Page 142 of One Good Puck
“You need something in your stomach other than sugar,” I tell her.
“Can I put extra ketchup on it?”
“You can put all the ketchup you want on it as long as you eat it.”
She skips off to the condiment stand a dozen feet away. I stand off to the side of the line and wait as the concession worker finishes bagging up our cotton candy. He hands it to me and I thank him, then head for the condiment stand to meet Emma.
But when I look up, she’s not there. I glance around the crowded area, looking for her blonde ponytail and the pink bedazzled number seven on her jersey, but I don’t see her.
A flicker of worry hits me, but I shove it back. She probably just walked off for a second.
I notice a concession stand worker refilling the napkins at the condiment stand.
“Excuse me, did you see a little girl here a minute ago? She’s blonde and wearing a Bashers jersey with pink rhinestones on it.”
The young guy nods. “Oh yeah, she was here a second ago. She just walked off with her dad.”
I lose all the breath in my lungs. “W-What?”
The concession worker frowns at me. “Are you okay?”
I shake my head, dropping the bag of cotton candy as panic rockets through me.
“Where did they go?” I ask.
“I’m not sure. That way, I think.” He nods toward the stands. I run off and look in every direction for her, but I don’t see her. I race down the stairs and scan the seats for her, but there are too many people.
“Emma!” I yell out. No answer. “Emma, where are you?”
Half the fans turn to look at me. The other half ignore me and keep watching the game.
I run back up the steps, my heart pounding, tears burning my eyes. My throat is aching to let a sob loose, but I can’t break down. Not now. I need to keep it together so I can find Emma as soon as possible.
“Ma’am, you dropped your cotton candy.”
I spin around and see the young concession worker run up to me.
I shake my head. “I need your help. That man you saw my daughter with? It’s her estranged father. He doesn’t have permission to be around her. He took her. He kidnapped her…”
My voice breaks as dread slices through me. The concession worker’s eyes go wide. He leads me back to the concession stand.
“Curtis, we’ve got an emergency,” he yells to one of the workers. “Her daughter’s been kidnapped. Alert security now.”
Around me, people are staring and whispering. I try to speak, but I can’t. I’m crying too hard.
I feel a hand on my shoulder. When I turn around, I see Dakota.
“Abby, what’s wrong?”
“Emma’s missing. H-Her dad showed up and snatched her when I wasn’t looking.”
Dakota’s mouth falls open. “Oh my god…” She grabs my hand right as a trio of arena security guards walks up to where I’m standing.
The concession worker steps over and tells them what happened.
One of the security guys grabs his radio and says to lock down the stadium. Then he turns to me.
“Ma’am, we need a physical description of your daughter so we can look for her,” he says.
