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“Andi?”
I clear my throat and look up from the file on my desk. Todd stands at the entrance to my office. His lips are tight and his shoulders are tense. He fumbles with his tie, looking nervous, like he doesn’t want to tell me something.
“What’s wrong?” My eyes dart to the picture of Charlotte and Matt sitting on my desk. Her third birthday party just passed, and he’s holding her against his shoulder, both of them are covered in cake. I smile at the memory of the party we threw in the new house for her just a few months ago.
Todd shuffles on his feet and sighs. “It’s Matt. He’s been arrested for a DUI. He had some drugs on him too.”
My eyes bug out. Matthew doesn’t do drugs. Sure, when we met six years ago, he smoked weed, but he stopped well before we married. And it’s not illegal anymore with a medical card. “What kind of drugs?”
“Oxy. It wasn’t in script bottles.”
“What the fuck? It’s three in the afternoon.” I jump from my chair. “Where’s the baby?”
“I don’t know, Andi. Jones didn’t call me to tell you, he called me to represent Matt.”
My heart pounds heavy in my chest. Where the fuck is my daughter? He told me he was picking her up from daycare early today. He’d sent me a picture of her in his car around one in the afternoon.
“I have to find Charlotte.”
“I’ll head to the station to meet Matthew. I’ll text you the address of where he was stopped.”
Todd’s words are a blur as I brush past him and grab my keys and purse. I have no clue what I’m doing or where I’m going. My phone rings as I climb into the car. It’s Mac.
“Mac?” My voice breaks. “Please tell me you have her. Tell me she’s safe.”
“What? Of course, I have her. Didn’t your husband call you? He dropped her off about an hour ago. Literally. Dropped her at my fucking door. I was calling you to figure out when you’re getting her. What’s going on, Andi?”
“Matt’s been arrested.”
My fingers brush the picture of Matthew and Charlotte that triggered the memory. It was the day I’d given up on trying to be happy with Matthew. I stayed with him longer than I should have. Jones made sure he walked. He never even saw handcuffs locked around his wrists.
What was even more fucked up was that after I went digging. I found another DUI that had been covered up by Jones. He paid off the family of a woman named Sarah Lowe. Sarah was the victim of a drunk driving accident, and Matthew was the driver. He’d walked off from that one too, leaving Sarah in a nursing home for the rest of her life.
I’d kept my mouth shut. I never did find out why he had the pills on him, and why he was driving drunk when he should have had our daughter. He always refused to tell me about it, and I never had the energy to fight.
I was thankful. I never wanted Charlotte to know about his dark days, just as I didn’t want her to know of mine. It was the tipping point for our relationship. Before, I always held Matthew up as some sort of saint. He’d married me and loved me, despite my grieving for so long. I had been so grateful to him, but then I realized he wasn’t so perfect, after all.
My phone rings, and I glance at the caller ID, picking up immediately when I read Haley’s number. “I’ve been calling you all day. Why are you ignoring me?”
“Sorry, I was traveling.” Haley laughs. “I didn’t realize I had to check in with you every hour. Jesus, you’re worse than my mom!”
I roll my eyes, even though she can’t see me. “Someone has to mother you.”
“I’ve been alone since I was sixteen. I think I’m good. Anyway, I sent you a package, and it says delivered. Go get it and open it with me.”
“Oh, yay!” I hurry from the reading chair in my bedroom, and run downstairs to check the porch. Unlocking the front door, I open it quickly and tuck the phone between my ear and my chin.
When I look down, but see no package, I turn to my left and see Haley sitting on the porch swing. I drop my phone and run over to her. “What the hell! You know I hate surprises!”
She wraps me in a hug. “You would have been stress-cleaning all day. I didn’t want you worrying. Plus, I wanted you to enjoy your Charlotte time before I got here.”
“How long are you staying?” I pull away so we can go inside.
Haley follows me in and drops her duffel bag on the floor. It’s a small bag, which tells me she won’t be staying for more than a few days. She shrugs.“I don’t know. How long can I stay?”
“As long as you want. You know the guest room is yours.”
“Perfect. I was thinking at least until the new year.”
My eyes light up. “That’s like five months away.”
“Sure is.” She smirks.
I follow her upstairs to help her get settled into her room. After we head downstairs to catch up and I fill her in on the drama that is Colby Monroe, A.K.A. Dominic Black. She has choice words, and we begin our day drinking before we head for the bar.
