“That’s a story for another day. So, lunch?”
“Okay.”
“What sounds good?”
Her phone chimed, and she fished it from her purse. “It’s Amy, my neighbor.” She answered, then listened, then gasped. “We’ll be there in fifteen minutes.” She dropped the phone onto her lap. “Oh, God.”
Chapter 7
Kendall was afraid to believe it, but Amy wouldn’t lie to her or play that kind of joke on her. “We need to go home.”
“Talk to me. What happened?”
She thought she might pass out and sucked in air.
“Kendall. What’s wrong?”
“Wrong? Nothing. Nothing at all. Amy found Livie sitting in the yard.”
“Is she okay? Does she know how Livie got there?”
“No, she was just sitting in the yard, crying. Can you go any faster?”
“Yes.”
Breaking all the speed limits, he got them home in eight minutes. As soon as he stopped the car in her driveway, she jumped out and raced to Amy’s house with Cooper right behind her. She didn’t bother knocking, and when she made it into Amy’s living room, she almost fell to her knees at seeing her daughter safe on Amy’s lap.
“Mommy!” Livie cried at seeing her.
“Oh, baby.” She rushed to take Livie in her arms, and Livie wrapped her arms and legs around Kendall like a spider monkey. She glanced at Cooper, who’d come up behind Livie. He met her gaze, and there was so much longing in his eyes. There was also relief that their daughter was safe.
“Mommy, where were you?”
“I’m right here, sweetie. Are you okay?”
Cooper eased around until he was in Livie’s view. “Do you hurt anywhere, Livie?”
Livie buried her face against Kendall’s neck. “Don’t let the bad man take me.”
“Oh, baby, he’s not a bad man. This is Cooper, Mommy’s friend. He helped me look for you.”
Livie shook her head, refusing to look at Cooper. “Make him go away.”
“I’m sorry,” Kendall said to Cooper. “She’s traumatized right now.”
He backed away until he was out of Livie’s sight. “I understand. She just needs the comfort and safety of her mother right now.”
“There’s a note pinned to her shirt,” Amy said. “I didn’t touch it.”
Kendall pulled Livie away from her neck and leaned away. Yes, there was a note on her shirt. It was folded in half, so she couldn’t read it. A bad feeling traveled through her.
“Don’t touch it,” Cooper said. He turned to Amy. “Do you have any rubber gloves or dish gloves?”
“Who are you?” Amy asked.
He glanced at Kendall before answering, and she nodded, giving him permission to tell Amy he was Livie’s father.
“Can we go find some gloves where we can talk without little ears nearby?”