Love to Hate You (Hope Valley #9) - Jessica Prince Page 0,34

past couple of days start to loosen.

“Hey there, love bug!” I gave her a big squeeze, burying my nose in her mess of hair and breathing in her scent before pulling back to get a look at her face. “Did you have fun?”

“Uh huh! We watched movies and made a fort and ate ice cream and went shopping!”

I looked to Alex and arched a questioning brow.

“We got her some clothes and stuff to keep at our place so you don’t have to pack her a bag every other weekend. Make things a bit easier, you know?”

“Well, thanks,” I mumbled as I bent to put Ivy on the ground so I could take the unicorn backpack he was holding out to me. “Ivy, give your dad a hug goodbye,” I ordered, keeping my tone gentle, even though all I wanted to do was grab her hand and drag her away from Alex and Krista and that part of her life.

Alex picked her back up, giving her a squeeze much like the one I’d just given her. “Love you, little monkey. See you soon, yeah?”

“Love you too, Daddy.”

He put her down once she gave him a smacking kiss on the cheek, and looked to me. “Well . . . I guess I’ll see you in a couple weeks.”

“Yeah. Drive safely.”

With that, I took Ivy’s little hand and began leading her up the front walk toward the house, not bothering to turn and look back.

Chapter Eleven

Micah

My phone sounded with an incoming text just as I pulled into the garage and shut my truck off. Grabbing it from the cupholder, I swiped my thumb across the screen, bringing it to life. My teeth clenched and a tick formed in my eyelid as I read and reread the message Charlie had just sent.

C: Can’t talk but am safe. Will call when I can. Call off your bloodhound.

I’d been trying to reach her since Monday, worried my little showdown with Greg Cormack at The Tap Room had set him off in some way. He called off sick Monday and Tuesday, which set me on edge, and when he got to the station this morning, it was obvious he was in a foul mood.

My anxiety had spiked to an all-time high when I hadn’t been able to get ahold of Charlie for the past two days. I’d called her burner, using our code, letting it ring once before hanging up, but when she didn’t call back, I’d thrown protocol to the wind, and Leo and I both had started blowing up her phone. When we hit the twelve-hour mark, I’d officially lost my mind and called Linc, telling him to put Dalton on it.

It hadn’t taken him long to track her down, and once we got word she was still breathing, his orders were to track her every goddamn move.

I started typing at a rapid clip.

M: Not fucking happening. This is your fault for ghosting me for two goddamn days. You either let him tail you, or he’s been instructed to pull your ass out. End of story.

The bubbles popped up, telling me she was typing something. It blinked on the screen for several seconds before her message came through, calling me, Leo, and Dalton every name in the book, spelling out her displeasure at the new turn in the operation with perfect clarity. But I noticed she hadn’t said anything more about calling Dalton off, so I took that as a sign she was getting with the program and decided not to message her back. We both needed a chance to cool down.

If we didn’t wrap up this case soon, I was going to die of a heart attack. As it was, I was sure my blood pressure was already through the roof.

I climbed out of my truck and rounded the back of it, about to hit the button to close the garage door when I heard a little voice call out, “Hi.”

Looking toward the picket fence between my property and the one next door, I spotted a little girl with long, wild red hair holding on to two of the pickets as she squished her chubby little face in the opening between.

I’d seen her one other time, a few days ago when her dad had dropped her off. I’d spotted Hayden through my window as she’d rushed to the curb, giving a little hop as a shiny Mercedes that probably overcompensated for a small dick pulled up in front of the house. My first thought