Squeaking, her head shot up and she looked at me with wide eyes. “Oh! You scared me!” she said, her hand going to her chest.
I frowned as I saw her face and puffy eyes, she’d been crying, and seeing her like that always hit me straight in the gut.
“What happened?” I gritted out, moving forward. If he’d upset her-
“Nothing,” she said, shaking her head. “I just miss him.”
“Yeah?” I said, softer this time. “Did you sort everything out?”
She puffed out a breath and leaned her head on the backrest of the chair. “Yeah, it’s all sorted.”
“Then what’s with the tears, sweetheart?” I asked, sitting on the edge of the desk, facing her.
“I just…I…I wish he could come home.” She looked back at me, her eyes so sad. I couldn’t bear to see that look in her eyes.
“Did he say when that would be?” Moving closer to her, I swiped away a lone tear as it rolled down her face.
“He keeps saying soon but he’s been saying that for so long now.” She rolled her eyes, looking back down at her knees.
Nodding my head, I understood, he probably wouldn’t know when he was coming home until a day or two beforehand. It was an unpredictable life and I was glad that I got out when I did. If I hadn’t, I’d probably still be over there with him.
“I’m sure you’ll see him soon.”
“Yeah,” she whispered and looked up to me. Her beautiful eyes so open and sad, all I wanted was to change that look in her eyes.
“Come on,” I said, holding my hand out to her.
She placed her small, soft hand in mine and let me pull her up. Opening my legs for her body to fit in between, she moved closer, and I wrapped my arms around her, inhaling her sweet scent.
“He’s got good men behind him sweetheart,” I said to ease some of her upset.
It was true, he did have good men behind him, but I couldn’t tell her that he’d be safe, because no matter how much he trained, or how many men he had at his back, that could never be a certainty.
I felt her nodding against my chest as I rubbed my hands up and down her back in a soothing motion.
“Let’s go watch a movie,” I said pulling back. “Take your mind off things.”
“Okay,” she whispered, wiping her eyes.
I hated seeing her like that.
We’d all got into a good routine and for the last three weeks, we all did the same shifts and watched Daley. I always did the morning shift after I had taken Eli to preschool, then someone would take over when it was time for me to pick him up.
I learned a lot from following Daley around. He had many acquaintances but I never saw him with a genuine friend. I watched as he always had a car follow him, though it was done discreetly. Not discreetly enough for me not to notice, but still discreetly.
We hadn’t got any further with the investigation, the only plus was that there hadn’t been anymore kidnappings. That was a huge win but we didn’t know how long it would be until another girl was taken, we were on borrowed time. At least, that’s what it felt like.
I pulled up next to the warehouse and helped Eli out of his seat. Ty had taken over from me today, which meant I wouldn’t see him until later tonight. We had started to get a good system going, and by the time he would come home, I’d have all the housework done and his dinner ready for him. He kept telling me to stop doing it but I felt it was only right as I was living here now as well.
“Uncle Luke!” Eli shouted as soon as I opened the metal door to the warehouse, running straight at Luke who was on the treadmill.
Smiling, I looked around for Evan, knowing that Kitty was probably still sleeping after her early morning shift. I didn’t know how they did those sort of shifts, I’d freak out if I had to sit in the car for six hours at night.
“Hey, Evan.” I walked over to his corner, he pushed his chair back and stood up.
“Ready for some training?” He smirked.
“Me and you?” I pointed between us, my eyes going wide.