Chapter Four
JAILBIRD
I drove to Target like a granny. Since Ben died and I lived, Sunday drives and joyrides vanished from my life.
It was all about getting from point A to point B without dying.
My red Acura SUV rated high in all safety tests, but I didn’t have a booster seat.
Shayna said she didn’t need one. I disagreed.
After finding the best booster seat with the minimal time I had to do any sort of research on the safest brand, I Googled and hash-tagged the hell out of every possible connection to Minnesota and golf charity events, found the location, drove there, and parked …
then it occurred to me I may have kidnapped a child.
At least, CPS and the police would think I did.
knock knock knock
I opened my door, forcing the police officer to step back.
“Miss, you can’t park here.”
“Well the parking lot is gated off. Where am I supposed to park?”
He stared at my leg.
I sighed. Normally my patience level was much higher, as well as my respect for men in uniform. “Yes. I have a bionic leg, and I could literally crush your junk beyond recognition if I kicked you between the legs—”
“Miss, are you threatening a police officer?”
“Not at all. I’m simply stating a fact. This leg is designed and has a pending patent by Thaddeus Westbrook, and he told me it could literally crush a man’s junk beyond recognition.
I’m no more threatening you than a car salesman telling you a certain model gets eighteen miles to the gallon and goes zero to sixty in under three seconds. I’m stating a fact.”
I opened the back door and unfastened Shayna, hoping he wouldn’t slap handcuffs on me. My brain was not working properly. Adrenaline fed everything I did.
“Miss, I told you this is a no-parking zone, and the club is closed today for a private event.”
“Listen…” I pulled Shayna in front of me and covered her ears with my hands then lowered my voice to a whisper “…see this little girl? Her grandmother just died and her only living relative is playing golf here today, but he’s not answering his phone.
” Because, of course, I didn’t have his number.
“So this is sort of an emergency situation.”
His gaze flitted between me and Shayna. Conflict etched his face. “I ticket you in thirty minutes. I have your vehicle towed in an hour.”
I smiled. “Thank you kindly for your condolences.” I didn’t care about the ticket, so we had an hour. Having my vehicle towed was on my list of things to avoid. Landing in jail for child abduction was on that list too.
“Let’s go, sweetie.”
“Where’s Evson?”
I led her through the barriers and parking lot filled with luxury vehicles, but the security guard at the entrance looked a little smarter and meaner than Mr. I Wear a Uniform and Give Out Parking Tickets.
“Everson’s here. We’re going to see him soon.” Another promise I couldn’t guarantee. How did my morning turn into a segue to Hell?
Lies. Lies. Lies. Just the day before, I would have called myself a pretty honest person.
“Do you have a press pass or invitation?” the security guard asked.
No. I had a kidnapped child.
“My name is Lake Jones, Everson Banks’s nanny, and this is his…
” I covered Shayna’s ears again because there had to be brownie points with God for not letting a young child hear my lies “…daughter.” Sister seemed too unbelievable.
“There has been a family emergency and Everson is not answering his phone. Could you contact him for me?”
“Miss, this is a televised event. I’ll need to know what kind of emergency you have.”
“Death in the family.” I uncovered her ears once the lies were over.
He narrowed his eyes at me then looked at Shayna.
Don’t you dare … you unemotional bastard!
“Hey, darling … did someone die?” He leaned down a few inches from her face.
Who the hell asks a child that? I wanted to scream!
Shayna nodded. “Mama and Ne-ma went to see Jesus.”
He grimaced, standing back to his full height. “I’m very sorry for your loss. I’ll have someone track Mr. Banks right away.”
“Thank you.” I gave him my best grievance-laden smile as the top of my knee twitched, like the doctor tapping to check my reflex only more intense—much more intense. My bionic leg jerked forward landing squarely into his shin.
“Ah!” he cried, bending down to grab his leg.
“Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry.” Before I could make sense of why I kicked him—because I didn’t try to kick him—a police officer had me in handcuffs.
We were escorted inside the building while they found Everson.
I sat handcuffed to a chair in the manager’s office with my chin down, whispering, “shh, everything’s going to be okay” to a teary-eyed Shayna sitting next to me.
The injured guard was hauled off for medical attention while the disapproving police officer watched over me.
I had a feeling my next seat would be the back of a police cruiser. So much for avoiding my car being towed. What were the chances of Thaddeus flying to Minneapolis to bail me out of jail and testify before a judge that kicking the guard was not my fault but rather a malfunction of his invention?
“Lake? Want to tell me what the hell is going on?” Everson called me Lake. I imagined it sounding sexier. I also imagined not being in handcuffs. Scratch that … there were handcuffs, but I was handcuffed to a bed, not a chair in the manager’s office at a golf course.
“Mr. Banks, your nanny assaulted one of the security guards.”
“Run that by me again? Who did what?”
“Miss Jones demanded we find you to notify you of a family emergency, then she struck a guard with her …”
I looked up at the officer with his mouth hanging open as if the politically-correct word for my prosthetic leg, which didn’t look like a prosthetic leg, would magically fall from his lips.
“Leg? Is that the word you’re looking for? Real leg. Fake leg. Prosthetic leg. Bionic leg. Any way you look at it … the word is leg, because it replaces the part of my body that’s missing. Does anyone know what part of my body is missing?”
tick tick tick
The wall clock was the only sound in the room.
“Leg … Lake’s leg is fun.” The child in the room was the only one not afraid to call it like she saw it.
“Could I please speak with Miss Jones alone about the family emergency?” Everson eyed the officer. “Maybe you could get this little girl a snack or something?”
The officer stood his ground, jaw set, eyes narrowed.
“Ten minutes?” Everson asked.
“Five.” The officer grunted.
Everson motioned for Shayna to go with the police officer. “He’s going to get you a snack.”
“Everson—”
“Shut it, Lake.”
I glared at him as Shayna followed the officer out of the office.
It didn’t matter that my Apollo was dressed in blindingly bright plaid shorts and a white collared short-sleeved shirt. I wouldn’t let his looks distract me from my anger.
“He could be molesting her as we speak. You don’t send your child off with a stranger, even if they’re wearing a badge.”
“That’s just it!” he roared, bending at the waist so his face was level and a few inches from mine. “She’s not my kid. She shouldn’t be here. You shouldn’t be here. I paid you to stay with her until CPS arrived and you couldn’t fucking follow my simple instructions! What is your problem?”
My teeth hurt from grinding them so hard. My pulse raced. My skin burned.
“You’re her family.” I had a million answers, but that was the only one that mattered.
“We share a few genes. She doesn’t think of me as her family—”
“She does.”
He stood straight, planted his hands on his hips, and paced the small room.
“She does. She knows you’re her family, and she thinks you’re going to take care of her. That little girl has lost the two most important people in her life. She’s lost two teeth and doesn’t know who the tooth fairy is … and dolls … she doesn’t have any dolls.”
“This is none of your business.” He continued to pace.
I stared at my lap. “I know,” I whispered.
Guilt. I felt guilt. Regret? None. I couldn’t picture Shayna or hear her little voice in my head and regret one thing I did that morning. Okay, maybe assaulting the guard, but that really wasn’t my fault.
“There’s a slew of press out there waiting to find out why I’m not teeing it up on the third hole.”
“I know.”
“My PR people are on their way, and they’re going to want to know what the deal is with you and that girl.”
“Shayna.”
“What?” He stopped in front of me again.
“Shayna. Her name is Shayna, not ‘that girl.’”
“I know her fucking name!”
I flinched.
He blew out a big breath. “What was your point of coming here? What is this family emergency?”
Those were really good questions. An hour earlier, while running on pure adrenaline from my livid emotions, I had a whole spiel in my head. It sounded good at the time, the kind of good that would make Everson rethink his rash decision to give away his sister.
Under the intensity of his gaze and the heat radiating from the nearness of his body, my entire case for doing what I did just sort of … crumbled. I would say the words because just like the box of crispy rice cereal, I owned my craziness at all cost.
“Shayna’s Ne-ma … your Ne-ma, died a few days ago.
Your mother died two years ago. You have friends, a team, a family of sorts, and money.
Shayna has nothing but a promise from Judy that you are going to love her, take care of her, and buy her dolls.
If you take that away, she’ll have nothing.
And I worry that no matter how wonderful the family that might adopt her will be, she will never recover from the abandonment she will surely feel when you, too, disappear from her life. ”