Page 34 of Tinley's Daddy
“Fuck.” Chandler blinked away tears. “That girl has been through so much.”
“It turns out she was looking for Tinley up until the day she died. She had even made a couple of trips to Amsterdam looking for her. She created a Facebook page for Tinley,” Randall continued.
“How did she die?” How was I going to tell Tinley?
“A heart attack.” Randall sent another text.
“I don’t think y’all should go to Philly.” Kyler leaned forward. “Agent Stanley spoke to Tinley’s aunt. He felt her behavior was odd.”
“What do you mean?” This was all too much at once.
“She freaked out and then started demanding to speak to Tinley,” Randall piped in. “Then went off on why no one told her Tinley was still alive.”
“We have someone at her house and like an hour after she got off the phone with Agent Stanley, people started arriving and she’d updated the Facebook page, although no one uses Facebook anymore. All the pictures of Tinley seemed outdated.”
“Chandler?” Kyler and I yelled.
“Right. Sorry.” He stood up. “She asked people to come by and help welcome her niece back.”
“I think the media got a hold of it, too.” Randall’s eyes scanned a screen back and forth. “Yeah, there was a lot of buzz when she left. It would be a big story when she returned.”
“I don’t want her walking into a circus when she’s so vulnerable.”
“You want us to fly out there?” Chandler sat back down and adjusted his chair. “We can run interference.”
“Why don’t you guys just go someplace else?” Kyler leaned in. “Go to Connecticut.”
Kyler’s family had had an estate in Connecticut for over a hundred years. The old house remained, but their mother had built a new house on the property a couple of years before they died. We only went there for holidays or when one of us needed to get away from the world. It would be a great spot for Tinley to work through some things and get acclimated to the world again.
“Josh,” Tinley called out.
“Yeah, I’m here.”
She stood up, rubbing her eyes.
I turned back to the guys. “I’ll let you know what we decide.”
They all nodded, and I shut off the phone. Tinley walked up beside me and placed her hand on my shoulder. I blinked away tears before turning to her.
“What’s wrong?” Her lower lip trembled.
I should hold off; tell her we had a change in travel plans and wait until we get on the ground.
“Please, I can see it all over your face. Something’s wrong.”
“Tinley.” I pulled her to sit in the seat next to me. She sat and drew her knees up. She rested her cheek on her knees and hugged herself.
“Why are you crying?” she asked.
I wiped at my face. I held my hand out and she took it. I loved how much trust she had in me already. It was such a gift. My brave little girl. She had the most precious heart. It fucking killed me to know I was going to break it again.
CHAPTER 11
TINLEY
The air shifted. Before I fell asleep, Josh’s face was a shining light. His bright eyes were now dark and sorrowful. The tears in his eyes tore my heart in two. I hated seeing him hurt. I wasn’t an empath, but the hurt he felt, I felt it tenfold.
He took my hand and squeezed it.
