Page 81 of Emergency Exit
Ash laughed. “My cheese really is all yours. You are so freaking cool.”
26
Ash
Chloe & Forest Breakup
Ash read his text from Chloe again as he approached the front door of Forest’s house. Chloe had asked for emergency babysitting services, and Ash had felt like it was his chance to redeem himself and agreed, but the more he thought about it, the weirder the request sounded. Forest was in the middle of a PR nightmare at work. Valkyrie Development was getting blamed for a vicious attack on a homeless encampment. It seemed concerning that Chloe now also had an emergency.
The front door swung open as Ash approached. Chloe stood in the doorway, already wearing her coat.
“Thanks for coming,” she said softly. Her eyes looked red, and Ash got a sinking feeling in his stomach. “Olly’s down for a nap. He’ll be up in about an hour.”
“OK. Are you OK?”
Chloe took a deep breath. “I’m finding it difficult to accept the unfairness of life at the moment. I will need to meditate.”
“Uh...”
There was the sound of a motor, and Ash turned to see a Honda sedan pull into the driveway. It was driven by a cute Asian woman with long black hair.
“Uh, Chloe, I’m not sure. Maybe you should wait until Forest comes home,” said Ash, grasping at straws.
“This is for the best,” said Chloe, shaking her head. “There is a letter for Forest on the kitchen counter. It will explain everything.”
She picked up a bag by the door, and Ash recognized it as thesame bag she’d arrived with.
“Tell Olly...” Chloe’s voice cracked, and tears sprang to her eyes. “Tell Olly I love him.”
She hurried out to the car before Ash could speak. Ash watched the car drive away with the horrible feeling that she wasn’t coming back. He went into the kitchen and checked the letter. The envelope was sealed shut. From having a deviant behavior-filled childhood and mystery novel habit, he knew at least three ways around that, but he put the letter down instead.
By the time Forest returned from work, Ash was ten seconds away from calling in Rowan for reinforcements.
“Want Chloe!” Olly wailed as Ash carried him into the kitchen to meet Forest.
“What’s going on?” demanded Forest, reaching for Olly. “Where’s Chloe?”
Any hope that Chloe had texted Forest and Ash wouldn’t have to deliver the bad news evaporated.
“I don’t know!” said Ash. “She called. She said it was an emergency. When I got here, she said that she had to go and that it was for the best. What did she mean,for the best,Forest? What the hell did you do?”
“Want Chloe,” mumbled Olly.
“Chloe will be back soon,” said Forest, holding Olly tighter.
“Don’t say that,” hissed Ash.
“If it was an emergency, then I’m sure she’ll deal with it and be back soon,” protested Forest.
“She took her bag, and she left a note,” whispered Ash, pointing to the letter on the counter. “That is not what you do when you’re coming back.”
Olly clung to Forest but had at least stopped crying as Forest rocked him.
“I have Bear,” said Ash, patting his pockets and pulling out the flattened stuffed animal.
“Bear!” barked Olly, holding out a demanding arm without moving his head from Forest’s shoulder. Ash put the stuffie into Olly’s outstretched hand, and Olly stuffed Bear’s paw into his mouth, then took a deep, shuddering breath.
“OK,” said Forest, keeping his voice soothing for Olly, “one thing at a time. We’ll just read the note. I’m sure Chloe just didn’t want to call me during a crisis. The last time we talked, I told her I wouldn’t be home until ten. She didn’t know your asset management software would come through for us.”
