Chapter Eighteen
Jon held up his phone and snapped a photo of Emmy and Trinity holding up their hands to show off their painted nails and Emmy’s new do. He owed Trinity big-time for setting up the appointment right away and turning the disastrous chop job into a stylish haircut that actually suited Emmy nicely and would be easier to maintain.
“Do you love it?” He smiled to let Emmy know he sure did.
She flipped her hair back with one hand. “It’s so bouncy.”
The short cut did in fact bounce and swish as Emmy walked with them to the car.
Her smile delighted him, but the images of Emmy’s hacked hair and the bruises on her arm and darkening under her eye still blazed in his mind and kept his anger roiling in his gut.
He expected to hear from DPHHS any minute. Nerves and anxiety made his chest tight.
They all climbed into the car and he pulled out of the parking lot and headed toward Steph’s place.
Trinity glanced over. “I thought you were taking me back to the store.”
“I will. I just want to do one thing first.”
Emmy hummed along to the song on the radio and stared out the side window.
He used her distraction to pull onto a side street and park.
“Where are we?” Emmy met his gaze in the rearview mirror.
“I just need to make a quick stop here. Wait with Trinity. I’ll be right back.” He left the keys in the ignition and jumped out. He smiled and waved to Emmy to ease any concern she had about the detour.
It took him only a couple minutes to walk to the apartment from the back entrance. He knocked on Steph’s door even though he didn’t see her car in her assigned spot. He used his key to enter and found what he didn’t want to see in the living space. Right there next to the dining table, spread all over the floor, was his daughter’s long, dark hair. The pair of sharp scissors sat on the table atop a stack of unopened mail.
Because of the video calls he had with Emmy every night she stayed with Steph, the place wasn’t that bad. Not spotless, but okay.
He snapped several photos of Emmy’s discarded hair littering the floor to hand over to his lawyer.
Just because he was curious, and his kid lived here part-time, he opened the fridge to make sure Steph had enough food. He snapped a photo of the dismal contents. No milk or eggs or cheese. Just a bunch of condiments, an open bottle of wine, two juice boxes, some sad salad greens that didn’t look edible, and half an apple that had been placed face-down on the dirty glass with no protective covering. The whole thing needed a good cleaning. And to be restocked.
He opened the pantry cupboard. A box lay on its side, oat cereal spilled everywhere. Who knew how long it had been there? The remaining contents were probably stale and inedible now. He spotted a couple cans of chicken noodle soup, a bag of unopened rice, three bags of pasta, no spaghetti sauce in sight, and a box of strawberry Pop-Tarts. That was it.
The contents filling the garbage revealed Steph preferred the drive-through.
Seriously, Steph worked at a grocery store. How hard was it to pick up food on her way home? Even the store deli counter had better offerings than a fast-food place.
Why couldn’t she take care of herself and Emmy better?
Steph’s parents had done such a good job doing everything for her, she didn’t know how to do anything herself. That’s the only explanation that made sense.
He snapped a picture of the pantry, closed the door, made sure he didn’t leave anything out of place. Not that Steph would notice.
Emmy and Trinity were probably wondering what was taking him so long. He wanted to check out the rest of the apartment, but decided against it. He’d gotten what he wanted.
He locked up behind him, then made the trek back to the car and climbed in. He handed Trinity his phone and lifted his chin toward it to get her to look at the screen.
Her eyes went wide with shock.
Seeing his daughter’s hair scattered everywhere like that after hearing what happened, and trying so hard to console her earlier, hit him hard in the chest again.
“I’m glad you got this. I think it will help.” Trinity handed the phone back, then glanced at Emmy. “I’ll run into the shop when your dad drops me off and get you a snack for the ride home, okay?”
Emmy nodded. “Spaghetti.”
“Not in the car,” he quickly interjected. “But we could take some home.”
Trinity reached back and patted Emmy’s knee. “I’ll see what we have in the shop.”
“Can I pick?”
“Sure.” Trinity never minded letting Emmy be involved in what they did.
“Will you be staying at the ranch tonight?” Something about Trinity seemed off and it concerned him. Maybe it had to do with all the drama with Steph and Emmy. Maybe she was worried about work.
“I’ve been gone most of the day. I’ll probably need to close. Plus it’s not a good time for us to finish the discussion we started this morning.”
Shit. He forgot about his business proposal.
“Like I said earlier, it’s not what you think.” He pulled into the Almost Homemade lot and parked out front.
“It’s been a long day.” She slipped out of the car without another word.
Emmy unbuckled, scrambled into the front seat, and climbed out with her.
His girls walked toward the shop door hand in hand. He went after them, knowing he needed to explain, but also understanding now wasn’t the time.
Emmy followed Trinity back behind the counter like she owned the place, too. Trinity picked her up and held Emmy on her hip. She grabbed a to-go container and let the little girl check out all the hot food behind the counter.
“I want the spaghetti and the cheesy thing.” Emmy pointed to the chicken broccoli cheesy casserole thing that looked amazing.
“Make us a big one of that.”
Trinity set Emmy down and made one large container of each of Emmy’s choices, then added a salad for him, garlic toast wrapped in foil, and two big brownies to the meal she placed in the large bag.
He held up his credit card.
She stared blankly at him, shook her head, and handed the bag over.
The guy who’d interrupted his meeting with Trinity that morning came up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder. She nearly jumped out of her skin, spun around at the same time she shoved Emmy behind her, and then put her hands up to ward off an attack that never came.
The guy startled and stopped short. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I just wanted to talk to you about selling the store.”
Trinity’s whole body trembled. She glanced from the guy in front of her to Jon, then ran into the kitchen.
He’d seen that panicked look before and went after her, waving for Emmy to follow him. He found Trinity halfway up the stairs to her apartment, sitting with her head between her knees and completely out of breath. Her whole body shook, and sweat had broken out down her back.
He knelt on a step below her and brushed his hand over her head. “You’re okay, sweetheart.”
She shook her head. “No. I—I’m not. So stu-stu-pid.”
“It was just a scare. That’s all.” He rubbed his hand up and down her back, trying to soothe her.
Emmy scooted by him and hugged Trinity. “Don’t be sad.”