Page 143 of Property of Stone
She scanned the flow of kids.
Sunny was usually impatiently waiting out at the curb when Taryn got there. Stone’s daughter couldn’t wait to get outside to use her cell phone while she waited. Going without her cell phone all day had to be torture.
Taryn snorted softly. If she had acted like that at ten, she’d have that phone permanently welded to her fingers by sixteen.
She still wasn’t thrilled that Sunny had a cell phone at her age, but when it came down to it, it really wasn’t herplace to say much about it. That was between Stone and Sheena.
If she had to guess, Taryn doubted Sheena gave a shit. She was probably glad the phone kept Sunny occupied and out of her hair.
A book would do the same.
Her heart swelled as she saw Wren squeeze between two fellow students, then run to where Taryn was parked.
When he reached the Honda, he jerked open the back door, slipped his backpack from his shoulders, and flung it inside before climbing into his booster seat.
“Hey, kiddo! How was your day at school?” Taryn watched him over her shoulder to make sure he buckled up.
“It was really, really,reallygood!” he spouted loudly as he strapped himself in.
“Wow. What made it really, really,reallygood?”
“Someone came from the Hershey Zoo and brought a bunch of snakes! I got to hold one!”
Yuck.“You did? How exciting! Do you mean ZooAmerica in Hershey?” She had taken him there while at Hershey Park last summer.
“Yes. I want a snake, Mommy. And I wanna go to the zoo again.”
He would not be getting a snake while they shared the same roof. “Okay, I’ll take you and Sunny soon. I’m sure she’ll enjoy it, too. Speaking of…where is she? She’s not out here waiting like she normally is.”
Wren shrugged. “Dunno.”
She glanced back toward the school, ignoring the honks and nasty looks from the other parents picking up their children. Taryn didn’t care. She wasn’t moving until both kids were in the car.
Five minutes later with still no sign of her, Taryn textedSunny, asking where she was. Her heart began to pound when she didn’t get an immediate answer.
But that also didn’t surprise Taryn. While Stone’s daughter was slowly softening around the edges when it came to her and Wren, she still had plenty of bristly moments.
Today could be one of them. Or it could simply be that her battery died.
With a sigh, she reluctantly moved out of the pickup line and parked where she could still see the school’s doors.
After another five minutes and no sign of her, the fine hairs on the back of Taryn’s neck began to stand.
Something had to be wrong.
Either that or Stone forgot to tell her that his daughter was being picked up by someone else for whatever reason.
Or she could be stuck in detention. At ten. Because why not follow in her father’s footsteps and get started early with being detained for acting out?
She rolled her eyes at her own ridiculous doom and gloom.
She should get out, head into the school, and speak to the staff. Someone had to know where she was.
But before she went in there looking like a clueless idiot, she texted Stone. Maybe Sunny had contacted her father and he forgot to pass on the info to Taryn.
Do you know where Sunny is?
School, came his answer. Apparently, he didn’t have a clue either.
