the noise was. Opening the door to let a maniac in was not going to happen. Did he really think he could protect us from that?

The gentle sea breeze was amplified as darkness enveloped me. The leaves rustled. I shivered. Every sound could be Max.

This was ridiculous. We hadn’t seen Max in weeks. That meant one of two things. He’d given up. Unlikely. Or his anger was brewing. More likely. But it didn’t mean the sounds Bailey heard were him. Ethan telling me to stay put had got my back up. And the way he said nothing was out there was as dismissive as Max had always been. OK. Maybe not. Ethan wasn’t Max.

Bailey’s breathing evened out. The lights Ethan had turned on crept in around the blinds, so we weren’t in complete darkness. My eyelids drooped.

Where was Ethan now? I drifted in and out of sleep.

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