Page 82 of Mountain Daddy
My breath catches.
Back to the Inn.
She was going to come back to me.
“When?” I whisper.
“That morning. With the pancakes.” I feel her yawn.
There’s a part of me that hadn’t let go of the stress I felt, thinking I’d never see her again.
A part of me still feels like it’s stuck in a spiral of panic. Like these last couple weeks might turn out to be a dream. That I’ll wake up, and I’ll never find the Kendra Baby I met in the bar.
But she’s here.
Curled against me.
Once again ready to fall asleep in my arms.
Once again rocking my world.
Even if her dad hadn’t turned out to be my best friend, she still would’ve come back to me.
I allow my anxiety to unravel its hold on me.
My thumb traces another circle.
“I was looking into private investigators,” I admit.
I was ready to hire one. I just needed to convince myself it wasn’t creepy to go through the credit card records for her motel room to find her full name.
I would’ve done it. Probably would’ve done it that same weekend.
“We’d have found each other,” I tell her. Meaning it.
Her breathing is getting slower. “What if it ends badly?”
My throat feels tight as I swallow. “It won’t.”
“Promise?” Kendra’s whisper slides into my heart.
“I promise, Baby Doll.” I press my lips to her hair. “Go to sleep.”
Kendra relaxes into me.
And as I follow her into dreamland, I hope I told her the truth.
Chapter 47
Kendra
When I wake up alone,I stare at my nightstand. And the brownie sitting on the surface.
Chapter 48
Kendra
Papi: I think I did something wrong.
