Chapter 16
“You can take the first shower. I’ve got these three under control.” Adam figured he could handle himself despite being sorely outnumbered.
“That’s brave,” Prudence shot back with a smile. At least a little bit of the ice between them was melting. “But I’ll take you up on it.”
She started to hand over the puffball but the little dog wasn’t having it. She wiggled and stared at Adam with frightened eyes.
“I’ll take her with me,” Prudence said. “I can keep the shower curtain partially open and make a bed for her in the corner with a spare towel.”
As she tried to leave the room, the lab followed. She tried to shoo him away but gave up after a few minutes.
“How about I set Angel up in the bedroom so the dogs will be more comfortable? I can stay until you’re finished,” Adam finally offered.
“Sounds like a plan.” She waited on the bottom step while he lugged the baby and diaper bag upstairs. He returned for her overnight travel bag.
Standing at the top of the stairs, he signaled the troops. The minute Prudence stood up, Hutch followed. He never trusted a person who didn’t get along with animals. Dogs could be some of the best judges of character.
Clearly, Prudence got the stamp of approval.
She sidestepped around him at the top of the stairs at the same moment he moved out of her way.
Electricity pinged between them anytime they were near.
Had his mother picked up on it earlier? She’d gone out of her way to make Prudence feel at home, which he appreciated more than words could express.
“I shouldn’t be too long,” Prudence said as she moved to her suitcase. She set Miss Peabody down and opened the case. The little dog took the opportunity to hop right in with the clothes.
Prudence stopped what she was doing and sat back on her heels.
“My scent must be all over the bag,” she said.
Lucky dog, he thought. But said, “It probably gives her a lot of comfort to be surrounded by something so familiar.”
“Well, I think we just found her new bed.” Prudence pulled out a few garments and then slid the suitcase into the bathroom.
Hutch, on the other hand, hopped up on the sofa and curled up in a ball at one end. Not before digging around enough to knock a throw pillow off first.
Adam had a soft spot for animals in general. These two hit him in the place he normally kept tucked away, making him feel things he couldn’t afford to feel. Things like attachment.
He managed to get Angel out of the carrier and into her crib without waking her, a feat that deserved a hushed celebration.
It was probably the day wearing on him and the news Libby was gone, but he wanted nothing more than to climb inside those sheets and sleep. Since more than a couple hour’s nap would be impossible, he waited his turn with more impatience than intended.
When he heard the shower kick on, he moved over to Hutch. The lab’s tail started swishing back and forth when Adam stopped and then squatted down. “You found a good home, ole’ boy.”
A well of emotion stirred in his chest, catching him off guard. He didn’t normally do sentiment, and yet his heart went out to the dog. How could it not?
Adam pushed up and walked over to the window, staring out at the clouds that were moving at a steady clip.
There weren’t enough of them to promise rain, which was unfortunate.
The parched earth’s throat cracked from dryness and summer hadn’t started yet.
If the second day of June saw cracks in the soil, he could only imagine how bad things would get come August when the relentless heat kicked in.
He checked on Angel. The name fit her. His ducks were in a row for the morning and he had no idea what to expect with Libby’s parents.
Getting through tonight with Prudence was a whole other ballgame.
He missed the closeness he felt before the wall went up.
The kisses they’d shared kept replaying in his mind and were, without a doubt, the most intense he’d ever experienced.
They more than hinted at mind-blowing sex…
Not something he needed to focus on when she was in the next room, naked, and in the shower. No reason to torture himself when she’d been clear. She was done with him.
The alarm, a.k.a. Angel, went off at four a.m.
Prudence tossed her covers off and rolled out of bed, reaching for her glasses. Thankfully, the crib was right there, and the binky quieted the little girl. She would be satisfied long enough to make a bottle of formula and change a diaper.
She glanced over at Adam’s side of the bed and noticed the covers hadn’t been touched. She’d gone out so hard after her shower she didn’t realize he hadn’t slept next to her.
“I got the bottle if you want diaper duty,” his gruff, sleepy voice tugged at her heartstrings. She couldn’t afford to let him get to her.
“Diaper duty it is,” she said, doing her best to hide her disappointment at the sleeping arrangement. He must have taken the loveseat with Hutch.
She flipped the nightlight on and caught sight of his shirtless, muscled back as he stretched his arms out and then shrugged into a cotton t-shirt. The color black had never looked better on a person, she thought.
Miss Peabody barely looked up from the suitcase that had been strategically placed close enough to the bed for Prudence to keep watch. Lot of good it did, because the minute Prudence closed her eyes, she was out last night. Adam must have taken the midnight feeding.
How? She was scratching her head as to how that man could go days without sleep. They’d been together three nights now and he couldn’t have had more than a couple of hours here and there.
Prudence needed a straight eight with no interruptions, but nine was better.
She didn’t even have to sleep that last hour.
She liked waking up slowly, staying in bed and under the covers as long as possible before starting her day.
Getting up leisurely was generally out of the question while she was working.
Lazy days were made for the times in between jobs.
The diaper change took a couple of minutes. By the time she was finished, Adam had returned with the bottle. She couldn’t deny they made a good team. Getting right out of bed for this kiddo was worth it.
She smelled the baby’s blanket. “I expected her to be pretty rank by now.”
“I gave her a sponge bath last night,” Adam said.
“What? How?” She must have slept like a rock. But, really, no surprise there. Still, she felt guilty for not being there to help.
“I’ve had to take care of abandoned baby animals. This isn’t much different,” he stated.
“You’ve definitely gotten the hang of this…” She searched for a word other than ‘parenting’ and came up empty.
“Once I got over the fear that I’d break her in half on accident, I saw the similarities. I threw her clothes in the wash,” he said.
“How’d you manage that?”
“Wrapped her in a towel.” He smiled at the baby and Prudence could clearly see how easily he was bonding with Angel.
But then, the kid was special.
“You did great. She smells amazing and her clothes are clean,” Prudence said with a little bit of awe in her voice. He deserved the praise.
“While you give her the bottle, I’ll run downstairs and see what’s for breakfast,” he said.
“I feel like a slacker here.” Prudence was only half-joking.
“You’ve been incredible with her,” he quickly countered. “I don’t know how I would have gotten through that first night without you.”
The truth was that she had him to thank.
She doubted she would be alive without him.
Someone was after the baby, and she would have ended up collateral damage.
The words got stuck in her throat, along with a few others.
Words like, I missed you last night, and, kiss me again, wouldn’t help her ability to keep an emotional distance from him.
The baby was another story. It was impossible not to fall for this little nugget. A little voice in the back of her mind picked that moment to tell her she’d fallen hard for Adam too. The voice was getting louder by the minute despite all her efforts to quash it.
By the time Angel finished the bottle, the dogs had been fed and taken out. Prudence brought the baby down as Adam let his mother in the backdoor.
“Good morning,” she practically chirped. Her eyes sparkled when she greeted Prudence and the cheesy grin on her face gave away that she was thinking that Prudence and Adam were a couple.
Prudence hated to be the bearer of bad news…
Correcting his mother would only call more attention to their non-relationship. And she didn’t have it in her heart to be the one to wipe the smile off Mrs. Firebrand’s face.
“May I?” she asked, looking at Angel with such appreciation.
“Of course.” Prudence handed the baby over. “I’d tell you how to take care of her, but with nine sons under your belt, you don’t need a novice like me piping in.”
Mrs. Firebrand’s eyes lit up. “It has been a long time since I had one of these in my arms.”
She seemed to bite her tongue rather than give her son a hard time for not giving her a grandbaby already. Based on Adam’s tense expression, Prudence had guessed right.
“She’s every four hours with a bottle of formula,” Adam said to his mother. “These guys should be okay for a while. They’ve already been fed and let out.”
“Got it,” his mother said. Living on a ranch for the past forty years or so, she must know a thing or two about keeping animals.
Prudence couldn’t imagine leaving Angel and the dogs in better hands.
“I dug out some old nightgowns from when you and your brothers were babies,” his mother said proudly. She motioned toward the overflowing handbag hooked onto the back of a dining chair. “Don’t worry. No one saw a thing.”
She winked. Could this woman be any more endearing?
Prudence could easily see where Adam got his charm from. Based on everything he’d said so far, it couldn’t have been his father.
“We’d better head out,” Adam said. “Thank you for coming by and doing this. It means a lot.”
“It’s nothing,” she shooed him away like he was a bothersome fly.
Prudence couldn’t help but think she would miss this place when the investigation closed. And she had a feeling the end was closer than she wanted it to be.
She said her goodbyes and then reclaimed her spot on the passenger side as Adam took the driver’s side. He started the engine and looked over at her like he had something important to say. He must’ve thought better of it because he shook his head and put the gearshift in reverse.
“In all the excitement this morning, I totally forgot my morning caffeine,” she said when they were finally on the road.
“We have time to stop off,” he said. “I could use a cup.”
“Yes, please.” She folded her arms. It had only been three days, and yet not having a baby to hold made her confused as to what she should do with her arms.
She moved her hands, placing them palms down on her thighs.
If this was what she was like after three days, she couldn’t imagine how difficult separation would be after a year or two. Forget even longer.
Adam pulled off the highway and into a popular coffee chain’s drive-through. Less than five minutes later, she had a steaming latte in hand. Regular coffee did the trick most days, but this was amazing.
She realized she was distracting herself thinking about the baby and coffee, rather than overthink what they might be walking into. “What do you know about Libby’s parents?”
Adam rubbed the day-old scruff on his chin. He took a sip of coffee and then shrugged.
“Not much,” he admitted. “Nothing from Libby. Any time I brought the subject up, she maneuvered out of answering. Last night when I couldn’t sleep, I searched their names on the laptop. They seem respectable.”
“Looks can be deceiving,” she countered.
She’d learned that lesson the hard way after going out with Chet.
He’d shown up fifteen minutes early to their date.
Spoke to her uncle with the utmost respect.
The guy even brought flowers. He was polite to teachers, which was part of the reason she agreed to go out with him in the first place.
Rather than take her straight to the movies, like he’d said, he’d pit stopped at the lake.
She spent the next ten minutes fighting him off before delivering a punch that broke his nose and bloodied her new shirt.
She managed to climb out the passenger’s side.
The car beside them took pity on her and opened the door.
They were seniors, two years ahead of her and Chet.
He’d sent threatening texts telling her to keep quiet about what had happened.
He’d told her no one would believe her anyway.
She’d been too mortified to speak up. Until Amy Dunbar did. Four others came forward after Prudence. Her only regret was that she’d waited.
Adam didn’t speak. He gripped the steering wheel so hard his knuckles turned white. He clenched his back teeth together, making his jaw muscle tick.
She held onto the cup with both hands to stop herself from reaching out to him. It would be a mistake to be his comfort, no matter how much she wanted to be.
By the time she finished her latte, Adam was pulling into the parking lot at the sheriff’s office.
The two-story building was nondescript, brown bricks with tall, thin windows.
Adam drained his coffee before issuing a sharp sigh. He stared at the bottom of the cup.
“Here goes nothing,” he said, opening his door. His words might have been meant to be breezy but they were anything but. Angel’s grandparents would soon follow. They had rights.
The right to take her away?