Page 55 of Unveiled

He poked around for a second. “Good deal. I’ll take it from here.”

Her lips turned up in a tight smile, and she hugged Jaclyn closer. “Okay. Well…”

He knew if Jaclyn started crying, Adalyn would never leave. The dark circles beneath her eyes had intensified, her exhaustion apparent. “Let’s get you home, sweetheart.”

He followed her out to her car and kissed her goodbye, promising once more that everything would be fine. Juggling Jaclyn in his arms, they waved goodbye and watched Adalyn’s tail lights disappear around the corner. He turned to his daughter. “Want to go to the park?”

He smiled as her little head bobbed enthusiastically. Back inside the salon, Luke and Hannah were seated in the chairs near the front desk. He introduced Hannah and Jaclyn and, after a few tears, they headed out the front door.

He’d met Hannah for the first time that morning, but he knew Jaclyn was in good hands. He’d called Luke just after seven o’clock and asked them to run to the twenty-four-hour department store to grab a car seat for Jaclyn. Sweet and subdued, Hannah was Luke’s opposite in almost every way. Despite her obvious exasperation at his overprotectiveness, they fit like two pieces of a puzzle.

Although, if he were Luke, he’d be overprotective too. The man who’d attacked her was dead, but he was sure that was a small consolation after everything she’d been through. He tossed a look at Luke now that they were alone. “She doing okay?”

He lifted one shoulder. “She says yes, but she’s still having nightmares.”

“Hopefully time will fix that.” Luke just nodded, and he changed the subject. “She’s good with kids. You guys have any?”

He pulled out a spool of wire. “Not sure she’s ready for that yet.”

He let out a short laugh. “I understand that. Heck, I didn’t know I had a kid until last week.”

Luke’s hazel eyes met his. “Looks like it agrees with you.”

“Scared the crap out of me at first, but now…” He shrugged. “I wouldn’t change it for the world.”

Luke hitched a thumb over his shoulder in the direction Hannah had wandered off. “Gotta talk this one into moving in with me first.”

For the next half hour, Luke and he worked in companionable silence, running the wiring so they could affix the cameras to the walls. Deciding to tackle the outside first, they focused on the front and rear doors and getting the wires run across the building.

He was standing beside the front door when a compact maroon sedan pulled up to the curb outside and parked. A young woman stepped out and glanced around before making her way toward the salon. She looked familiar, but he couldn’t place her. Her short dark hair swung just above her shoulders as she approached the front door.

In an attempt to cut her off, he stepped outside and greeted her. “Sorry, we’re closed today.”

The girl paused on the third step and met his gaze with a shy smile. “I know, Adalyn sent me a message a few hours ago. I felt bad and thought maybe you guys could use some help.”

As he studied the girl, it finally hit him who she was—Jenn, Adalyn’s assistant. He held the door wide and allowed her to enter. “Adalyn headed home to get some sleep. You just missed her.”

“That’s okay,” Jenn replied as she stepped further into the salon. “I know she said there was a lot of damage, so maybe I can get a head start on the repairs.”

He was grateful for anything that would help Adalyn at this point. “That would be great,” he replied honestly. “It’s really nice of you to offer, thank you.” He led her to the back room where he’d seen Adalyn stacking some dresses.

Jenn took a look at the white mound of fabric in the middle of the table and made a small sound of dismay. “Goodness.”

“I know,” he commiserated. “You don’t have to do this.”

Her eyes cut to him. “Oh no, I want to,” she reassured him.

He offered her a smile. “Well, thank you. It means a lot.”

Leaving Jenn to deal with that, he started back toward Luke. He scanned the salon, absorbing everything still in disarray. It was normally so neat and tidy, and even after several hours of cleaning that morning, things still looked out of place. Adalyn hadn’t told him much, other than that the place had been wrecked. Luke threw a look at him as he propped his hands on his hips and glanced around.

“What are you thinking?”

He wasn’t honestly sure. “I kind of want to see a copy of the police report.”

Luke lifted a brow. “Why’s that?”

He shook his head. “I can’t figure out why they didn’t seem to take anything. And like Adalyn said, that was an awful lot of damage in a very short amount of time. Any idea what response time was?”