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Sarah shook her head. “I’ve already called him, just to let him know what’s happening, and, to be honest, to make sure he’s making a sales call at the business where he said he’d be this afternoon. I phoned him at the business, rather than on his cell, just to be sure.”
“Thank God for that, at least,” Raylene said, just as the sheriff’s car rolled to a stop out front.
Expecting to see the familiar face of one of the longtime deputies or the paunchy form of the sheriff himself, she was stunned to see a tall, lean specimen of pure masculinity emerge from behind the wheel. He had chiseled cheekbones, thick brown hair and, when he removed his aviator sunglasses, a penetrating gaze that could spin a thousand feminine fantasies.
Furious with herself for ogling the man like a love-sick idiot despite being in the middle of a crisis, Raylene took a gulp of ice-cold lemonade to soothe her suddenly parched throat.
Anticipating a cross-examination, she steadied herself to wait, but instead, he reached out and opened the passenger door to the police cruiser. Tommy emerged, wearing an excited little-boy’s grin over the adventure he’d apparently had.
“I got to ride in a police car,” Tommy announced unnecessarily. “And I got to turn on the siren.”
Sarah knelt down and pulled Tommy into her arms. Her tears were openly flowing now. Then she held him at arm’s length and her expression turned stern. “Young man, do you have any idea how much trouble you’re in? What were you thinking, leaving this yard without permission? You know you’re not allowed to go anywhere that Raylene can’t see you.”
Tommy’s chin wobbled precariously. He cast a guilty look in Raylene’s direction. “I heard the ice-cream truck, and I had my money in my pocket ’cause we knew Freddie’d be coming soon. I thought I could find him.”
Raylene nearly groaned. Of course he’d go chasing after ice cream, though Freddie Wilson usually didn’t make his rounds until late afternoon, and normally he stopped right in front of their house so Raylene or the sitter could watch as Tommy made his purchase.
“I looked and looked, but I couldn’t find Freddie,” Tommy said sorrowfully. “And then I got lost. The policeman found me. He knew my name.” He regarded his mom worriedly. “That’s okay, right? Policemen are our friends, not strangers.”
Sarah nodded. “That’s exactly right.”
“I found him over on Oak Street,” the deputy said, still eyeing Raylene with disapproval. “He took himself quite a walk.”
“It’s hot and I’m thirsty,” Tommy said. “Can Libby and me have lemonade and cookies now?”
“Lemonade, but no cookies,” Sarah told him firmly. “Then you’re going to your room so Travis and I can have a talk with you about leaving here without an adult. I suspect your daddy will have a few things to say to you, too, when he gets here.”
Sarah turned to the deputy. “Thank you so much for finding him and bringing him home.”
“No problem,” he said, then focused on Raylene. “Ma’am, if you’re in charge, you’re going to need to keep a closer eye on the children. If something like this happens again, there could be serious consequences.”
Raylene flinched at his judgmental tone, though she could hardly argue with the message. “Believe me, it won’t happen again,” she assured him.
Because as soon as she got back inside, she intended to go through the classified ads and find another place to live. She’d imposed on Sarah long enough. She’d always intended to offer to buy this house from Sarah when she and Travis were married and living at his place, but staying here until then was now out of the question. Surely Sarah would see that after what had happened this afternoon, and if she didn’t, then Raylene would enlist Travis, their friend Annie or anyone else she could think of to make sure that Sarah saw reason. After all, where her kids were concerned, Sarah couldn’t justify taking chances, not even to protect her best friend.
Unfortunately, Sarah wasn’t being reasonable. Just after dinner, Raylene had announced her plans to move out, but Sarah was having none of it. To Raylene’s surprise, Travis was on her side. Even Annie had come over toting her new baby to offer her two cents’. Raylene fully expected the entire contingent of Sweet Magnolias to turn up any second to provide backup. When they united in solidarity, they were a force to be reckoned with. Everyone in Serenity knew that.
“Just because a man none of us had ever set eyes on before this afternoon criticized you without knowing all the facts does not mean you’re going to move out,” Sarah told Raylene. “And you can just take those bags you’ve packed right back to your room and unpack them.”
“I agree,” Travis said. “What happened today could have happened to any one of us.”
“But it happened to me,” Raylene protested, “and there wasn’t anything I could do except scream for Tommy and then make phone calls. You would have been outside chasing after him. He’d never have made it all the way to Oak Street if you’d been here.”
“You did exactly what needed to be done,” Sarah argued. “You called the sheriff.”
“It wasn’t enough,” Raylene countered. “I love you for taking me in and putting up with my craziness for all this time, but it needs to stop now. I will not put your children at risk.”
Sarah frowned at her determined tone. “What I know is that my children love you. You’re one of my two best friends and right now this is your home. It’s where you feel safe. Until you feel stronger and really, really want to move out on your own, you’re staying right here with us, and that’s final.”
Raylene regarded her with a mix of frustration and amazement. “How can you want that after what happened?”
“Because I love you, you dope. And like Travis said, what happened with the kids today could just as easily have happened to me or to him.”
“Listen to her,” Annie said, cradling Meg in her arms. “Trevor gets away from me in the blink of an eye. I swear one of these days I’m going to put that boy on a leash when I take him to the mall. Who knew kids that size could move so fast? Their legs are short, for goodness’ sake. Of course, Ty has a conniption when I say that, but he’s not the one standing in a crowded mall trying to spot a kid in a sea of legs.”
She met Raylene’s gaze. “And another thing, since Trevor’s my stepson, I feel an even greater sense of responsibility in a way. If anything ever happened to him on my watch, I don’t know if Ty would ever forgive me. So you see, I do understand how you feel, Raylene. I know exactly how terrifying this must have been.”
“So do I,” Travis said, his gaze on Sarah. “Don’t you think I feel a huge weight of responsibility every time I take Libby and Tommy out with me? Sure, I’d feel that if I were their biological dad, but, like Annie said, somehow I think it’s harder being their stepparent or, in your case, the friend who’s been left in charge.”
They were wearing away at all of Raylene’s arguments. She did have one more, though. “Okay, what about Walter?” she asked Sarah. “I’m sure he has an opinion about all this. Do you want to give him the perfect excuse to file for custody?”
Right after her own divorce, any mention of a custody suit would have scared Sarah to death, but now she waved it off. “I anticipated something like this, so I asked Walter flat out if he intended to make an issue of what happened today. He told me no, and he meant it. I could tell.”
She reached over and squeezed Raylene’s hand. “He likes you, sweetie. How you’ve pulled it off is beyond me, but he considers you a friend. He acted like I was nuts when I suggested he might use this to seek custody. He told me we were past all that a long time ago, he agreed it was better for the kids to live mainly with me and he had no intention of dragging you into that kind of fight. I’ll call him right now, and he can tell you that himself, if you need to hear it from the horse’s mouth.”
“No,” Raylene said. “But you all are being entirely too understanding, Walter included. The important thing is to keep the kids safe. They’re obviously not safe with me.”
“Okay, we can deal with that,” Sarah said decisively. “From now on, you won’t stay here alone with them, not even for a few minutes, but that’s the only thing that’s going to change. This is your home, period. Don’t waste your breath trying to make me change my mind.”
Raylene sighed with frustration and, if she were being honest, a hint of relief. “I appreciate this, I really do, but I just don’t see how you can be so generous after the way I let Tommy get away from me. Anything could have happened.”
“But it didn’t,” Sarah said emphatically. “And I said it because it’s how I feel. You’re a Sweet Magnolia, just like me and Annie, Maddie, Helen, Dana Sue and Jeanette. That makes you the next best thing to a sister, okay? And families stick together.” She regarded Raylene slyly. “There is one thing you could do for me in return, though.”
Raylene braced herself. She already knew what was coming. They’d had the conversation before. “You want me to see Dr. McDaniels.” The psychologist had treated Annie years ago for an eating disorder and continued to monitor her progress whenever Annie felt herself slipping. After well over a year of watching Raylene get worse, Annie and Sarah had started pushing Raylene to consult her. Their pleas had become increasingly forceful lately. Now, understandably, they were bound to be amped up even more.
Sarah nodded. “I do. Whether you just have a panic disorder or full-blown agoraphobia, it’s time to face it, Raylene. Not just because of what happened today, but so you can get your life back. Maybe this incident today happened for a reason, to make you finally get the help you need.”
Raylene had been waging an internal battle against seeking help from the moment her friends had first mentioned it. It had probably been a ridiculous point of pride that she conquer this problem on her own. The truth was, though, that she obviously couldn’t. Whatever was going on was bigger than she was.
When she remained silent, trying to work up the courage to concede defeat and ask for help, Annie stepped in.
“Raylene, this is treatable,” Annie assured her. “You know that. I’ve shown you all the research I could find on the Internet. There’s a very good chance Dr. McDaniels can work with a physician to get you on the right combination of medicine to help, and maybe teach you some calming and relaxation techniques. Don’t let that horrific ex-husband of yours rob you of the rest of your life. Now that you’re free of him, you need to live every second to the absolute fullest. You need to meet someone new, someone who’s kind and gentle and treats you with the respect you deserve. We all want that for you.”
“And you think I’ll meet that kind of man in Serenity?” Raylene scoffed with some of the leftover snobbishness she’d been taught by her mother, a Charleston socialite who’d married a local man, then found herself stuck in Serenity and had chafed at every minute of her life here.
“I have,” Sarah reminded her, glancing over at Travis, who gave her a wink. “So have Annie and Jeanette. And look at the men in Maddie, Dana Sue and Helen’s lives. They’re all amazing. And, if you don’t mind my saying so, that highly educated blueblooded doctor you met in Charleston wasn’t exactly a catch, now was he?”
Raylene’s lips quirked despite the reminder of just how awful Paul Hammond had been.
“You have me there,” she admitted. “Although a man is the last thing on my mind at the moment, I will call Dr. McDaniels.” Because she’d made the promise at least a dozen times before, she knew it probably sounded empty now. “I mean it. I’ll do it this time, first thing in the morning. You can stand right by the phone and listen in, if you want to. I owe you that much for sticking by me despite what happened.”
“You’re not doing it for me,” Sarah corrected. “You’re doing it for yourself. You need to concentrate on that. And I don’t need to listen to the call, Raylene. If you make a promise, you’ll keep it.”
Raylene was grateful for the trust Sarah had in her word. She just wasn’t so sure she deserved either the trust or a future. That was one more aftereffect of living with a man who’d literally and figuratively beaten her into submission for way too long before she’d wised up and left. That it had taken her years, rather than minutes, would shame her forever. That it had cost her the baby she’d been carrying had left her with the kind of gut-wrenching guilt from which she couldn’t imagine ever recovering.
Even she recognized that she’d been punishing herself by locking herself away in this house. Paul might be serving his time in prison, but she’d been serving her self-imposed sentence right here. Even now, she wasn’t a hundred percent certain she deserved to have it end, but today the stakes of doing nothing had increased to a level she could no longer ignore.
2 (#ulink_883f97e5-f188-59de-919a-d182f6eaf860)
Carter Rollins had taken one look at the woman standing on the front stoop at Sarah Price’s house the day before and labeled her some kind of expensively clad snob who thought she was too good to get her hands dirty. The fact that she’d been standing around, rather than looking for the missing boy, had grated on him. It had cemented his first impression that she was a selfish, overindulged, irresponsible female. If it had been up to him, he’d have found some way to charge her with child neglect on the spot.
Unfortunately, he’d learned a few things since moving to Serenity. It was a tight-knit, friendly community that stuck together. Unless he had the law very firmly on his side, it was best to handle things with that in mind.
WSER might not be the most powerful radio station in the state, or even in the region, but its owner, Travis McDonald, and star personality, Sarah Price, were local celebrities. He’d heard about their very public romance when he’d first arrived in town. Everybody in Serenity, it seemed, loved a love story. If Travis and Sarah intended to back up this woman, then there was very little Carter could do about it. And their protective attitude toward her yesterday had been as unmistakable as it was unfathomable.
The next time, though—if there was one—he wouldn’t hesitate to handle things differently, local politics be damned. He’d involve the child protective authorities in a heartbeat.
It was his job to protect people, especially innocent kids. Finding Tommy Price wandering alone several blocks from home had stirred his anger, so he didn’t much care who was on that babysitter’s side. Next time, he’d haul her in.
“Why do you look so grim?” his sister Carrie asked, eyeing him warily as he set an assortment of take-out boxes from the local Chinese restaurant on the kitchen table.
“Just a bad day,” he told his fifteen-year-old sister. One of these days, one of them—he, Carrie or his other sister, Mandy—was going to have to learn to cook. Beyond throwing meat, chicken or fish on a grill, he was pretty useless in the kitchen. Carrie had once excelled at baking chocolate-chip cookies from a package, though lately she’d refused to bake them for reasons beyond him. Mandy could make popcorn in the microwave and scramble eggs. When they’d moved and his hours had become more predictable, he’d vowed to change their pitiful culinary ineptitude, but so far, they mostly existed on takeout. Sadly, the variety in Serenity was pretty slim.
“You’ve had a lot of bad days since we moved to Serenity,” Mandy noted. She was the younger of the girls for whom he’d had full responsibility since their parents’ deaths two years ago. “Wasn’t that the whole point of moving here, so you’d be in a better mood? I have to tell you, big brother, I don’t think it’s working.”
Carter frowned at her interpretation of the decision he’d made to leave his police job in Columbia for a smaller community. “We’re here because this is a better environment for the two of you.”
“In other words, because it’s totally boring,” Carrie said, disdain in her voice. “You didn’t want us to have fun ever again.”
“No, I wanted you to be safe,” Carter countered, passing the kung pao chicken.
“Then how come you had a bad day?” Carrie persisted, scooping a tiny spoonful of rice onto her plate and adding a few of the vegetables from another container. It was barely enough to feed a bird, but Carter resisted pointing that out. His comments inevitably led to an argument.
“If it’s so safe, your days should be dull as dirt,” she added, her expression challenging.
He shook his head at her logic. “A little boy went missing this afternoon.”
Carrie immediately looked chagrined. “But you found him, right? And he was okay?”
“He was fine. He’d gone looking for the ice-cream truck.”
Carrie looked relieved. “So it all turned out okay,” she concluded. “You should be happy.”
“I’m just irritated that he got away from the woman who was supposed to be watching him in the first place,” he admitted.
Mandy gave him an incredulous look. “Oh, come on! You used to run away from home all the time. Mom and Dad told us. Mom said it’s why her hair turned gray.”
Carter winced. They were enough younger that he hadn’t realized they would know about his own adventures on the wild side when he was only a few years older than Tommy Price. “That was different,” he claimed.
“How?” Carrie asked. “You scared Mom and Dad to death, and you did it deliberately. It sounds as if this little boy just went on an innocent search for ice cream.”
“You’re missing the point. Anything could have happened to him.”
“Anything could have happened to you, too,” Carrie said. “Do you blame Mom and Dad for letting you sneak away?”
He saw he wasn’t going to win this argument. Truthfully, he very rarely came out on top with these two. They could twist him in knots faster than anyone else in his life. Worse, now that they were both in their teens, the dangers were even greater and his influence on them was still shaky. They were all still getting used to the idea that he was in charge, and not just a bossy big brother anymore.
“It was different,” he repeated. “I was older than this little boy. I could take care of myself.”
“You were six the first time you ran away,” Mandy corrected. “Dad said he followed you until it got dark. You finally got scared at some noise or a shadow or something and ran home.”
Carter scowled. “Did they tell you every stupid thing I ever did?”
Carrie grinned impudently. “No, they pretty much glossed over all the stuff you did with girls. We just know there were a lot of them.”
“Ancient history,” Carter said. And given how much trouble these two were likely to be, he couldn’t imagine having time for any kind of relationship of his own in the near future.
“Too bad,” Mandy commented, her expression thoughtful. “You might mellow out if you had a girlfriend. I hear not having sex is tough on guys.”
“We are so not discussing my sex life,” he declared emphatically, feeling heat climb into his cheeks. He supposed he should be grateful that the girls still thought they could say anything to him, but not if one of those topics was going to be his personal relationships…or lack thereof.
Carrie’s eyes brightened. “Hey, we could work on finding someone for you,” she suggested eagerly.
“I do not need you to pick out a woman for me,” he said, horrified by the thought. “I have enough on my plate right now, anyway, so just forget it, okay?”
Both girls shrugged.
“Whatever you say,” Mandy said. “But if you’re cranky all the time, don’t blame us.”
Carter shook his head. “Give it a rest. I am not cranky all the time.”
Carrie gave him a disbelieving look, then turned to her sister. “He’s in denial, right?”
“Lives there,” Mandy confirmed.
And then they were gone, leaving him to clean up their take-out meal and to wrestle with the possibility that his overall mood these days was less than cheery. Thinking about this afternoon’s events certainly wasn’t doing a thing to improve that, and something told him he was going to be lying awake all night wondering why that was. Was it really about what might have happened to Tommy Price? Or was it about the woman to whom he’d taken an instant dislike?
When morning rolled around and the girls had left for school, Carter reported for duty at the sheriff’s department, then told the dispatcher he was going to patrol in Serenity unless a call came in and he was needed elsewhere.
“You’re not doing a drive-by in Tommy Price’s neighborhood, are you?” Gayle Kincaid asked.
Carter frowned at her astute guesswork. “What makes you think that’s where I’m headed?”
“Because I’ve been in this job for thirty years, and I saw the way you looked when you got back here yesterday afternoon,” she told him. “Your eyes were as dark as any storm cloud I ever saw. Spotted a few flashes of lightning in there, too.”
“What did you expect? I found that boy blocks from home,” he said in his own defense. “Why wouldn’t I check to make sure someone’s keeping a closer eye on him today?”
“I’m not saying you shouldn’t, but if you take every case to heart like this, you’ll burn out before you turn thirty, which as I recall is only a few months from now.”
“I’m just riding around a neighborhood,” he told her. “I don’t think we need to worry about my mental health just yet. Call me if you need me.”
“Will do,” she said. “By the way, Sarah Price has been singing your praises on the air this morning. I imagine you’re a real hero around town by now.”
Carter wondered how she’d feel about him if he decided he had to take some kind of action against her babysitter, but he left that unsaid.
A few minutes later, he was cruising past the little bungalow looking for any sign that something might be amiss this morning. He heard kids squealing with glee in the backyard and caught a glimpse of Tommy and his younger sister—Libby, as he recalled—swinging on a swing set, being pushed by someone unfamiliar. Not much more than a teenager, from the looks of it, but still it had to be an improvement over the alternative. For an instant, relief washed over him. Maybe Sarah Price had fired the irresponsible woman and hired someone new already. If so, his worries were over.
Just as that thought crossed his mind, though, the back door swung open and the other woman called out, “Breakfast’s ready.” She turned her head, spotted him, and Carter swore he saw the blood drain out of her face. The screen door immediately slammed shut.
