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The argument that she was not his, not of his blood, was no match for what he felt when he recalled the look of the lost little girl alone in a police station. He put the half-eaten sandwich down and got to his feet to fetch his phone. Pete answered the phone on the third ring. “What’s up? You okay?”
“Where did you guys send Connie?”
“The group home in town. Why?”
“Get her out of there, bring her home.”
“At this time of night? I’ll have to get the social worker and…”
“Do whatever you have to do, tell her I’ll meet her there, but that kid is not spending the night in a strange place.” Just saying the words made his heart hurt.
CHAPTER 29
Celia came awake with a throbbing head and a strange ache between her thighs. She grabbed both sides of her head as she sat up in bed, squinting against the morning light coming through the windows. “Why are there so many windows in here?” She griped and tried diving back under the covers.
From his place in the chair in the corner where he’d been sitting watching her for the last little while, Riley got to his feet and went over to her, dragging the covers off again. “Damn drunk!” He muttered as she peered up at him with bloodshot eyes tinged with murder. “What’re you doing? Call the station, tell them I’m dying; I can’t come in today.” His lips twitched, but he refused to laugh at her shit.
“Get your shit together, Detective; someone’s here to see you. Go take a quick shower and get cleaned up, then meet me downstairs.” He didn’t wait around to help her even though he wanted to. Let her learn this lesson the hard way. Maybe now she’ll know not to trust those two old women.
Riley had already called and read them the riot act, which they’d pushed back on until he mentioned the fact that there might be a baby involved, then they both bent over backward to apologize to him. Now they just think his woman is a simpleton who didn’t realize that their lemonade was laced because who in their right mind would drink that shit while pregnant.
Riley had already spoken to Doc, who’d promised him that all should be fine, especially at this stage if she didn’t make it a habit. Everybody knows it only takes two or three glasses of Constance and Lenore’s concoction to get you plastered, so maybe Celia hadn’t overdone it per se. He left the two old women feeling guilty as hell for their part in that fiasco, and now it was time to deal with the drunk upstairs.
Back in the kitchen, he found Doc Cleaver and Eileen with their heads together at the kitchen table. Who knows what the two of them were gossiping about, most likely him since he’s ever been their favorite topic of discussion. “Boy, I have to open my clinic in about an hour get the lead out.” Riley ignored him and poured his third cup of coffee.
Doc Cleaver had to be pushing ninety if he was a day, but he was Riley’s doctor when he was a boy, and to this day, he’s the only one he trusted to look after his medical needs. The old man has been running a clinic out of his home for the past forty years or so, ever since he moved back home after college back before Adam was in the garden.
When Riley went after him this morning, getting him out of bed before the clock crows, he didn’t even bother arguing with the strong-headed young man. The boy never was very good at listening. Now he’s been sitting on his butt for the better part of an hour enjoying some of Eileen’s homemade cinnamon buns and Riley’s fancy coffee. He was pretty sure the two of them teamed up together to work on him with this little interlude.
“She’s up; she should be down any minute; hold your horses. All you do anyway is sit around gossiping with Constance and Lenore, who are the two responsible for this shit storm.”
‘Still with the temper and foul language I see.”
“Ain’t no cure for that, Doc.” Eileen snickered and went about her business, ignoring Riley’s glare.
The boy is too funny, though she likes seeing him like this. For a while there, after everything had happened, she’d been afraid that he’d sit around and mope or, worst yet, pick up stakes and leave town. His parents had begged her to keep watch over him the way she’d always done since he was a boy. They’d only been able to spend a few weeks with him before having to go back to their mission in the ass crack of nowhere where they were building schools and clinics, digging wells, and who knows what else to do their part to help the world.
