Lost and Found by Allison Brennan && Laura Griffin & Griffin Laura

Author:Allison Brennan && Laura Griffin & Griffin, Laura [Brennan, Allison]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: SoCal Press LLC
Published: 2016-01-04T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Three

Scarlet was relieved that Sherry left her alone for a while, though sitting in Gabe’s quiet house while Sherry did laundry, vacuumed, and chatted on the phone was unnerving. By the time the kids came in later that afternoon, she’s had second, third, and tenth thoughts about whether she was doing the right thing.

Joey came in shortly before the girls—he had a job at Starbucks. Lizzy came home with Abby just after three-thirty. They all had a hundred questions for Scarlet, and she answered them—mostly about California, baseball. (They were all Dodgers fans, like her dad, except for Abby, who firmly rooted for the Angels. Scarlet suspected because she herself was an Angels fan and had taken Abby to a game as her sixth birthday present.)

“Are you spending the night?” Abby asked, practically jumping up and down. She was at that age between child and teen. She’d be eleven this summer, about to start middle school, smart, conversational, yet to be interested in boys, athletic, and curious. She was a lot like Scarlet had been as a kid. Just more talkative.

“No, I have to get back to work,” she said.

Sherry walked in from the kitchen. “Of course you’re staying the night,” she said. “It’s a five-hour drive back to Newport Beach. We have plenty of room.”

Scarlet didn’t want to stay under the same roof as Gabe… not knowing what she knew. Yet… Sherry and kids were practically family. It had been more than three years since she’d seen them, but it might as well have been yesterday. She hadn’t realized she’d missed them—not specifically Sherry and Abby, but the sense of family. She loved her dad and brother, but being raised with two guys after her mother walked out when she was eight wasn’t the same thing.

“If you don’t think Gabe would mind…”

Sherry laughed again, as was her way, but there wasn’t as much humor. She glanced at Scarlet out of the corner of her eye, a bit confused. Did she suspect something? Scarlet was usually a pretty good actress when she needed to be. But the emotions surrounding this case had her guts inside out.

“You’re staying,” Sherry said. “It’s settled.”

“Daddy! Look who’s here!”

Scarlet heard Abby’s voice at the same time she caught an odd expression on Sherry’s face.

Slowly, Scarlet pivoted on the stool and saw Gabe walking in through the side door. He wasn’t looking at anyone else, just her.

And she saw the truth in his eyes.

Guilt.

Remorse.

Fear.

Sherry stepped forward, drying her hands on a dishtowel, astute enough to know there was something else going on between Gabe and Scarlet. “Gabe, Scarlet and I had a wonderful afternoon. We went to that pub you like, had burgers. I’m still stuffed, but Lizzy has rehearsal, so I made stew in the crock pot.”

Of course there was something bizarre. Scarlet hadn’t called, visited, emailed in three and a half years. The only contact was a birthday card and present she’d sent to Abby every July. She probably should have sent presents to Joey and Lizzy as well, but she felt a kinship with the youngest Stone.

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