Misfit Toys by JC Doan

Author:JC Doan [Doan, JC]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-04-14T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Hailey wasted no time grilling her niece once they got back to the SUV.

“I want to know what you know, and I want to know yesterday.” Beside her, Gran was nodding in agreement as she buckled herself in and Hailey cranked the engine to life. Violet eyed Hailey coolly in response, sizing her up.

“I know that you need to get off of my back,” she said, the words evenly spaced, shades of her mother showing through in the defiant tilt of her head and the I-dare-you glint of her eyes. She waited until Hailey was pulling out of the prison’s parking lot to add, “By the way, the Lucky Charms Man and I are getting married.”

The announcement had Gran reaching for the smokes. Hailey, however, was beyond surprise. She merged into a light but steady stream of traffic and plucked the cigarettes from her grandmother’s hand all without breaking stride.

“Well, really,” Gran huffed as Hailey tossed her latest fix out the window. “It’s not good for the kid,” Hailey said, the phrase becoming automatic, unfortunately, by now. “You know what else isn’t good for the kid?” Hailey asked cheerfully. “Marrying the Lucky Charms Man because she thinks she has no other options. If that’s even legal.” Right then, her niece looked like she would happily kill her.

“I told you he looks like the Lucky Charms Man,” Gran said.

Through the rear view mirror, Hailey leveled a stern gaze into the backseat. “Violet, does he even have a job? Where did you meet this guy? And did your mother approve of this?”

Gran gave her “that’s right” nod with each question. Violet remained stubbornly silent, her jaw tightening like a wind-up toy that was about to pop its spring.

A second later, all three of them heard the sirens. Hailey glanced back instinctively and swore. Okay. Maybe he wanted to get around them. She eased off the gas as Gran cried, “What are you doing? Step on it, Hailey!”

The cop chirped his siren and rode their bumper. They were definitely being pulled over. She couldn’t for the life of her think what rules of the road she might have broken in the three blocks she’d traveled from the prison. “We are not running from the police.”

“Your sister would do it,” she groused as Hailey steered the SUV smoothly to the shoulder, somehow, with shaking hands.

She braked and threw the car in park. “My sister is in prison.” She had to be talking about Maddie. Treva’s driving record was probably so clean it squeaked. In the backseat, her niece had snagged a small square notebook from somewhere in the decidedly unsqueaky vehicle. Hailey alternated between eyeing the tall, thin cop as he advanced on them, and her niece as she snagged a pen out of her purse and began to scribble something on a fresh page.

“Quick, Hailey, pedal to the metal, now, while he’s too far away from his car to catch us.”

“What are you doing?” Hailey asked Violet, ignoring Gran completely now.

She finished the last block letter and held it up for all to see.

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