Peeking out, he spied her standing with her two sisters laughing and figured that Traci had a point. Kimber was happy now. Really happy. That counted for a lot.
After checking in with Jeremy, he put his phone away, just as a surge of little girls and their parents moved his way. Shannon and Kimber were in the thick of it, Shannon ordering everyone to be careful with their costumes and Kimber giggling with a girl holding a large mouse head.
He decided to go wait for his girl in the main theater.
Minutes after he sat down, Traci took a seat next to him. “Gunnar, I’m going to need you to get Kimber out of here,” she said.
“Now?”
“Yeah. Dylan thinks our guy might be here.”
“Where?”
“Calm down. You’re not going to go all boyfriend on me. We’ll handle this.”
“All right, but Jeremy is about to get here. His girl is one of those Sugar Plum fairies.”
“That’s fine,” she said, her voice as calm as ice. “Just go make up something and get her out. Now.”
He didn’t wait another second. Heading back to the dressing room, he had to stop several times, since all the girls seemed intent on walking in packs and their mothers kept stopping to talk in the middle of the hallway.
Five minutes passed. Then, it was close to seven before he finally made it to the dressing room door. But just as he was about to open it, he saw Bethany, Jeremy’s girl.
“You better not open that, Mr. Law. Girls are changing inside.”
Of course they were. “Can you do me a favor and go back in and ask Kimber to come on out.”
“Okay, but she’s kind of busy . . .”
“Just go ask.” He attempted to smile and hoped he wasn’t failing miserably. “Jeremy texted me. He’s on his way.”
She brightened. “He texted me too.”
When he watched her close the dressing room door behind her, he tried to calm down. On the bright side, if she was in there with dozens of little girls, her attacker was not. That was a plus.
When Bethany popped out again, she grimaced. “I’m sorry, Mr. Law, but I think you’re going to have to wait a while. Miss Shannon has Kimber safety pinning everyone’s names on the costumes and organizing them.”
“It’s okay. See you tomorrow night.”
Giving him a little wave, she ran out. Another five minutes passed, then another ten as the rest of the girls exited the room.
At last, Shannon opened the door and propped it open. “Gunnar, you’re still here?”
“Yeah. You didn’t lose Kimber in the mix, did you?”
“No. She’s almost done.”
“Good. Listen, I’m going to take her out for ice cream, okay?”
“Sure. Y’all have fun. Oh! And I heard you and Matt are the ones who got the lights working. Thanks so much.”
“Anytime.”
When Gwen motioned her back to the stage, Shannon said, “See you later.”
“Yep. See you.”
The moment she disappeared from the hallway, everything seemed a whole lot darker and more ominous. The skin on the back of his neck prickled. He had to get her out of there.
“Kimber, how’s it going?” he asked as he entered the dressing room. Immediately, he was besieged with the scent of candy, little girl perfume, and the smell of old socks and shoes. “Whew.”
She wrinkled her nose. “I know. It’s awful, isn’t it?”
“Ready?”
“Almost.” She hung up another costume then closed the cabinet. “I’ve been on the clock for hours. Let me run down the hall to the bathroom and then I’ll be all set.”
“All right, sure.” Still unable to ignore the sense that something wasn’t quite right, he said, “Hey, how about I walk down there with you.”
“To the bathroom? Uh, no. I think I’ve got this.” She handed him her purse. “I’ll be back in five minutes. Sit tight,” she added as she ran out the door.
Gunnar couldn’t help but grin. His Kimber was usually so controlled, he got a kick whenever she did something that was so “normal.” After picking up two empty water bottles that had rolled into a corner, he glanced at the time on his phone. It had only been two minutes.
But he couldn’t wait around another minute. Picking up her purse again as well as her black puffy coat, he turned off the light and walked into the hall. To his right, a faint stream of light shone out of the auditorium. He could hear faint sounds of conversation floating his way. To his left, he didn’t hear a thing.
Another three minutes had passed. He took a step left, then stopped himself. What was he going to do? Stand outside the bathroom door like a creepy stalker? That would freak her out.
Worse, if he mentioned how it was taking her longer than she said, Kimber would probably get annoyed. He wasn’t around a lot of women all the time, but he was around enough to know that five minutes in the bathroom usually meant ten. She was probably fixing her lipstick or something—she was often doing that.
Except, he had her purse. And another minute had gone by.
He took another step down the hall. Told himself that he was overreacting. Then walked closer. He couldn’t deny it, he was starting to get worried.
“Gunnar? What are you doing down there?” Traci called out. “Is there a reason that you’re standing in a dark hallway holding my sister’s purse?”
He felt like God had just given him a lifeline. Even if Kimber got mad at him, he was going to risk it. She was too important to him to wait another second longer. “Hey Trace, come here a sec, would you?”
Some of the humor left her expression as she approached. “What’s up?”
“Look, I realize I sound ridiculous, but I’m kind of worried about Kimber. She ran down to the bathroom over ten minutes ago. She said she’d be back in five.”
As he’d half-expected, she looked skeptical. “Gunnar—”
“I know. Believe me, I know I sound like I’m worrying about nothing. But would you go check on her?”
“You’re really worried, aren’t you?”
He nodded. “I can’t explain it, but something doesn’t feel right.”
“You know what? Sure. Come on, you can stand outside the door. If she gets annoyed we’ll just tell her that’s too bad. We care.”
“I appreciate it. Thanks,” he murmured as they walked the rest of the way. “I’m sorry if I’m acting overprotective. It’s just that—”