Bridgette
Bridgette scanned the front doors of Gabby’s elementary school, searching for any sign of movement. The clock on her dashboard told her they should have been let out three minutes ago. A quick glance at her phone told her she still had a minute to go. And she had no idea what clock the school was operating by.
She shifted nervously in her seat. She hated how antsy this whole situation was making her. Despite her confidence that just running out to Gabby’s school and heading home wouldn’t draw attention, part of her was still terrified Kyle had been right, that Martin did have people watching her. Maybe they would follow her home.
She’d kept sneaking glances back over her shoulder on the drive over, trying to keep watch for any suspicious cars tailing her. She shifted between her mirrors, too, determined not to miss anything. At one point she’d been certain that a white mini-van was following her. That had set her heart racing. It had followed her every turn without fail, never falling back to be more than a car behind her.
That paranoia had melted away when she’d pulled in front of the school and the mini-van parked behind her in the circle drive in front of the main entrance. She’d recognized the mom behind the wheel.
She was letting her imagination get the best of her. Kyle had been exaggerating. He’d been trying to trick her into staying with him. As long as she was smart and sensible now, she’d be fine.
Bridgette heard the bell ring from inside the school—a jittery, piercing sound that announced the end of the day. A few seconds later, the doors swung open and a flood of kids poured down the steps toward the drive where some parents were already waiting for them.
Bridgette unbuckled and hurriedly got out her car, keeping her eyes on the swarms of children. She tried to pick Gabby out, but it wasn’t easy. It was a big elementary school and there were plenty of little girls with red hair. Bridgette didn’t even know what Gabby was wearing, so that was no help.
At last she spotted her daughter walking alongside Lena. Gabby’s hair had been braided, and she wore her jean skirt and bright pink t-shirt. Bridgette breathed a small sigh of relief at seeing her unharmed. Not that she’d expected anything to have happened to her, but still, nothing seemed certain anymore, and it was good to see her worst nightmare hadn’t come true.
Bridgette waved at Gabby, forcing a grin over her face. She felt so tired. The muscles barely wanted to lift into a smile.
Gabby didn’t smile back. She turned and said something to Lena, then slowly picked her way through the crowd over to Bridgette.
“Hi, baby,” Bridgette greeted her, pulling Gabby into a hug as soon as she was close enough. “How are you doing? How was school?”
“Fine,” Gabby mumbled. “Lena said I couldn’t go home with her again.”
“Well, that’s because we’re going home together,” Bridgette told her.
Gabby lit up at those words. “Really? Do you promise?”
“Pinky swear,” Bridgette told her, linking her pinky in her daughter’s to seal the deal. “I know it’s been a rough couple of days, but I think we’re in the clear now. I missed you so much.”
Gabby wrapped her small hand around Bridgette’s. “I missed you, too, Mommy.”
Bridgette walked her over to the car and helped Gabby get buckled in the back seat. “Did you leave your clothes at Lena’s house?” she asked as she situated Gabby’s backpack on the floor of the back seat.
“Yeah.”
“I guess we’ll have to run over there and pick them up sometime.” An idea popped in her head. It was a little more risky, she thought, but not too much. And she was too happy to have Gabby back with her to be too worried.
It felt like the world had been skewed for days, like she was walking around hollow. But now that Gabby was here she felt more at peace. Even her anxiety about the business with Martin seemed to have been quelled a little.
“So, I owe you ice cream, don’t I?” she asked as she settled into the driver’s seat and buckled her own seatbelt.
She saw Gabby’s face stretch wide in a toothy grin. “Can we go to the Feelin’ Nutty?”
Bridgette couldn’t help but smirk to herself. The hometown ice cream shop was nothing special, really. The only other place in town, Banana Splitz, made their own product and had better flavors. But Gabby just liked saying ‘Feelin’ Nutty.’ When she’d been younger, the name would send her into fits of hysterical giggles.
“Of course we can go to the Feelin’ Nutty.”
Bridgette pulled out onto the main road and started planning the route in her head.
“Mommy?” Gabby asked from the back seat.
“Yeah, honey?”
“Why did I have to stay at Lena’s for so long?”
Bridgette winced to herself. She’d known this was coming. Gabby was a precocious little girl. She wouldn’t let this just slide. But Bridgette still didn’t know what to say, or how to justify all the time they’d spent apart.
“I told you, there was a break-in at the bakery and I had to take care of it.”
“But Lena’s mom said it would only take a day to fix. I stayed with Lena for a really long time. Lena’s mom said I could have come home with you a lot sooner.”
Bridgette tried to think. What could she say? Mommy didn’t have time for you? Mommy couldn’t take you home? But she detested lying to her daughter more than anything. Every lie she told now, no matter how necessary, put another crack in the foundation of their relationship.
She’d learned that from her own parents. Her mom had struggled with addiction, and her dad had been unbearably religious and strict. Both had lied to her on too many occasions—her mom mostly to deny her problems and her dad to get his way and scare her into behaving how he thought she should behave. When Gabby had been born, Bridgette had promised herself the relationship she built with her daughter would be open and real, even if it was imperfect.
Bridgette gripped the steering wheel tightly. Maybe she didn’t have to lie. Maybe she could just tell Gabby that she was too young right now to know. “I can’t explain. I need you to just trust me. I’ll tell you everything someday, but now all you need to know is that I love you more than anything in the world, and I would never, ever leave you.”
Bridgette caught sight of Gabby’s wide, innocent eyes staring up at her from the back seat. “You’re scaring me, Mommy,” she said.
Shit. How the hell was she supposed to handle this? She was sure talking to your daughter about drug kingpins with vendettas wasn’t covered in any of the childcare books.
“No, baby, there’s no reason to be scared,” Bridgette soothed her. “Everything’s fine. Things are just going to be a little different for a few days, that’s all. And then everything will go back to normal.”
“But why can’t things be normal now?” Gabby demanded.
They were at the Feelin’ Nutty. Thank God. Bridgette pulled in and parked quickly. She jumped out of the car before Gabby could ask her any more questions. Hopefully ice cream would prove to be enough of a distraction. She opened the back and reached in to help Gabby get unbuckled.
“So, what are you going to get?” Bridgette asked Gabby as she climbed out of the car.
“You didn’t answer my question,” Gabby accused her. She folded her arms over her chest and stood stock-still, glaring up at Bridgette with surprising intensity for a six-year-old. Her bright blue eyes reminded Bridgette so much of Kyle at times—a connection she did her best to block out. But now, with him back, it was easy to see how Gabby’s tenacity mirrored her father’s.
Bridgette sighed. She loved how stubborn and strong her daughter could be when she put her mind to it, but at times it was incredibly frustrating. “Gabby, the only thing that’s going to be different is that I’ll be staying home with you. I’ll drive you to school and pick you up. No daycare, no going over to Lena’s.”
That seemed to placate her a little. “Oh. What about your bakery?”
“It’s going to have to stay closed for a bit. Come on, let’s go get our ice cream.”
“But why does it have to stay closed?”
“Because some things got broken during the break-in and now they have to be fixed.”
That seemed to be enough for Gabby. She uncrossed her arms and took Bridgette’s hand, and together they started to walk up to the window.
“So? You never told me what you’re going to order.”
Gabby seemed to contemplate her choices for a moment. “A brownie sundae,” she announced, grinning up at Bridgette.
“A whole brownie sundae?” Bridgette repeated in mock disbelief. “All by yourself? No. Way.”
Gabby giggled. “Yes way! And with extra whipped cream, too.”
Bridgette thought she heard the roar of a bike from behind her. She flinched a little, her thoughts turning instantly to Kyle. But she fought the urge to turn and look down the road. You’re just paranoid, she told herself. She’d been on edge all day, and now she was assuming Kyle was the only guy in the world who rode a motorcycle.
Bridgette shook herself from her thoughts and forced herself to turn her attention back to Gabby. “And sprinkles?” she continued. “You’re not going to have room for sprinkles—“
“Bridgette!”
Bridgette froze in her tracks. Gabby stumbled beside her, caught off guard by Bridgette’s sudden halt.
No. What was he doing here? Hadn’t she told him to leave her in peace?
Bridgette whipped around only to find Kyle dismounting from his bike, striding purposefully toward her from across the parking lot.
Gabby’s hand tightened around hers. “Mommy?” she whispered. “Who’s that?”
“No one,” Bridgette muttered, turning back around and pulling Gabby toward the line in front of the window. So he’d followed her. Well, she didn’t know what he wanted and she didn’t care. She wasn’t going to give him the time of day.
“Bridgette, get your ass back here! We need to talk!”
Some of the patrons in the line turned to cast dirty looks at her and Kyle.
Bridgette ignored them. This wasn’t her fault. He was the one choosing to make a scene here. He was the one acting like a complete ass in front of her and her daughter.
Kyle closed the distance quickly. Bridgette briefly contemplated trying to slip away from him by heading back to the car with Gabby, but she didn’t want Gabby to think there was anything to worry about.
Her best option was to give him the cold shoulder. She knew how he operated. He might cause a scene, but eventually he’d get frustrated enough that he’d just ride off and leave her in peace.
Kyle inserted himself in front of her and Gabby, cutting them off from the rest of the line with his bulk. His burning eyes were fixed on her. “We need to talk,” he spat through gritted teeth. “Now.”
She looked right through him, doing her best to pretend he wasn’t even there. She hoped Gabby would just follow her lead.
“Mommy,” Gabby whimpered, pressing closer to her side, “who is he? What does he want?”
Kyle’s lips twisted in an ugly snarl. “Yeah, Mommy, who am I?”
Bridgette’s blood turned to ice in her veins. He couldn’t know. There was no way. She’d been so careful. She couldn’t ignore him anymore. That wasn’t going to work. So she glared at him with as much hate she could muster and in a low, threatening voice, she commanded, “Leave.”
Kyle took a step forward, positioning himself so he was just inches from her, towering over her. “If you think I’m just going to ride off, Bridge, you’re fucking delusional.”
Gabby shifted so she was behind Bridgette, hiding from the stranger in front of her. Bridgette held her hand tight, trying to reassure her through contact that everything was under control.
Bridgette could feel the eyes of several onlookers. God, she thought, why did he have to do this here? Why did he not seem to know the meaning of the word tact? He could have called her. He could have waited until she’d finished her outing with her daughter since he was already stalking her anyway. He could have just followed her back to her house and they could have ripped into each other in private.
But no, he didn’t care what anyone thought of him. Of what his behavior made people think about her. He’d always been selfish and self-centered, and that hadn’t changed over the years. So what if he embarrassed her. So what if he caused a scene, scared her daughter—their daughter. None of it mattered as long as he got what he wanted.
“You didn’t tell me.”
She was glad he at least kept his voice quieter now, though that did nothing to soften its sharp edge. “I didn’t tell you what?” she demanded.
“Cut the shit, Bridge, and quit playing fucking dumb. It doesn’t suit you. You know exactly what I mean.”
No. She wasn’t going to do this. She turned sharply and started stalking back toward the parking lot, pulling Gabby with her.
Kyle followed. He caught up to her and grabbed her by the arm, stopping her.
“Get your hands off me,” Bridgette snapped. “You have no right—“
“No, you had no right,” Kyle hissed. “You should’ve told me. You should’ve introduced me the instant I showed back up. You had no right to keep something like this from me.”
Bridgette fought to remain in denial. She refused to deal with this. “Let go of me. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Kyle’s grip tightened on her arm. He leaned in close to her, and in a low voice that only she could hear, he growled, “I know she’s my daughter.”