“We do?” Josie asks, and Maddie elbows her in the side. “Yeah, we do! It would keep us safe and we would love it and feed it and you can pick up the poop!”
“I do not want to pick up any poop,” Brynna laughs. “I told you we’d talk about it in the summer.”
She looks up at me and shrugs. “They want a dog.”
“I see.”
“Who was the man at our house yesterday?” Josie asks and dribbles milk on the breakfast bar. I frown over at Bryn and back at the little girl.
“What man?” I ask her calmly, but my body is instantly on high alert. I set my plate aside and focus on Josie.
“The man who was looking in mommy’s mailbox when we got home from school,” Maddie responds.
“What?” Brynna lowers her mug. “There was a man looking in the mailbox?”
“Yeah. But we don’t ever have mail in that mailbox, do we Mommy?”
I turn my eyes to Brynna, raising my brow in question. She shakes her head slowly.
“No, sweetie, we don’t.”
“With me. Now.” I grip her hand in mine and pull her out of the kitchen to the living room. “Do you have a post office box?”
“Yes. That mailbox by the road never has anything in it. Even Nat and Jules’ mail has stopped altogether.”
“So it wasn’t the mailman,” I murmur and process everything that’s happened in the past twenty-four hours. “I need to get you three out of here.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Brynna,” I grip her hands in mine and pull her close. “I have Matt running a more intensive background check on that fucker at your job, but I don’t trust him. My dad got a weird phone call last night…”
“That’s why you freaked out,” she whispers but I keep talking over her.
“And now we find out that the girls saw someone snooping around here. I don’t like it.”
“I don’t love it either, but we can’t just leave.” Her brow is furrowed, and her hands shake as she holds on to mine.
“It’s Friday, Bryn. Pull the girls out of school, and we will get away for the weekend.” I lean in and kiss her forehead, trying to keep calm, to keep her calm, but my fight or flight instincts have kicked in and all I can think about is getting my girls as far away from here as possible.
As fast as possible.
“Okay,” she whispers and pulls away. “When?”
“Now.” My voice is hard. “The girls are dressed and ready. Run up and pack a bag for them and for you, and we’ll go.”
“Where are we going?” she asks.
“I know a place,” I respond. “Hurry.”
***
“Uh, Caleb?” Brynna asks dryly from the passenger side of my car.
“Yeah.”
“We are less than ten minutes away from the other house.” She frowns as I stop the car.
“Did you think I was whisking us all away on a European vacation?” I ask with a chuckle and push out of the car, opening the back doors for the girls to climb out.
“Is this your house?” Josie asks and holds her doll close to her chest.
“Yes, jellybean,” I respond and usher them all to the door, carrying our bags.
“Why are we at your house?” Brynna asks.
“Because no one would expect to look for you here,” I respond and pull the door closed behind us, locking it, as Brynna drops her purse on my couch and takes a circle about the living room.
“This is nice,” she murmurs and smiles over at me.
I shrug and glance about the place. It’s not messy because I’m never here long enough for it to get messy. The furnishings are practically brand new, although I bought them several years ago. There is nothing hanging on the walls.
It’s not even close to being good enough for her and her daughters, but it’s all I’ve got.
“It’s small, only two bedrooms.”
“That’s all we need.” She shrugs and flips her hair back over her shoulder. “How long have you lived here?”
“A couple years,” I shrug. “I just rent it.”
“It’s definitely a guy place.”
“A guy place?” I ask with a grin.
“Yep, no woman lives here, or has been here recently.” She raises an eyebrow in my direction, and I know exactly what she’s asking.
In the past I would have evaded the question like the plague, knowing that it was time to move along. But I am compelled to reassure her.
“Girls,” I call out, my eyes still trained on Brynna’s deep brown ones. “Why don’t you take your bags to the bedroom with the green comforter on the bed and get your dollies settled?”
“Okay!” Maddie exclaims and jumps off the couch where she had been testing it out.
“Let’s go!” Josie agrees and they are off. Their voices carry into the living room as they talk to their dolls, explaining where they are, and I grin at their beautiful mama.
She stays rooted in place as I move close to her and slide my hands up her arms, over her shoulders and pull my knuckles down her cheeks.
“I have never brought a woman here, Legs.” Her eyes widen and I know she’s about to tell me she doesn’t care, but I lay my finger gently over her lips, stilling them. “You are the only woman I want here.”
“Why?” She whispers from behind my finger and watches me closely.