Page 52 of A Baby for the Billionaire Cowboy

She’d take a deep breath and work through every option.

First she reached between the driver’s seat and the door, so she could prod all the window and unlock buttons again. That was awkward, keeping Avery at her right breast and perching on the very edge of the seat so she could stretch her arm forward.

It was also useless. Leave it to William to find a car that wouldn’t let anyone in or out without the driver’s permission.

Okay. What about the horn? If she made noise, would people come? Or would they assume it was a car alarm that had been set off accidentally? She could honk in an SOS pattern—if she knew Morse code, which she didn’t.

Honking the horn might draw people eventually, if they could figure out where the sound came from and someone got worried or annoyed enough to look into it, all the way back here behind the store. But the sound might bring William back faster. She’d hold that in reserve. If she couldn’t find a way out of the car, she’d crawl into the front seat, honk the horn, and try to keep the door locked by holding down the lock button as William tried to unlock it.

If she couldn’t get the doors or windows open, maybe she could break a window. It wouldn’t do any good to break a window on the right side of the car, since it was too close to the wall for her to squeeze out. On the left side, she’d have to break a window and shove the dumpster back. William had moved it, so it must be on wheels, but that didn’t mean she’d be strong enough to push it, especially from an awkward position inside the car.

If she could break the front or back window, she could climb out onto the hood or trunk. Car windows were pretty strong. They were designed to hold up against rocks kicked up from the road and so forth. She’d had a crack in her car’s front window for months, and while it had grown a few inches, the window held. The front window might be the strongest, in order to protect the driver in a crash. So the back window was her best bet.

With one arm holding Avery in place, she twisted around. No way was she going to try to punch the window out, but maybe she could kick it. That might scatter glass all over her legs, but she could accept a few cuts as the price to pay for escape.

She didn’t want glass falling on Avery though. She’d set him in the front seat and put something over for him for extra protection. He’d been wrapped in a blanket, but that must have gotten dropped back with the stroller. She dug into the diaper bag for a couple of diapers.

“I’m sorry, my darling, I know you’re not done eating, but we need to get out of here.” She kissed Avery’s head and put him in the front seat. He whimpered and fussed, batting his tiny hands.

“Shh. You can have all the milk you want in a few minutes. I promise.” She unfolded the diapers and spread them over him.

Now to kick out the back window. She rolled onto her back, trying to brace herself against the other seats. She was at an awkward angle, practically falling off the seat to the floor. She steadied herself and tapped the window a couple of times with her foot in preparation. Good thing it was chilly enough that she’d dug out her boots instead of wearing sandals.

She kicked. The thud traveled up her leg. Her heel throbbed.

The window didn’t shatter or crack or even tremble, as far she could tell. She squirmed into a new position and tried again, using both feet at once.

Ouch!Again.Oof!

Finally she swung around and put her feet back on the floor. “No good. Any more of that and I’ll be limping if we do escape, which we won’t, because it’s not working.”

She wouldnotcry. Not yet. There’d be time for that later.

Daisy pushed hair back from her face. What was she doing wrong? Car windows were tough, but they weren’t unbreakable.

She needed a tool. She had a vague memory of her father mentioning that the huge flashlight he kept alongside the driver’s seat could be used to break a window if the car went into water. Okay. She needed something hard. Something she could swing with force, or else maybe something with a pointed end. She felt under the front seats but didn’t find anything.

She grabbed the diaper bag and dumped it out on the seat. She couldn’t imagine what baby tool would be useful for breaking a window, but she hadn’t fully explored everything in there. Diapers, wipes, soft cloths—useless.

Her keys. With the keychain Xander gave her, a small metal flashlight. The flashlight’s back end came to a point. Maybe that was merely so the ring could go through the hole, but it was small and hard and pointed.

Daisy leaned over the front seats and scanned as much of the parking lot as she could see. No sign of William so far. How long had he been gone? It seemed like forever and like no time at all.

It didn’t matter. She had to keep moving.

She bit her lip and studied the back window. What was the best place to hit it? In the middle? A corner? If she could break the glass at a corner, it might keep the entire window from shattering and falling in on her. She chose the lower corner on the side farthest from where Avery was in the front seat.

She didn’t want to jab at the window with the flashlight and maybe put her arm right through the glass, so she needed something to hit the other end of the little flashlight. The flashlight would act like a nail. She needed a hammer.

Her boot. She wrenched one off.

Daisy held the metal flashlight to the lower corner of the back window with one hand. She got the shoe in place, turned her face away, and started hitting it.

Nothing. She needed to stop being afraid of the breaking glass and hit it hard! She grabbed another diaper and wrapped it around her arm. Then she went back to hitting the flashlight with her boot.

Nothing, nothing, nothing.

Wait, had she heard another sound under the pounding? A creak, maybe even a crack? She peered at the windshield. It was cracking! She turned her face away again and pounded that flashlight with all her might.

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