Claw and Order: (Wolves of Worsham #4) by Valerie Evans

Author:Valerie Evans [Evans, Valerie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-08-17T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

We need to talk.

Just answer the phone.

Rachel stared at the pair of texts for exactly thirty seconds before hitting delete messages and checking both. They disappeared a minute later along with his name, but the same couldn’t be said for the painful knot twisting in her stomach.

“You okay, Mom?” Bailey’s concerned question pulled her out of her own head.

“Fine, sweetheart,” she lied, running a hand over her daughter’s blonde ponytail and studying the cup of ice cream in her hand. “Anything you forgot to add?”

“Nope, birthday cake ice cream with sprinkles, strawberries, and hot fudge, but you might want to stop Izzy.”

Glancing over to her younger daughter, she sighed at the mountain of toppings hiding the ice cream beneath, including huge gummy frogs. The cup was taken from Izzy and placed on the scale alongside theirs while she tucked her phone away and pulled out her wallet instead, having promised the girls ice cream if she got good reports from their conferences. Apparently both had taken her quite seriously.

After paying for their treats, she led them to a small table outside then settled into a chair with one of them on either side. “Dig in.”

Izzy picked out a frog while Bailey stirred hers then questioned, “Can I come with you to Bordertown tonight, Mom?”

“Not tonight,” she replied, scooping up a bite of her own ice cream. “Neither Elliot nor Eliana will be there anyway so you’d just be bored plus don’t you want to hang out with your uncles?”

“Oh.” The disappointed tone confirmed the source of her desire to visit. “And yeah, I like my uncles, but I just . . . we always do the same things, Mom.”

Rachel nodded in understanding, though she didn’t know how to explain Elias’ limited mobility played the biggest part so she questioned, “What would you want to do? I’m sure they’re open to suggestions.”

Bailey picked out a strawberry. “I don’t know, but just something different.”

Further conversation was halted by Izzy’s sudden shout of, “Uncle Paul!”

Turning her head, she spotted her cousin seconds before he stole one of Izzy’s gummy frogs, prompting a shout, then gave her a tight squeeze. “Hey, Izzy B, Bailey. Did you get any for me?”

“Nope,” Bailey replied, scooping up a huge bite. “You don’t have all As.”

Paul laughed. “Sadly, you’re right. Can we talk a minute, Ray? Alone?”

The knot within her stomach twisted and the few bites of ice cream she’d managed to keep down suddenly tasted sour. However, she kept her smile as she instructed the girls to eat then pushed herself up and moved a little away with Paul whose smile disappeared the minute his back was to the girls.

“John’s in town.”

She blinked. “What?”

“He showed up at Bordertown earlier, looking for Langfords, particularly you,” he said, brows scrunched to match his frown. “You haven’t seen or talked to him?”

“He’s sent a couple texts, but I deleted them,” she admitted under his scrutiny. “How do you know he was at Bordertown? Are you back to visiting?”

He shook his head.

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