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He looks on edge, that’s for sure. And I would be too if my baby girl went missing for what was probably close to half an hour. The mathematics and engineering buildings are halfway across campus.
As the group walks out, he turns back to me and Diana, nodding his head once. I think that’s all we’re going to get but he surprises me when he says, “Thank you for this. You two saved the day.”
Diana doesn’t miss a beat, following after Doctor Thompson to relay his phone messages, but I’m spent. I let out a breath as I collapse back into my chair, trying and failing to make sense of the sadness that’s suddenly weighing me down.
I feel the way he looked: crushed. But for the life of me I can figure out why.
Chapter Ten
Leo
I grip the steering wheel tight in an effort to stop my hands from shaking. Olivia is chatting away, oblivious to the fact that I’m on the verge of a panic attack.
I keep picturing her, a tiny little thing walking amid all those big people, crossing pathways where campus vehicles make the rounds for sanitation and security. It’s not like she crossed a major highway or anything, but she’s four years old. I cannot believe she made it all the way to Foley Hall without anyone stopping her.
I push down thoughts of what could have happened, squeeze my eyes shut at a red light when an image of a man grabbing her and pulling her off to the side pops into my head. The person behind me lays on their horn startling me out of that nightmare, and I find myself talking myself down for the remaining ten minutes of the drive.
I let out a breath when we pull into the driveway, and decide to have a talk with my little runaway while she’s still trapped in her car seat.
“You scared Daddy today. Do you understand that?”
“Sorry, Daddy.”
“Never…You can never walk away from me like that again.”
“But I—”
“No buts. Something bad could have happened. Tell me you understand.”
“Sky says she gets lost all the time.”
That’s one thing I can piece together from the ride home. She must have said the word sky at least twenty times. The girl’s name is Sky. The one who found Olivia and kept her safe.
I acted like an ass, and she let me know it in her own subtle way. Yeah, thinking back on it I was rude, but she’ll get over it.
I hated the way Olivia clung to her, latched onto her like an octopus. I hate that she attaches to strangers so easily. And that’s what’s really eating at me. I’m all she’s got and I haven’t been doing a stellar job. Between the shop, my workshop at home and the occasional trips I make for business, I always feel like I’m neglecting her.
Today was a perfect example. Taking her to the engineering lab and expecting her to stay put while I talked shop with Ed for over an hour was the most dumbass thing I’ve ever done.Don’t sell yourself short, my inner voice pipes up,You do stupid shit like that all the time.
The kid has no structure aside from the four hours of preschool she attends three times a week. Her mother, who was not exactly an authority on parenting, wanted her in all-day care from the time she was born but I wasn’t having it.
The school she goes to now is expensive and selective, and they’re all about not pushing full-time schooling until kindergarten. I agree with them in theory, but I’m doing a shit job of making her “exploratory time” enriching and meaningful.
In bed at eight, I’m yawning along with her as I read the last few pages ofThe Princess and the Pea.
“Is that Sky?” my daughter asks.
Long dark hair, warm brown eyes. I think back to earlier today and have to admit there’s a likeness between the two of them.
“Do you think she looks like her?”
“Yes,” she says with a sleepy smile. “Princesses are nice and they’re really pretty. Sky is pretty and she’s soooo nice.”
Muffling a laugh, I ask, “So she must be a princess?”
“Yes,” she answers on a yawn.
“Time for bed, little one.”
