Page 37 of Stay Baby Stay

I slide my bowl away. If he thinks I’m staying put while Kenzie’s out there all alone, he’s delusional. “I'm not just going to wait around for someone else to find her."

"And I don't want you in more danger than you’re already in.”

His puts on a stern-daddy face, but I refuse to waver.

“Fine,” I say. “If you don’t want me to go with you, I can go to the police station, like your partner said.”

“That’s the last place I want you walking into by yourself,” he grumbles. “Someone in the department’s been leaking intel about our case.”

“The case about the missing girls?”

He nods, pushing the bowl of granola back toward me. “And we can’t forget the driver’s still out there looking for you."

"For all we know, he's only looking for me because he thinks I know where Kenzie is."

"Maybe so. But I'm not willing to risk it.”

“So, you’re going to leave me here like a sitting duck for him to find?”

“Nobody knows to look for you here. That’s why it’s the best place for you. Think of it as a vacation. Take a nap, enjoy the wi-fi, eat anything you find in the fridge—"

"Or I'll leave as soon as your car is gone and go look for Kenzie myself."

"Not if I cuff you to the bedframe."

I squint. "You wouldn't."

"Try me, little girl."

Frustration roils in my belly. Our staring contest goes on so long that my vision blurs and my eyes begin to water.

“Cal, I know you’re just trying to keep me safe, but if you want a princess you can lock in a tower, you’ve brought home the wrong girl. I’m as far from royalty as it gets. I come from the gutter, where scraping and clawing for every scrap of comfort isn’t the plot of a storybook adventure. It’s a fact of life—mine and Kenzie’s.” I lay my upturned hand on the table. “You can’t save me from my own life, Daddy.”

“Wanna bet?” he says.

“Fine, then you can’t save me from the ugly truth. My best friend is missing. I need to help look for her.”

"You can help me by keeping yourself safe, baby." He kisses the inside of my palm. “Daddy can’t do his job right if he’s worried about you.”

I frown into my granola, watching it grow soggier by the minute. He doesn’t understand that I have to do this. It’s not enough to know that he’s out there doing the best he can. Kenzie’s myfamily.

"What if it was your sister?” I ask. “What if it was Vicki out there all alone, and someone told you to stay put and let the professionals handle it? Would you leave her out there?"

Cal’s throat shifts. Something in his whole demeanor changes, like he’s bracing for impact. Whatever feeling or memory hits him does so fast and furious. It occurs to me that Cal always talks about Vicki in the past tense. Did something happen to her? And did I step on a nerve just by saying her name?

Slowly, his posture softens.

"You're not gonna stay put, are you?"

I shake my head. "I can’t."

He runs a hand over his hair and sighs.

"Maybe seeing your face will jog Stephanie’s memory.” He aims a finger at me. “But at the first sign of danger, I'm bringing you home."

Home... I like the sound of that. Cal’s home. My home.Our home.

I’m getting way ahead of myself.

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