Page 9 of The Fear
He had no idea where Jessica was now.
Or his son. Worry for BJ was eating at him. BJ was only three—he couldn’t tell him everything the way his older sister could. Jessica had had the kids since last Friday, though her mother had kept them for two days—and he was supposed to get them back Sunday night. But now this…where was BJ?
But first…Wynnie. He’d deal with the school first. Make sure his little girl was…safe. And taken care of. Then he’d track down her so-called mother and get his little boy back.
"Deputy Ryce. Thank you for coming so quickly." The school principal met him at the doors to the cafeteria. He’d always thought Luis Sandoval was a bit of a prick. Mr. All-American-Jock who could do no wrong that everyone thought was so great. Poster boy for perfection. Brenton had never fit in with guys like Sandoval.
"How long has she been waiting here?” Hell. It was late. Wynnie went to bed at eight-thirty, as it was.
"Pickup ended at six. It's nearly seven-thirty now. I called Jessica multiple times, but haven’t gotten through.” Luis didn’t like Jessica much, that was well known. But he didn’t say anything about her. Just…did his job. Brenton would give him that.
Hell, no one in town really liked Jessica all that much. Brenton should have realized that before—and realized there were good reasons why.
"I'll take her home. See what’s going on. Jessica has migraines, sometimes they can knock her out with no warning." Bullshit. She’d said she had migraines, but Brenton had noticed early on in their marriage they only hit when they were arguing—and he was right. Sheconvenientlyhad migraines, was more like it. A more manipulative woman had never existed.
Migraines in Jessica’s world meanthung over.
"Of course. Wynnie's been very good about it. She said Mommy sometimes gets busy at work. That’s why she’s late sometimes."
“Has this happened before?”
Luis hesitated. “A time or two, but we’ve always been able to get ahold of her mother within fifteen minutes.”
Brenton knew the school couldn’t tell him much, and couldn’t get involved in his problems with Jessica without a court order. But he had no doubt good old Luie was keeping a list of every screwup he and Jessica had.
This…this was just another in a long list of reasons Jessica wasn’t much of a mother.
Brenton was just exhausted, from all of this. Exhausted. Didn’t he have enough going on, with his job and doing his best to be there for his kids? It felt like he was fighting Jessica for his kids at every turn.
Why wouldn’t she just give them to him and then go do whatever she wanted? She’d be happier then, too. She could screw every guy between here and the Gulf of Mexico, then. Without being so-calledweighed downlike she’d said so many times before.
He walked into the cafeteria, his boots echoing in the empty space. There she was. Wynnie looked up from her craft and grinned. She was okay. Hell, this kid was too adorable to behis.That was for sure.
She was his, though. He’d had DNA tests on both kids done to prove paternity. He’d loved Wynnie from the first moment he’d held her. She was his, period. His baby girl. There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for his kids.
"Daddy! Daddy!"
She scrambled down from the chair and ran to him, throwing her small arms around his legs. “I get to see you today! We made counting beads from macaroni today. We painted them. I got it on my paint smock, but Mith Hanan said that was what they were for and that she washes them at home once a week. She lives behind us now, but Mommy won’t let me ever say hi. So I say hi at school. I did pink and purple because they are my favorite colors.”
"That’s really neat, baby. Are you ready to go home?” Withhim.Whether Jessica liked it or not.
"Uh-huh. Mommy got stuck at work again. I think.”
"I’m not sure where Mommy is actually, but we’re going to find her and your brother. Let’s get your stuff.”
The other teacher had already gathered Wynnie's things. She handed over the small purple backpack with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. Of course. He vaguely remembered her—ten or eleven years younger than him, and very shy—extremely pretty, though, with big gray eyes. Jessica had said cruel things about her a few times there in the diner. Jessica was such a jerk towardother women, but…he suspected this teacher remembered the bullying. How could she not? The entire diner had heard that day. They’d still been married at the time, and he’d been utterly humiliated. He’d tried to apologize the next time he’d seen her but this woman had avoided him after that. He’d felt like an utter ass for not stopping Jessica sooner. He’d just been paying the tab and hadn’t realized what had been happening until it was too late. He hated bullies. He hated that he’d inadvertently married one, too.
But if he hadn’t, he wouldn’t have this little girl and her baby brother now.
"Have a good evening, Deputy Ryce. Wynnie, I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?" The teacher gave a beautiful smile, and barely met Brenton’s eyes. Damn it. He hated this, Jessica ruined everything she touched.
Wynnie jabbered about her day as he led her to his patrol unit, about the book they'd read in class and the picture she'd drawn for the bulletin board. She was happy, she was safe. Wynnie wasfine.But where the hell were Jessica and his son?
"Daddy?"
"What, baby?"
"Can we go to McDonald's? I'm really, really hungry right now."
