Page 143 of Love Notes & Lifelines
I’m not even surprised when we climb into Leo’s car. These two say they don’t have a label, but they count on each other for a heck of a lot. Tabby may never be able to forget what hurt her, but I do hope that she eventually finds a way to grab happiness with both hands instead of straddling it the way she is now.
She pulls out onto the road, and I grab the oh-shit handle while peering at her with wide eyes. Is she even sitting in her seat? Her head barely breaks the top of the steering wheel. She holds it in a death grip at ten and two which means we swerve wildly every time she looks at me.
I have the insane urge to tell her to keep her eyes on the road. Note to self, Tabby is a terrible driver.
“For what it’s worth,” she says, taking a corner so fast I’m sure we’re only on two wheels, “Beck was a fucking pain in theass when he realized you were gone last night.”Please keep your eyes on the road!She turns right onto the street that runs along the ocean, and my breath comes out in a whoosh. “He practically lost his damn mind. If it weren’t for the girls, I’m sure he would have broken every law to bring you home last night.”
The driveway comes into view around the final corner, and my anxiety releases muscle by muscle. Beck has given me the one thing I’ve been searching for my entire life—a place to belong.
The tires squeal as Tabby turns off the asphalt and onto the gravel driveway and we kick up dust the entire way to the house. She puts the car in park before we’ve stopped moving and we jerk forward, and I shove my door open and jump from the passenger seat. Who the heck gave her a license?
Shaking my head, I inhale deeply to calm my nerves. Beck has a lifetime of secrets to unfold, and from his tone of voice when he called me via SDH, he might be on the verge of uncovering it all.
“Stella,” Emmy cries the instant I open the door. Relief slaps me in the face like icicles in a winter storm. Her little body slams into me a second later and I tug her close, breathe her in, and feel how wildly her heart beats against mine.
“Hi, sweetheart.” My heart slowly syncs to match her breaths. “I’m sorry I didn’t say goodnight last night.”
A loud crash sounds above us, and my hand instantly covers Emmy’s head while I duck low. But the ceiling isn’t falling in. What the heck is going on?
Leo rounds the corner as Tabby enters behind me and instantly drops to the floor like a comedian in a sitcom when there’s another crash overhead.
“What’s going on?” I ask, covering Emmy’s ears.
“Demolition,” Leo says, shaking his head. He pulls a hard hat off the entry table and tries to trade it to me for Emmy, but she clings to my neck.
“Hey, kiddo,” he says, rubbing her back. “Can Stella run upstairs and check on Daddy Beck? Maybe she can help him make less noise.”
“My book,” Emmy whispers, then hands it to me. It’s tiny—just a blue square that’s no bigger than four or five inches. But it’s always close by.
“Do you want me to read it to you?” I ask as Beck’s hammer hits wood—and maybe metal—upstairs.
She shakes her head but opens the pages.
My gasp is audible as I see crude, childlike illustrations of a little boy holding his big sister’s hand.
“It triggered some kind of memory or something,” Elijah explains, joining our small circle. “Come on, kiddo. I bet Tabby will help you bake something full of sugar.”
Emmy bounces in my arms, but I can tell she’s torn by the way her gaze darts between Tabby and me.
“That sounds like so much fun,” I say with fake enthusiasm I hope sounds genuine. “Why don’t you bake with Tabby, and when I’m done with Daddy Beck, I’ll come taste test with you.”
She hesitates for half a second before reaching for Tabby. She keeps her gaze on mine as they walk toward the kitchen. When they’re out of earshot, I glance at the ceiling. “Where is he?”
“Third floor,” Leo answers. When I turn my head to the left, he’s staring at the ceiling too. So is Elijah on my right.
“What’s going on?” I ask.
“He either knows what Cally wanted to tell him, or he’s losing his shit thinking he lost you. It’s a toss-up right now,” Elijah says with a wide grin. “I’m hoping it’s the first.”
Leo plunks the hard hat on my head, then knocks against it gently.
“Is this really necessary?” I grip the edges to keep it out of my eyes.
“If he’s doing what I think he’s doing, then yes.” He glances down at my feet in pink tennis shoes. “Be careful where you walk, okay?”
“What am I supposed to do up there?”
Both men drop their stare to me. “Just be there for him,” Elijah says.
