Page 74 of Love in Tandem
The officers looked at each other again, then back to Charlotte and Zach. “We’ll need you to come downtown and make an official statement,” the first officer said.
“But everything I just said was official. I don’t know anything else. And we really need to get going. We’re doing this challenge, you see. My town’s band program is depending on us. My mother’s very life is depending on us.”
The officers exchanged another look. And suddenly Zach saw Charlotte through their eyes. She sounded stark raving mad. Especially when she started adding words like canoodle into her explanation. The sooner they got out of here, the better. “Really, officers,” Zach said in his most reasonable voice, “we don’t know anything else. And we really do need to be on our way.”
He propped the baby over his shoulder and patted his back. The woman officer motioned to the baby. “You’re saying you don’t know these children?”
“Never seen them before,” Zach confirmed. Which might have been believable if the toddler hadn’t chosen that moment to barrel into his leg and say a word muffled with tears. A word that sounded an awful lot like—
“Did he just call you Daddy?” the first officer said.
Zach angled a tight smile at Charlotte as the baby babbled contentedly against his shoulder and the toddler hugged his leg. “How about next time you watch the bike and I take care of getting the sandwiches?”
Charlotte didn’t know how anybody could sit in a prison cell and act so calm. She paced like a caged lion, and Zach acted like he was merely sitting in a lawn chair waiting for a parade. “What if we never get out?” She continued pacing, cracking every knuckle in her hand. “What if we’re locked up inside here forever?”
“That’s not going to happen. We’re innocent.”
“So was the Count of Monte Cristo as I recall. Do you really want to have to play dead and escape here in a body bag after wasting away for a couple of decades? I don’t.”
“Calm down.”
“Stop telling me to calm down. I will not calm down. I will anxiety up until I walk out of this cell a free woman.”
“First off, we’re not even in a cell. We’re in the officers’ break room. So do as they suggested, pour yourself a cup of coffee, and calm down.”
Charlotte flopped into a chair next to the square table where Zach sat. “I don’t get it. Why aren’t you freaking out? Even if they release us this second, we’re never going to make it the entire eighty miles today.”
“That doesn’t mean we won’t have time to finish the challenge.” He patted the baby on the rear end, looking like the sexiest father alive. And Charlotte so badly wanted to believe him. As if reading her thoughts, he nodded. “Trust me. We’re going to win that money.”
“I just don’t see how.”
“Have a little faith,” he said with a wink.
Charlotte settled back in her seat. She couldn’t tell if he was mocking her or rallying her. Either way, she supposed he was right. They could still get through this. Somehow. Right now it might feel like they were walking smack-dab into a closed door, but with a little faith, they might find that one open window just waiting to be squeezed through in the nick of time before it slammed shut on their fingers.
A woman wearing a long flowery dress and round glasses entered the room. “Hi, gang. I’m the social worker. I got a call about the situation,” she said, making air quotes. “That’s what everybody’s calling it. The situation. Isn’t that cute? The good news is we’ve located the mother. She was sobbing into a package of Pull-Ups at the Walmart just down the road. The bad news is her daughter still isn’t potty trained.” She smiled, pausing a beat, then clapped her hands together once. “Right. This is serious, obviously. Thank you for looking after the well-being of the children. We can take over from here.”
Zach handed the baby into her outstretched arms. Once the social worker settled the baby in one arm, she reached her hand to the sleepy toddler who’d dozed off on the floor on top of Zach’s shoes. “Come with me, honey. Your grandma is waiting for you out front.”
“So we’re free to go?” Charlotte said, feeling like she’d just received a governor’s pardon in the eleventh hour. “Right now?”
The lady turned in the doorway. “Unless you’d like to confess to a crime. Then I’m sure they’d let you stay a while longer. Maybe take a mug shot. Get your fingers printed. Try on an orange suit. It’s up to you.”
“Orange isn’t really our color.” Zach grabbed Charlotte’s hand and dragged her out of the police station straight to their tandem bicycle. “All right. First thing before anything, we eat lunch.”
“How can you say that when we’re hours behind schedule?”
“I’m starving. We never ate lunch.”
Charlotte was starving too. But right now, she was feeding herself on pure panic and adrenaline. “I thought you wanted to win this challenge.”
“I do,” Zach said, shoving Charlotte’s helmet into her hands. “But I want to live even more.”
“Fine. But you better hope we don’t have any more setbacks. In fact, you better start praying for a miracle.”
Zach squeezed her hand. “Oh, trust me, darling. I already have. Which honestly, is a miracle all on its own.”
“How do you feel about chicken fajitas for supper tonight?” Sophia gripped the doorframe and leaned into the office where Joshua had been holed up for hours.
