“Is there something wrong with your phone?” Webb asked without looking up from the tablet.
Zander drew his phone out of his pocket. “No, it appears to be working fine.”
Webb glared up at him. “So you’ve just been ignoring my calls and texts. What if there had been an emergency?”
He stiffened. “Was there an emergency? The calls weren’t on the emergency line and none of the texts used the emergency code.”
“No, there wasn’t a damn emergency.” Webb shot up to his feet. “You still should have answered your fucking phone.”
“You’re upset.”
Webb took a couple of deep breaths. “Yeah, Zander, I’m upset. You can’t keep leaving her care up to me, not when—”
“She’s no longer your responsibility.”
“What? You’re letting her leave?”
“No, I’m taking over her care. Starting now. How is she?”
“She’s worse. I’m worried about her. She’s not eating, not talking.”
That wasn’t good. Sounded like she definitely needed him to intervene. To take control. To ensure she was taken care of.
If he was going to be her Daddy, then he had to do a lot better than this.
But that did give him an idea.
“I need a picnic.”
“What?”
“Stay here, I’ll be back soon.”
“Um, Zander, you do know it’s midnight, right?”
Midnight? Really?
“Maybe let her sleep before you do anything.”
Okay. He had a point.
But tomorrow, things were going to change.
9
Keira heard the door open as she lay dozing. Damn, was it morning already? She barely felt like she’d slept.
Was Webb was here again? Why didn’t he give up on trying to get her out of bed? Or to eat?
Not happening.
And not just because she didn’t feel like it. Nope, she now had a new reason for hiding away. It was probably just as well that Zander had disappeared on her. She had a feeling he wouldn’t let her hide like this.
She moved her head slightly, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in her mouth. She had a big problem. And if anyone saw her, they’d know something was wrong. Kind of hard to hide her swollen, red cheek. She definitely did not want anyone finding out that she had a toothache.
Because there was no way this girl was going to the dentist. Eventually, it would sort itself out, right?
Eating was agony at this point. Even on the good side of her mouth. So she’d given up, just drinking whatever liquid Webb bought her and occasionally eating some of the softer food. Thankfully, Webb also left some painkillers with each meal.