Page 14 of Could Have Been Us
Dread and a mix of something else starts to take root. I am going to Georgia for the first time since that night. I’m going to see the town where two loving people took my daughter and loved her as though she came from them.
How am I going to handle this?
My phone pings with a text from Alex.
Alex: Thanks for hanging up on me, Meatball. Call me after you get Amelia to bed so we can talk through this.
Amelia.
Shit. I have Amelia for a few days.
I pace my office, trying to think of what to do. I have to leave in an hour if I’m going to make it down there at a reasonable time. My mother is out of town, so she can’t watch her. Jack has another wilderness tour going out tomorrow, so he’s off the table.
There’s really only one other person, and she owes me.
I text Winnie.
Me: Can you watch Amelia for me tonight? It’s an emergency.
Winnie: I wish I could, but I have two client meetings that I can’t reschedule. Is everything okay?
Me: I’m fine. I just need someone to keep Amelia. I have to go out of town, and it’s important.
Winnie: I’m assuming you already went through the short list. You could always ask Jessica. She loves Amelia.
Of course. She’d be perfect. Amelia adores her and Grayson trusts her. Regardless of the dance they’re doing, he knows she would never do anything to hurt his daughter. Still, the guilt of having to ask her eats at me.
I don’t want to put Grayson in this predicament, but this isn’t just some random thing. It’s a funeral for the woman who has been a mother to my daughter. No matter how uncomfortable I am, I need to go.
Me: I know I said I’d watch Melia, but something has happened with a friend. I need to go out of town tonight. If this weren’t an emergency, I wouldn’t ask, but it is. Do you mind if I ask Jessica to watch Amelia tonight at my place?
The reply is immediate.
Grayson: I have a million questions, but I know that you wouldn’t be asking me if it weren’t really important. So, yes, I am okay with that.
I really love my brother. No matter what I’ve said in the past, he is an amazing human and I am so very lucky to call him family.
Me: I love you. Thank you.
Grayson: We’ll talk when I get back.
I’m sure we will. I rush out of the room, suddenly propelled by the need to get out of town as fast as I can so I don’t change my mind and hide.
I enter her office. “Oh, good! You’re here. Thank God.”
“What’s wrong?” Jessica asks with wide eyes.
“Ineedyou to help me.”
She stands. “Of course, what’s up?”
So much, but I can’t tell her anything. I need to come up with something that makes sense and that she can’t refuse. “I have to watch Amelia this weekend, but something has come up...an emergency with an old friend, but she has dance tonight and can’t miss it.”
“Okay . . .”
“I promise, I wouldn’t ask you this if there were any way around it. If there was another option, I swear, Jess, I wouldn’t do this. But I’m desperate, and I have to leave right away. I know it’s a lot, but can you please take her for me?”
A moment passes between us, and I see the hesitancy in her gaze. “Where is Grayson?”
