AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Okay, if your daddy doesn’t come in the next 30 minutes, we will try to call again or maybe I can drop you off at home.”
Chanel had tears swimming in her eyes. “Okay,” she spoke barely above a whisper.
Aubree and Chanel were enjoying a meal at Drippin’ while she waited to hear from Grant. After trying to reach him and the people listed as emergency contacts, Aubree called Mrs. Dubois to explain the situation then took Chanel to get some food. Chanel talked nonstop about school, friends, and her favorite dance. Aubree could tell she was very intelligent and outspoken and probably got into trouble because she spoke her mind. It seemed as if Grant might encourage her to be outspoken which was good for a young girl. Aubree glanced at her phone a couple times as the hour grew late; she was sure Chanel had school tomorrow. But where could Grant be at this hour? She wouldn’t admit it, but Aubree started to worry too.
“Hey, let’s try to call your daddy again. He is probably at the office and lost track of time.”
Passing Chanel the phone, Chanel began to dial and said, “Well, if he doesn’t show up, I can always go home with you.” Aubree was blinded by white teeth and a smile that reminded her of the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland.
“Try your daddy again before you get your hopes up.” Chanel was talking on the phone, so that meant someone had answered. Maybe they could get a hold of Grant.
The meeting was running longer than usual, and Grant knew his father had done it on purpose. The board meeting that was originally scheduled for 9 o’clock was abruptly rescheduled for 5 o’clock. Grant Sr. knew that Grant would not stay late if he had to get Chanel so he could make changes without Grant objecting to anything. What he didn’t know was Mrs. B was picking up Chanel today, so Grant could stay as late as needed for this meeting. His father seemed to be dragging the meeting and discussing agenda items that were not important just to buy his time. Around 7 o’clock, Grant Sr., told the employees present if they needed to leave for other family obligations that he would understand, but that wasn’t true.
For him, business came first and everything else came last, and every employee knew if they left that meeting, they would hear from the department head by way of documented consultations. Grant was waiting to object to the vote of ending the grant program. Once he did that, all of the financial documents and record would have to come before the board for review. Grant looked at Allie who had had her hand propping her head up so she wouldn’t go to sleep. She was so bored with the meeting and knew what their father was doing especially since their mother was in the meeting too. Grant was about to table the discussion on expanded the Brook Mill property when he saw his secretary Ms. Stewart speed walking toward the conference room. This made Grant sit up in his chair as she made her way in the room. She was biting on her bottom lip as she made her way to Grant shifting from one foot to the other. She bent down to give Grant several message slips. After reading the top three messages Grant looked at Allie then his parents and ran out of the conference room with Allie on his heels.
Grant was in his office trying to call Mrs. Dubois to find out where Chanel was based on the messages he had received.
“Grant, what is going on?” Allie asked.
“She was never picked up from dance tonight, and I don’t know where my baby is. Call Mrs. B, she was supposed to pick up Chanel today so I could be at this fucking meeting.” Allie pulled out her cell phone just as her mother walked in Grant’s office.
“What is going on? Why did you leave the meeting?”
“Mom, Chanel is missing.” Allie was just as worried as Grant.
“Let me go tell your father so we can start looking for her.” Katherine hurried out of the office to get back to the conference room.
“I didn’t get Mrs. B. I will try again, but there should be a parent phone list. Maybe she went home with one of the other dancers because no one was there.” Grant was pacing as Allie started calling the other parents.
Grant Sr. and Katherine rushed in the office looking at Grant for answers. “Have you found her yet?”
“No, Mrs. Dubois is not answering her phone, so I don’t know who Chanel would go with if we weren’t there to get her. Damn it!” Grant couldn’t get his thoughts together to think who would have taken Chanel or who she would have gone with.
“I will call the school class parent list, some of those girls take dance with Chanel,” Katherine offered just as concerned. Grant didn’t know what he would do if anything happened to his baby. He blamed himself because he was trying to beat his father at his own game.
Grant’s cell phone started to buzz. “Mrs. B, where are you?! Did you get Chanel? Is she with you?” Grant listened, and as his face went pale, he dropped his phone.
“What did she say?” Allie inquired.
“She called earlier to let me know that her sister was rushed to the hospital, so she never picked Chanel up.” Pulling his tie loose and unbuttoning the top two buttons, Grant exhaled and fell in his chair. His baby was missing.
“I will call the police.” Grant Sr. took over. Katherine and Allie were holding on to each other crying. Before Grant Sr. could dial the number, Allie’s cell phone rang. She answered the phone putting it on speaker.
“Hello, Aunt Allie, it’s me Chanel. Are you with my daddy?”
“Yes, baby, where are you?”
“Drippin’.” Before Allie could hang up the phone, Grant was pulling her out of the office so he could get to his baby.
“Grant, slow down! Chanel is good, she is with her dance teacher. She is okay,” Allie reasoned with Grant, but he knew nothing would be okay until he had Chanel and held her. He was too wrapped up in trying to prevent his father form taking the grant program away that he missed the message from Mrs. B. Grant just needed to get to his daughter then he could deal with everything else.
Grant barely stopped the car before jumping out and running to the door of the coffee shop. Pausing at the door, Grant looked to the left then the right before he heard that sweet voice. “Daddy! You made it!” Chanel came running full speed toward Grant. Reaching out, Grant grabbed Chanel and hugged her to him. “Daddy, I was so worried about you because you never forget to pick me up.”
“Daddy is sorry. I asked Mrs. B to pick you up today then she had an emergency. But I didn’t get the message until late. Are you okay?”
“Yes, Ms. Aubree took care of me. She bought me dinner and we talked about dance, school, and my friends. And Daddy, she has a friend that makes costumes so I can have a special one for school.” Chanel’s mouth was going a mile a minute. She hadn’t stopped talking since she saw Grant. Grant looked up and saw Aubree standing next to the booth watching them with a sad smile on her face.
“How did you end up with her and not Mrs. Dubois?” Grant asked, putting Chanel down and walked over to Aubree. “Do you make this a habit of taking children from the studio without their parents’ permission? Is this some game to you because of the other night?”
