Page 137 of Shortcake
I softened, looking again at Adam. The boy my daughter couldn’t get enough of… and for a moment, I could see why. He was a good kid. And he clearly cared about her.
Holding up his phone for me to see, he scrolled to the bottom of his text messages with Harper. “I swear I don’t know where she is. I’m really worried about her. This is the last text she sent me.”
Are you around? You’re the only person I can talk to.
“Like I said,” Adam repeated calmly. “I didn’t get either her text or see that she had called until after soccer practice. And by then, she wasn’t answering me.”
I turned, looking up at her bedroom window. Just below it was the bumped-out roof that covered our front stoop. And beside her window, a drainpipe that had a scuff mark on the siding next to it, like something from the sole of a shoe.
It was obvious that she’d climbed out onto the little roof, then shimmied down the drainpipe.
Elijah adjusted his glasses. “I called Mia and some of the other book club parents. No one has heard from her.”
“Unless they’re lying,” I said firmly.
“They’re notlying.” Elijah’s gaze narrowed. “These aregoodkids.”
With a frustrated growl, I pushed him further. I wasn’t sure what I was trying to accomplish here. Why I was pressing his buttons, but I couldn’t stop myself. “Oh,they’regood kids, but Harperisn’t?”
Elijah shoved a hand through his hair. Like father, like son. Then, his chest heaved with a breath as he sneered back at me. “All I know is none ofourkids have ever run away from home. None of our kids got drunk out of their minds. My kid never even broke curfew until he started hanging out with Harper!”
“We’ve had a rocky few months, but Harper is a good kid, too. A good kid who’s made a few bad choices. This isn’t her fault—”
“You’re right,” Elijah sneered. And this time Adam wasn’t able to stop him from getting up in my face. “I don’t actually have a problem with Harper. She seems like a sweet kid who has a shitty dad. And yet somehow, that shitty dad also got the girl ofmydreams!”
A smug smile lifted the corners of my mouth. “There it is.That’swhat this is about. You don’t actually give a shit about Harper. You’re just here to get in Addy’s good graces.”
“Maybe I am!” he shouted, arms out. “Addy is a free spirit. She’s the girl who takes all the leftover booze from a party and creates a new cocktail called theAddyrallFizz. Sooner or later, she’s going to wake up and realize how bored she is with you. How wrong you two are for each other. And that’s when she’ll remember fun Elijah… the guy who drank her funky monkey cocktail. The guy who stayed late singing at her bar every night when she first brought back Karaoke Nights at the bar. I’ll be the guy she not only eventually chooses… but stays with.”
I knew it. I knew this mother fucker’s nice guy act at Poker Night was all bullshit.
I hated him. But what was worse? I hated that deep down, I knew he was right.
Not about him being better for Addy… but he was right that Addy and I didn’t make sense. And that someday she was bound to wake up and realize Harper and I weren’t what she really wanted in life.
I could take that heartbreak, but if there was anything today had taught me… it was that my kid couldn’t.
I’d done a shitty job of protecting Harper so far.
I had to do better. I had to be better. For her sake, as well as mine.
Grunting, I shoved past Elijah, needing to get away from him. Elijah and Addy aside, I needed to find my daughter. I could deal with everything and everyoneelse later. But as I crossed by him, Elijah grabbed my elbow, spinning me back around to face him. “Where do you think you’re going?”
I ripped my arm free from him. “I’ve got to find my kid. I don’t have time for your petty bullshit. You may be right that Addy and I don’t make sense. But if you think Addy will chooseyouinstead of me? Then good fucking luck. She’s known you foryears, and she’sneverchosen you. She chose me within minutes of seeing me—”
I barely got the words out before Elijah sucker punched me. Smiling, I spat out a little blood from my cut lip, then lunged at him, grabbing my handcuffs from my belt loop.
I was able to get him on the ground within seconds and quickly secured his hands behind his back. “Assaulting a cop? On the worst day of his life? Real smart.” I said, snapping the cuffs on him.
Around us, I heard commotion. Adam was rushing to his Dad, helping him up. Warren was at my side, asking if I was okay.
And there in the driveway, Addy and Harper had just pulled in and were looking at me, horrified.
ChapterTwenty-Eight
Addy
“Dad!” Harper shrieked as we jumped out of the car, rushing over to Conrad and Elijah.
