Julie sighed dramatically. “Yeah. I’m going back home,” she answered, unhappy with this turn of events, but resigned.
“Yes, you are,” Hailey agreed, glancing at Dillon. “And in exchange, your dad’s going to try to convince your mom to allow him to visit you.”
“And I won’t stop until I convince her,” Dillon promised.
Julie looked really skeptical, but Dillon thought that he could see a trace of hope taking root. “You think so?” the girl asked, looking from Dillon to Hailey.
“Absolutely,” he told Julie. And then he looked around the immediate area. Julie hadn’t arrived much before he had, so he reasoned she couldn’t have put her suitcase away yet. “Where’s your stuff?” he asked her.
Julie shrugged. “I didn’t bring anything,” she confessed.
Dillon thought he’d misunderstood. “You didn’t bring a suitcase with you?”
“No,” she answered. “I didn’t want to attract any attention.”
Amazed, Hailey turned her head away from Dillon and whispered, “You have one very sharp little girl on your hands. Most twelve-year-olds wouldn’t have thought things through to this extent.”
“I’m going to make reservations for the three of us,” he told them, starting to take his credit card out of his wallet.
“The three of us?” Julie asked.
Dillon didn’t miss the fact that his daughter sounded decidedly a great deal more hopeful. Even if she hadn’t, he had no intentions of losing an ally at this crucial juncture. He knew he was going to need all the help he could get with Julie. Not just to get her home but also to find a way to entrench himself on the girl’s good side and stay there.
And then, of course, there was the matter of being able to handle Maura once he got to Fort Lauderdale. This was going to be a challenge all around and he was going to need backup.
“You heard me,” Dillon said. “The three of us.” And then he finally turned away to make that call to whatever airline had the first available flight from here to Fort Lauderdale.
“Looks like you’re going to get to meet my mother,” Julie said, looking at Hailey. The girl didn’t exactly sound as if she was happy about the prospect of seeing her mother again. “Now you get to see what I’ve had to put up with all these years,” she predicted, followed by another deep sigh.
“Funny thing,” Hailey told the girl, “your mother would probably say the same thing if anyone asked her how she felt about living with you.”
Julie looked surprised by what Hailey said, then visibly upset. Julie’s eyes closed into laser-like slits. “If she feels that way, then why won’t she just let me go and live with my dad?”
“Because under all that arguing and rule-setting, your mother really loves you,” Hailey told her. Julie’s frown only grew deeper. Hailey had to bite her lip not to laugh. “Don’t worry, this will all make sense to you in another fifty years. Or so.”
“Fifty years?” Julie cried, stunned.
This time Hailey did laugh. “I’m just kidding, honey.”
Julie’s frown instantly intensified, then after a beat, grew a little less so. Tossing her head, she claimed dismissively, “I knew that.”
“Okay, all set,” Dillon announced, returning to the room. “We lucked out. A party of four just canceled their reservations. That’s one more seat than we need.”
“Maybe them canceling is an omen and we shouldn’t go,” Julie said, speaking up.
“Nice try,” Dillon said with a laugh. “Okay, we need to get to the airport right now,” he urged, and then he paused as he looked in Hailey’s direction. “You want to pack anything?” he asked, giving her the opportunity to get a suitcase.
“Just a smile,” she answered, adding, “Something tells me I’m going to need it.”
And that’s when it hit him. He had just assumed she was coming with him. He hadn’t even asked her. “Listen, I just took it for granted that you’d want to come along with Julie and me. But you don’t have to if you’d rather not,” he told her, trying to find a graceful way of telling Hailey she was under no obligation to come with them.
Hailey looked at him as if he had lost his mind. “You’re going to need moral support. There’s no way I’m about to let you go alone,” she told him.
“Dad’s not alone,” Julie protested. She squared her shoulders. “He’s got me.”
“My mistake,” Hailey quickly backtracked. “There’s no way that I’m letting the two of you go alone. Better?” she asked, looking at Julie.
The girl smiled as she nodded her approval. “Better,” she answered.
And then she spared her father a glance as they were about to leave the house. Walking by him, Julie lowered her voice so that only he could hear what she wanted to say to him.
“You know, Dad, I like Hailey. I think she’s really nice.” she whispered with a wink just as she went out the door.
Dillon stood staring after Julie for a long moment. His daughter’s words of approval had left him utterly speechless.
A petite Maura was standing there, waiting for them in her driveway when Dillon, Hailey and Julie pulled up in the car Dillon had rented at the airport. Hailey found herself feeling sorry for the woman.
Maura looked like a very frightened mother who was doing her best not to break down. She still had circles under her eyes from crying and, in general, she looked as if she hadn’t slept a wink in the two days since her daughter had run away.
Leaning in toward Julie, Dillon whispered, “Why don’t you give her a hug, Julie? She looks like she could really use one. Your mom’s been through a lot in the last forty-eight hours.”
Glancing at the girl, Dillon thought that Julie looked as if she really wanted to. But at the same time, she looked very reluctant to admit that fact to anyone.
And then she shrugged carelessly. “I guess I can if it means so much to you,” Julie said.
“It does,” Dillon agreed, playing his part because he sensed
