Page 66 of The Kidnapped

“No, I know. I know the statistics… I’ve read and reread them online a million times. It’s been a year. Odds are, I’ll never see my daughter again.”

“So, you probably don’t want to hear this, but you can’t put your life on hold,” Dylan reiterated.

“I know,” Raleigh replied.

???

When Raleigh got home, she made herself a cup of coffee, planning to go back to work, but she realized just how futile that attempt was as she stared at her computer screen and didn’t even attempt to put her fingers on the keyboard. She sighed, leaned back in her chair, and sipped her coffee until she went for another drink and found the cup empty. Setting the cup down, she picked up her phone and found Hollis’s number.

“Hi. Can I call you right back? I’m putting my mom to bed,” Hollis told her quickly.

“Oh, shit. Yeah, sorry. I should’ve checked the time.”

“Is everything okay?” Hollis checked.

“Yeah. Everything’s fine.”

“You met with Dylan again.”

“Put your mom to bed, Hollis. Everything’s okay. Call me back?”

“Five minutes?”

“Take your time,” Raleigh replied, smiling just at the sound of Hollis’s worried and caring voice.

She put her coffee cup into the dishwasher and headed to her bedroom to change and get ready for bed. Fifteen minutes later, her phone rang, and she stared at the screen, feeling butterflies she hadn’t felt since she’d first met Millie.

“Hi,” she said.

“Sorry, it took a little longer than I expected.”

“Is she okay?”

“She threw up,” Hollis said. “So, I got her into new clothes and cleaned her up.”

“Do you need to go? We can talk later, if you do. I honestly didn’t check the time before I called you, and I know you usually put her to sleep about this time.”

“No, I want to hear about how it went with Dylan. Did anything come up?”

“Not really. She’s still eliminating people. There are three she’s looking at now.”

“Well, that’s better than nothing, right?”

“Yeah, it is. Hey, Hollis?”

“Yes?”

“I want to try,” Raleigh said quickly before she could stop herself from doing what she knew she wanted.

“Try what?”

“You and me,” she replied.

Hollis didn’t say anything for the longest ten seconds of Raleigh’s life.

“You said you couldn’t.”

“I know,” Raleigh replied.

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