Revealing Annie - Freya Barker Page 0,78
just gonna go in with Annie and grab a couple of things.”
We’re halfway to the store when I hear him shout behind me.
“Yo, Pop? Can you grab me some more Diet Coke?”
I raise a thumb in the air and when I drop my hand Annie grabs onto it, her fingers sliding between mine. Fucking perfect.
It doesn’t take me long to gather up the makings for Pad Thai, a favorite at the station, but tonight I’m cooking it for my family. I go in search of Annie, who is standing at the bakery counter talking to a young woman I’ve seen before.
“Almost ready?”
She looks up at me when I step up beside her and drape my arm over her shoulders.
“Yeah, sure.” Then she addresses the girl. “Well, when you see him, can you tell him I enjoyed working with him? I’m staying in town so I’ll pop by again.”
“I will.” The girl looks a little starstruck and I’m guessing Annie just ‘came out’ to her. “I still can’t believe I didn’t see it.”
“You’re not the only one,” I tell her with a wink, before gently steering Annie to the checkout.
I’m loading groceries on the counter when I hear Annie softly swear behind me. When I turn she pulls a magazine from the rack—one of those gossip rags they keep at the cash register—looking at it closely. I peek over her shoulder and mutter an expletive of my own.
On the front cover, in the top right corner, is a close-up of the old Annie wearing a baseball cap. It’s a candid shot of her smiling at something. Her blue eyes popping off the page. The caption reads:
What happened to Annabel?
“Sixty-three ninety-five, please.”
I pluck the magazine from her hands and drop it on the counter.
“Can you add this?”
“Sure. That makes it sixty-six ninety-four, please.”
I feel Annie slipping past me as I settle with the cashier, and she’s already heading to the doors with one of the bags. I grab the rest and rush to catch up with her.
“Fucking Miles,” she mutters when I fall in step beside her.
“You think he’s behind that?”
She stops and flashes me a pair of angry eyes. “I know it. Rags stopped talking about me about eight months ago. Gossip only sells while it’s hot, and the truth is, I wasn’t all that hot to begin with. Never made the front page until now, so I’ll leave you to link the dots.”
A car honks and I realize we’re in the middle of the parking lot. I nudge Annie to keep walking, but she stops again when we get close to the truck.
“Where’s Bryce?”
I look up and see the back door of my truck open a bit. No Bryce or Hunter. Immediately my eyes scan the parking lot, even as a jolt of fear steals the breath from my lungs. I rush over and pull the door all the way open, looking inside to make sure it’s empty.
“Bryce!” I hear Annie yell, still standing in the same spot, looking around her.
I drop the bags in the back of the truck and pull out my phone.
“Ramirez.”
“Tell me you still have Parsons,” I snap.
“I was about to call you with some news on that.”
“Did you let him go?”
“Let him go? No way, the DA just formally charged him. I was going to stop by with some evidence I’d like—”
“Fuck.”
“What the hell is going on?” Tony wants to know.
“It’s Bryce, he’s—”
I don’t get to finish my sentence because suddenly Annie calls out. “There he is!”
I follow the direction she’s pointing, where I can see my son come jogging around the dumpster beside the grocery store, Hunter running alongside, his tongue lolling out of his mouth. I bend over, bracing myself with my hands on my knees, when I hear a muffled, “Sumo, fuck! Talk to me.”
I bring the phone I held pressed against my knee up to my ear.
“It’s all good. False alarm,” I manage, the residual fear still coursing through my blood, making me breathless. I don’t take my eyes off my son until Annie intercepts him, giving him a piece of her mind. “Couldn’t find Bryce for a minute, but he’s here. It’s all good.”
“Jesus, man, you scared the crap out of me,” Tony grumbles.
“Tell me about it.”
“Look, are you gonna be home soon? I’ve got some stuff I want to go over with Annie.”
Bryce looks at me with guilt in his eyes and slowly comes toward me.
“Give us half an hour, okay?”
“Yeah, sure. See you then.”
I tuck my phone in