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For Tyler, the only thing that mattered now was getting across town and hoping that Lilly was still at the same location. Nothing about this situation made sense, and if it was the last thing he did Tyler was going to make damned sure that he would get to the bottom of things.
Tyler exited the gym and hurried over to this truck. He placed the key in the ignition and rapidly swung the truck around and pointed it in the right direction.
It was time to find Lilly.
And it was time to find out precisely what had happened earlier that had led to her cutting and running.
Being a Daddy wasn’t easy, but Tyler wasn’t going to go down without one hell of a fight. That wasn’t his style, and he wasn’t about to go changing that now either.
But what would he find if – no,when– he located Lilly?
Chapter9
Lilly
The sun was beating down on Lilly, but whereas this was normally something to be happy about it certainly wasn’t doing the trick this time. If anything, the sun was making Lilly even more miserable. Usually, the sun meant fun times on the beach with her Little friends or her Daddy.
But fun in the sand seemed a million miles away.
Lilly was struggling to stop herself from crying. It was all goingsowrong for her. After packing her backpack and hopping on her cycle, she hadn’t managed to even get out of Stallion Valley before riding over a stray piece of broken glass and bursting her front tire.
Why me?
This is why I should never even try!
Nothing ever goes right for me!
It felt like Lilly was running out of options. Nothing seemed like it was falling in her favor and she had a feeling of dread creeping up inside her from the pit of her stomach.
Lilly was crouched down and cowering behind a large SUV. Her front tire was beyond repair. Lilly had a puncture repair kit, but it turned out to be a toy set that was meant for play use only.
Things weren’t showing any sign of improving, and Lilly was beginning to wonder just how bad they could get.
Lilly peeked out from behind the stationary SUV. She was in a nice neighborhood. The picket fences and immaculately mowed lawns looked splendid. In the distance, Lilly could hear children playing in their gardens and having a whole heap of fun. The giggles and laughter seemed to be travelling through the air and making a beeline toward Lilly.
Usually, the sound of laughter and fun was like music to Lilly’s ears. But not today. Not this time. In that precise moment, all the sound of laughter did was remind Lilly just how sad and upset she felt.
All the progress she had made with her novel. And her relationship with Tyler. Everything had crashed down in a most devasting way. It wasn’t meant to be like this. Lilly thought about her school days.
Playing the class clown had effectively absolved her of ever having to take anything seriously or set herself goals. Lilly had cruised through high school thinking that her sole purpose was to play practical jokes and make people laugh.
It was fun while it lasted, but high school was long over, and Lilly was realizing that this was her life now. There was no recess or long summer holidays, this was the real world. And in the real world, being known as the class clown wasn’t exactly an advantage.
And now the moment she finally managed to start shedding that image, the rug had been pulled from beneath her with brutal force.
Maybe I should stick to what I’m good at.
Jokers don’t get to have careers. Or Daddies either.
Sob!
If matters weren’t already bad enough, Lilly suddenly realized something else. The neighborhood was more familiar than she first comprehended.
Lilly was in fact back in the very street where she took what she genuinely thought was Poppy’s bicycle. In other words, Lilly was back at the scene of the crime. Literally.
As she looked around, Lilly remembered all the landmarks. The stop signs at the end of the road. The bright pink sports car in the driveway on the house across the street. Even the over-enthusiastic miniature terrier barking as he bounced up and down in the third house on the left. It was all bringing back bad memories.
Lilly was overcome with fear. What if the horrible man came out of his house and spotted her on the street. With an attempted robbery charge already hanging over her, the last thing Lilly wanted was some kind of extra charge on top of that.
