Page 127 of Dancing in the Rain

Peyton didn’t even know what time it was. Or if it was past Chloe’s bedtime. “Sure. Uh…I just got a call from my boss. We have a bit of a crisis to deal with. I need to go to New York.” She paused. “Do you want to come with me for a few days?”

Chloe blinked and her face took on a wary expression. “Just for a few days?”

“Yes.” Peyton swallowed. “I have to deal with this emergency, but while I’m there…I’m going to give them my notice. I’m going to quit my job.”

“Seriously?” Chloe gaped at Peyton.

Peyton nodded, smiling. “Seriously.”

“You’re going to move here?”

“Yes.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m not sure right now.” She smiled and patted Chloe’s knee. “But I’ll figure it out.”

“I don’t have to go to a different school?”

“Nope.”

“I can keep working on my shark finning awareness project?”

“You sure can.”

Chloe heaved a huge sigh then tossed her book down and lunged forward to fling her arms around Peyton’s neck. “Thank you, Auntie P.” She sobbed. “Thank you.”

Peyton’s heart squeezed. “I love you, kiddo. We’re in this together, for always.”

Unless Drew takes you away from me.

“I can’t wait to tell Dad.”

Peyton blinked. When had she started calling Drew Dad? That was…nice. Her heart squeezed. “Uh, right.” She bit her lip. Would this make any difference? Was there any possibility of shared parental time? Because she would fight him if he wanted full custody. Threatening something like that made her competitive nature stiffen her resolve. He may have said that to keep her from taking Chloe to New York…and in that regard he’d won, dammit. Even though she wasn’t doing it for him.

Maybe. Not totally for him. She’d done it for Chloe and what was best for her, but there was no denying that her heart hurt for both Chloe and Drew when she thought about them not seeing each other. She knew how much he’d come to love Chloe already and she couldn’t take that away from him.

Fuck, she loved him. And he was such a jerk.

“You can tell him when we get back,” she said. “I’m going to try to book a flight for tomorrow morning. Luckily Monday is an admin day for your school, so we don’t have to be back till Tuesday.”

“I can miss school.”

“No, you can’t.” She repressed a smile. “But I think I’ll be able to deal with things over the next few days. You’ll need to pack a bag for a few days.”

“I’ll do it right now!” Chloe jumped out of bed, eager for any excuse to delay bedtime.

Chapter 29

“The weather was terrible.”

Gord was updating her about the accident as she and Chloe traveled by taxi from JFK to the office. When she’d turned on her phone in the airport after they’d deplaned, she’d seen five missed calls and five text messages from Drew, and two voicemails—one from Drew sounding pissed and asking her to call him back, the other from Gord, also sounding pissed.

How fun.

She’d waited until they were in the taxi on their way to the office to call Gord.

“It was really blustery here last night, windy and snowing,” he continued. “The plane was landing at LaGuardia and at first it apparently seemed like they’d managed to safely land. The crew was all experienced and respected. But then they couldn’t stop and skidded off the runway. They went through a fence and onto a roadway. There are twenty-five people with minor injuries, and like I said, the one fatality.”

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