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I sighed. “I’ll have my dad made aware of the possibility.”
“I’ll take Boss in and hang around the precinct tomorrow,” Garrett offered.
“Maybe you should go hang out at the hotel,” I suggested. “If she shows up, then you can be like, ‘Oh, hey!’ and then Boss will be able to note it if she has it.”
“I can do that,” he said. “I’ll talk to the hotel manager, too. After I talk to Dad.”
“Good,” I looked over at Pepper, who was watching the two of us with confusion.
“What?” I asked her.
“I just…” she shrugged. “I guess I never expected you to do this. I figured you’d just brush it off. It sounds like you’re actually going to try to catch her.”
“Sage didn’t hoodwink us all,” Garrett said. “Anyone that’s willing to write a book for money about the worst time in their life seems like maybe they’re trying too hard to make themselves a victim.”
With that, Garrett left.
“She’s writing a book?” Pepper asked in shock.
I groaned. “Actually, that’s news to me, too.”
“She’s disgusting,” she said. “I just…”
She trailed off as I started to rock my kid back and forth.
I could feel his head getting heavier and heavier on my shoulder.
She studied me for a long second before heading to the door that’d just quietly shut behind Garrett.
“Here, use this,” she said as she pulled the white rocking chair off the porch and dragged it straight to the room that I was using for Forest.
Just as she’d crossed over the threshold into the room, my phone went off, causing me to curse.
“What is it?” she asked worriedly, stopping with the chair half in, half out of the bedroom.
I glanced at the readout on my phone and stretched my neck.
“SWAT call.” I sighed. “You ready to start right now?”
She licked her lips, then nodded. “I, uh, need to know the code to the alarm. So I can set it. Sage…”
I walked her over to the alarm panel and showed it to her, giving her all the codes she would need.
“Thanks,” she said. “I’ll get him to bed.”
I hated myself for the distance she’d put between us.
This distance felt different than the distance we’d had before, when I’d been on Sage’s side and not Pepper’s.
“Go,” Pepper ordered when I continued to stand there.
I kissed Forest on the head, then handed him over.
When I was gone and had nothing left to do but think about my actions over the last week—hell, year if I admitted it to myself—I wondered idly if anyone had ever put Pepper first.
I certainly couldn’t put her above my son… but I could put her above everyone else.
Unfortunately, my milkshake brings all the psychos to my yard.
