know such details about his sister’s sex life. “What are you doing?” She peeked around his phone to see a map. “Are you tracking her phone?”
“I track all your phones, babe.”
“All our phones? Even mine?”
“Even yours,” he said. “I approved it on your phone while you were sleeping.” While the map loaded, he caught a glimpse at her. “Mad?”
Poppy considered it for a second. “Turned on, I think, actually… no one’s ever cared enough to track my phone before.”
“Last known location was ten hours ago,” he muttered. His attention was back on his screen, so he probably hadn’t heard her response. “It’s a start. If I can’t get her there, I’ll go to her work and get this guy’s number.” Without hesitating for a second, Poppy took her security pass from her purse to put it in his palm. “What’s his name?”
The question jogged her memory. “Oh!” Dropping in a crouch, she searched her bag. “He gave me his number a while ago. He wrote it down and I dropped it into my purse… I never read it or planned to do anything with it, but I might…” Locating the paper, she held it up in triumph. “Ah ha!”
“Give it to me.”
“No,” she said, shifting over to sit on the top stair. “If you call, you’ll scare him.”
“I’ll do more than that.”
Reaching over her head, she didn’t have to ask for his phone, he just handed it over. Poppy could dig her own device out of her purse, but Turner’s was better.
“I don’t want him to have my number,” she said by way of explanation while putting the number into Turner’s phone to call.
“Neither do I,” he muttered behind her.
Listening to it ring, Poppy tried to decide what she wanted him to say. If Charley was with David, she’d be on cloud nine… She’d also be on course for a massive crash. In all her life, Poppy had never wanted to be more wrong about a guy.
It went to voicemail and she took the phone from her ear to tip her head back, seeking Turner. “Voicemail. Should I leave a message?”
“Yeah,” Turner said. “Because then he’ll think that number is your number.”
He was doing that predatory thing again. Except instead of her being his prey, David seemed to be the one in his sights and there was nothing carnal in the intent of his gaze.
The voicemail kicked in, so she put a very specific sort of smile into her voice. “Hey, David, it’s Poppy… from work. I just thought I’d call to, you know, check in… Call me back. We’ll… talk.”
Hanging up the phone, she was looking at it when Turner hunkered down next to her. “We’ll talk?” he asked, taking the phone from her hand. “Never heard a woman sound less like she wanted to talk.”
Wearing a smile, Poppy sank back against his thigh, resting between them to peek up at him. “Come over later and I won’t want to talk then either.”
“You didn’t think you should just ask about Charley?”
“No, because this way I get to find out if he’s into her or not. If he likes her, he won’t return the call or he’ll call and let me down gently. Then we ask if he knows where Charley is.”
“And if he calls you for a hook up?”
“He won’t call me, he’ll call you,” she said, pressing the button on the side of the phone in his hand to put the volume to max. “And you can tell him I’m all buddied out at the moment.”
“I’ll tell him more than that. You’ll stay here with Mom?”
She nodded. “Don’t tell Faye before her interview.” Poppy turned his hand to light up the screen on his phone to check the time. “It’s in twenty minutes, she’s probably there already… I can leave Ashlee here and go pick up Emmie and Noah, if Faye wants to look for Charley with you after.”
His concern wasn’t disguised by his anger. “I’ll have Charley by the time they’re done. I’ll bring them all back here.”
“It’s Charley, remember,” Poppy murmured. “She doesn’t always think things through. Be gentle with her.”
“Anything could’ve happened. She could be dead in a ditch somewhere.”
And what would happen to the family if they lost Charley? Would Turner be able to live with the guilt he’d dump on himself?
“I’m worried about her heart,” Poppy said, still stroking his face. “I’m worried she’ll give her all to this guy and he’ll break her heart… I don’t want her to know what that