“What about video feed? Can you see where she went?”
“Hold on. Let me see where she went after she left the property.”
I paced the room as I waited. If he could tell me a direction, or any other information, I might be able to piece together where she went.
“Sorry, man. She headed out into the country, and not the main roads. She headed east, but that’s as much as I can tell you. I can run a search for her plates, but that’s assuming that she drives into a city that has cameras all over the place.”
I hung up without answering. If she was going off the grid, there was no way for me to get ahold of her, no way to talk this out with her. She was gone, and now I needed to wait for her to come back to me. If she came back to me.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHTFlorrie
Jamie stared at me in shock as I stood on the other side of his door. I knew I looked terrible. About halfway into my drive, I started crying and I just couldn’t stop. My eyes were bright red and my cheeks were flushed from crying. He stepped back quickly, motioning for me to come in.
“Thanks,” I sniffled. “I’m sorry to just show up like this.”
“Don’t worry about it. Is everything okay? Is Alec okay?”
I laughed humorlessly, shaking my head as the tears started again. I swiped at my face, angry for crying right now. I never cried, but now I couldn’t seem to stop. It was like an endless fountain and I couldn’t understand why. I had been pushing Alec away for months, so why was I so broken over him finally ending it?
“Can I get you a drink or maybe a few boxes of tissues? Do you want to sit?”
Jamie ran his hand through his hair, obviously uncomfortable with this side of me. I nodded and moved to the living room, sitting down on his couch. He sat at the opposite end, arms resting on his knees as he stared at me.
“I just needed to get away, and you were the first person I thought of.”
“Well, I’m flattered. Tell me that you left Alec and you’re running away to be with me, and you’ll make me the happiest man alive.”
I tried to smile, but my face crumpled and I started crying again.
“Oh, shit. You did leave Alec.”
“He…he cheated on me,” I said, trying to stop the crying. “Last night. We had a fight and then he walked back in with lipstick on his face. He didn’t even try to deny it.”
Jamie looked utterly wrecked on my behalf. He sighed and flopped back against the couch. Then he shifted and pulled me across the couch toward him, tucking me into his side. His hand trailed up and down my arm in soothing strokes, making me cry even more. This is what I had needed all along, but since Alec was the reason for me being upset, I never tried to take comfort from him. I thought it would feel wrong.
“What happened?” he finally asked.
“That’s a loaded question.”
“Why don’t you tell me what happened between the last time I saw you and last night.”
I sighed and started at the beginning. “I told you that we took in a teenager that we found on the streets.” I felt him nod. “He had family in Utah that came looking for him. I didn’t want Reid to go stay with them. He was happy with us. He liked living with us, but Alec thought that they should have custody of him.”
“Why?”
“Because Alec grew up in foster care. Of course, he never told me any of that. He said that he always wondered if there was someone out there that wanted him, and when no one came for him, he wondered why no one wanted him. So, I guess he wanted that for Reid.”
“But you didn’t agree.”
I pushed away from Jamie so I could see him. “Why would I? I was his mother. I took him off the streets and took care of him for eight months before those people came along. They didn’t know him. They didn’t protect him when they should have.”
“Was there a reason they hadn’t come for him?”
“They gave a reason, but I think they wanted his money. He was a senator’s son and when the senator died, he inherited everything. They had financial issues, and I think when they found out that he was getting everything, they came for him.”
“And I take it they got custody.”
I nodded. “About two months ago. I wanted to take Reid and run, but-”
“Whoa.” He grabbed my hand and shook his head. “What the hell were you thinking?”
I jerked my hand out of his. “I was thinking I would still have my kid.”
“Florrie, that’s not the way to handle a situation like this.”
“What do you know? You don’t have any kids. You don’t know what it feels like to have your kid ripped away from you.”
“Florrie,” he said sadly, in that same fucking tone that everyone talked to me in. “I may not know what it’s like, but I care about you and even I can see how much trouble you would be in. And since you’re not in jail, I’m guessing that Alec felt the same way.”
“I would have gotten away,” I whispered, the tears welling in my eyes. His betrayal still stung. “I could have-”
“No, Florrie. You wouldn’t have gotten away. You would have gotten caught, and then Alec would have been forced to watch you go to jail. And there’s nothing he would have been able to do to help you. Can’t you see that? He was trying to protect you.”
I shook my head, standing to get away from him. “You’re just like all the rest of them. You know, some of them were on my side. Some of them would have fought to get me out of there.”
“At
