day with y’all.”
“Then Saturday it is,” Nora said.
“Is tomorrow Saturday?” Orville asked.
“No, but it’s real soon,” Mack told him.
Out of her peripheral vision, Lily caught sight of Adam’s scowl. Even at his age, he didn’t like not being the center of attention or not being invited to a family gathering.
“You could come and bring Brenda,” Orville told Adam.
“No, thanks.” Adam’s tone dripped icicles. “I’ve got better things to do than spend a day with goats.”
Orville looked like he might cry until Nora patted him on the arm. “Maybe another day Adam can get away from his busy schedule.”
Orville nodded, but his expression didn’t change. Lily wished she’d broken every bone in Adam’s foot for treating his father like that.
They’d just finished dessert—pecan pie with ice cream—when Lily’s phone rang. She excused herself and rushed to the other end of the room where she’d set her purse and coat on a rocking chair. She answered just before it went to voice mail.
“Mama, can you come get us?” Holly asked.
Lily’s blood felt like ice water in her veins. “Are you hurt? Has there been an accident?”
“No, we’re both fine,” she said. “But Daddy is mad at us, and he . . .” She started crying.
“Gimme that phone,” Braden shouted.
Things had to be catastrophic for Holly to let him have it without an argument. “We told Daddy that we didn’t want to go to a fancy dinner, that we’d rather have pizza or burgers, and that we didn’t want to go to the Alamo tomorrow. He got mad at us and said if we wanted to be little rednecks, then he’d let us. We’re in a hotel at”—he rattled off the address—“and he said to keep the doors locked other than opening it for the pizza guy. He wasn’t going to miss having dinner with Victoria or doing stuff with her tomorrow just because of ungrateful kids. He said if we changed our mind, then he’d come get us and we could join them. He ordered pizza for us, but it was cold and burned when it got here, and I had to give them a dollar of my allowance money to pay the bill because Daddy didn’t leave enough money.”
“We just want to come home, Mama. This place is scary,” Holly said.
“Remember our safe word?” Lily asked.
“Alligator,” Braden said.
“Don’t open the door until you hear that word. Mack and I will be there in a few minutes. We’re already on the outskirts of San Antonio. Now repeat that hotel address to me one more time.”
Lily was livid when she hung up the phone.
Mack was right behind her when she turned around. “Everything all right?”
She shook her head, almost afraid to open her mouth because of the language that would spew out. “We need to go get the kids right now. I hate to do this to your folks, but . . .” Tears of anger began to flow down her cheeks.
“You go get in the truck. I’ll make it right with everyone and be out there in two minutes.” He was already putting on his coat as he started back to the dining area.
She’d just gotten her seat belt fastened when Mack got behind the wheel. “Are they hurt? Was there an accident?” He started the engine and made a U-turn to head back toward the highway.
“Neither, but . . .” She told him what had happened and then gave him the hotel address.
“Good God, Lily, that’s a hotel in the crappiest part of town. I wonder why he didn’t at least put them up in one of the nicer places on the River Walk.” He slapped the steering wheel. “What in the hell is he thinking?”
Lily held her hands tightly in her lap. “I don’t know, but this is the last time he gets to take them anywhere. He gave up his rights to see them at all at divorce court, so if he wants to see them again, he can come to the house.”
“I’d like to get ahold of his sorry ass tonight,” Mack growled. “Those kids better be all right when we get there.”
“They’ll be fine. We have a safe word, and they won’t let anyone into the room unless they hear it. How far is it from here?” Lily asked.
“Fifteen minutes at the speed limit, but we’ll make it in ten,” he answered.
Her thoughts went from strangling Wyatt to worrying that something horrible would happen before she got her kids out of that motel. Every minute lasted two