Monday morning started out normally. Or rather, it started in that nebulous new normal that had begun when she and Carter had stopped dating. Leticia got her coffee from Hal and dodged the questions that Hal tried to ask her about what had happened on Saturday and were she and Carter back together and how long had she known that Carter had a kid?

She got to the museum and said hello to everyone, and then dove into the paperwork on her desk. She heard Carter come in but she didn’t stop her work. She’d talk to him about their relationship at lunchtime. Leticia had it all planned out in her head. She’d knock on his office door around noon. Ask if he was hungry. Offer to get lunch together down in the cafeteria. That way it would be easy for one of them to flee if things got heated or emotional or whatnot.

They would sit down, and she would say something like, “I hate to sound cliché, but I think that we need to talk about the two of us.”

Leticia had rehearsed her lines in the mirror and everything. It had occupied most of her thoughts on Sunday, although she wouldn’t admit that to anyone if they asked. Except Sharon. She could admit that to Sharon.

She had an entire speech worked out about how important Molly was to Carter, and how talented she was, and what a great kid she was. She was going to talk about how she had nothing against Molly personally, and how she’d enjoyed her time getting to know her on Saturday. Then she’d talk about how she just didn’t think that she could be what Molly needed, which was a mother, or what Carter needed, which was a co-parent. She’d make it all about her—this was her problem, it wasn’t anything that Carter or Molly had done—and she was really hoping that they could still be coworkers who worked well together, and maybe they could even work their way up to being friends.

The idea of being just friends with Carter gutted her. She’d have to see him all the time and not touch him. She’d have to chat with him without kissing him. She would have to take all of the things she wanted to say and do and shove those urges down deep where they couldn’t mess things up any further.

Oh, God, and then there was when he started dating—because he would date, eventually. He was gorgeous and sweet. What woman wasn’t going to date him? Most women loved kids. Leticia was sure that any number of women would be jumping at the chance to date a handsome single father who came with such a mature and sweet daughter.

And Leticia would have to watch from the sidelines. She might even have to offer advice or listen to Carter talk about his girlfriend at lunch or something. The idea made her want to stab someone, preferably this imaginary future girlfriend, right in the eyes.

But, no. No, this was the fate that she had chosen, and it was the right one. So what if the universe was playing a cruel trick on her? So what if she was convinced that she was in love with Carter and that, if not for Molly, she’d probably be saying as much to him right this second? Obviously she was wrong. She was mistaken in her feelings. Who knew? She might even get over him more quickly than she imagined. She could pick up a few guys at the club this weekend. Maybe sign up for a dating app or something like that. She would be fine.

Ugh, that all sounded flimsy even to her own ears. She was going to probably do something stupid and embarrassing like burst into tears in front of Carter and then it would be this dramatic scene and everyone would be staring and he’d hate her for doing this in public and—

The door to her office banged open. Leticia jumped, startled.

Carter was in the doorway and he looked a little wild. No, not wild. He looked terrified.

“Everything okay?” She asked, standing up. His eyes were wide and he was paler than she’d ever seen him.

“I have to go,” he blurted out. “I’m sorry, I—shit, I gotta go.” He ran a hand through his hair. He looked like he wasn’t even seeing what was in front of him.

“What’s going on?” Leticia quickly walked around the desk to approach him. “Christ, you look like you’re going to faint. What’s wrong?”

“Molly’s school just called,” he croaked. “She’s missing. She didn’t turn up for classes. She’s nowhere on campus, they’ve looked everywhere—”

The bottom dropped out of Leticia’s stomach. Oh God. Molly, a small, helpless young girl. Shit, she could be—anyone could have—it would be so easy to—

“Go,” she said, shoving at him. “Go, find her, and tell me when you’ve found her and she’s okay.”

“I’m so sorry,” Carter said. “I just, I gotta find her…”

“Do you need my help?” Leticia could feel panic welling up in her throat. “Two people is better than one, I can go to—I don’t know, is there a park or something she likes that she might have gone to?”

“No, no you stay here, you’re needed here,” Carter insisted. “You’re the curator, you can’t just walk out. That could jeopardize your job.”

“I think the board will understand if they know I walked out to help find a missing child.”

Carter shook his head. “I don’t want you to risk your job. I’ll find her.”

“Are you sure?” Leticia took his hands and forced him to still. “You look insane, are you sure you don’t need someone with you?”

“I’ll be okay, I promise. I just—I have to get out there. I have to figure out where she could be.”

“Okay. Keep me posted though, please, let me know the minute you’ve got her.”

Carter nodded, looking like his mind was already a million miles away. Leticia couldn’t help herself. She grabbed him and pulled him in, hugging him tightly. “She’s going to be okay,” she promised. “We’ll find her and she’ll be okay. It’ll all be all right.”

Carter wrapped his arms around her, burying his face in her shoulder. His chest shook once, violently, and she felt his mouth open against her skin, the same way it did when he tried to stifle a moan as they had sex—but now he was stifling a much different sound.

Then he was pulling away, dry-eyed, nodding at her before he ran down the hallway and was gone.

Leticia’s legs gave out and she sank against the wall. Fuck. Molly missing. A seven-year-old girl.

She remembered how Molly looked just this Saturday, just two days ago, smiling with a mouthful of homemade macaroni and cheese. Leticia’s heart felt like someone had put it in a vice and was clamping down with all of their might.

Anything could have happened to a small, sweet young girl like that. Leticia’s mind raced with horrible possibilities and she tried hard to tamp them down. It wouldn’t help Carter or Molly to stand here and panic. She had work to get done.

Leticia marched over to her desk and looked at her stack of paperwork. She could handle this, no problem. This wasn’t even a whole lot of work.

An hour passed and she had to give up.

She was getting nothing done. She was compulsively checking her phone every five minutes, just in case she’d missed a text from Carter. She was scrolling through news apps on her phone, working herself up even more as she waited to see if there was some horrible breaking story that she needed to know about.

God, what was wrong with her? It wasn’t like she was Molly’s mom or anything—

Huh.

Leticia sat back, thinking. Here she was, panicking over Molly, and honestly, genuinely, wanting nothing more than to see her again. She wanted to scoop Molly up into her arms and demand that Molly never, ever leave her sight again.

Was this what parents felt? Did this mean that she could be a parent too, maybe, with practice?

Ugh, what kind of selfish person was she? Molly was missing. She could be hurt or in danger. And here Leticia was, contemplating how this might be spun to her own benefit, how this might mean she could have her cake and eat it too. What kind of—

Her phone rang and she honest-to-God screamed.

Composing herself, and grateful that no one had heard that, she grabbed the phone. “Curator’s office, how can I help you?”

“Hey, Leticia?” It was one of the guards at the front desk. “I got a visitor here for you. Little girl, goes by Molly? Says she needs to have an appointment with you.”

“Molly?” Leticia’s eyes got wet and her throat felt closed up. “Small, Blonde, with a blue backpack?”

“Yup, that’s the one. She says her dad works here.”

“Oh my God.” Leticia stood up. “I’m coming, I’m on my way right now, don’t let her out of your sight!”

She hung up the phone and promptly burst into tears.

Molly was all right. Molly was all right! She was okay and she was at the museum and—

What the hell was she doing at the museum?

Leticia ran down to the museum lobby, almost shoving past a couple of people buying tickets. “Molly!”

Molly was sitting on a bench, her legs swinging, looking around at the artwork. She smiled wide as Leticia approached. “Hi, Leticia!”

“Oh my God.” Leticia grabbed her and pulled her into a hug, not even caring if it was too tight. “Oh, thank God, Molly, you had us worried sick, oh my God.”

“You were worried?” Molly seemed bewildered.

Leticia pulled back. “Your school called, where the hell have you been?”

Molly stared. “Have you been crying?”

“Molly.” Leticia put on her best stern voice. “How did you get here? Where have you been?”

“I used my allowance to take the bus,” Molly said. “I wanted to talk to you.”

“Your teachers are frantic!” Leticia said. “Your dad is out there looking for you!”

“But I need to talk to you!” Molly was starting to get upset. She pulled away a little so that she could fold her arms and glare. “I need to talk to you about my dad!”

Leticia buried her face in her hands. “Molly, really?”

“Yes, really!” And there was that childish stubbornness that drove Leticia up the wall. “Daddy doesn’t talk about it but he needs somebody. I think he needs somebody like you. He likes you a lot—and I like you a lot, too. You make him happy. He talks about you all the time and I don’t think he knows how much he talks about you, and I really like you, and I think that you need to come and live with us so that my dad won’t be lonely anymore.”

Leticia slowly raised her face from her hands and stared at Molly. It felt like she’d somehow woken up in an alternate universe this morning and had just failed to notice until now. “What? You want me to live with you?”

Molly nodded fiercely. “Yes. You can even share my bedroom.”

Leticia couldn’t help it. She felt so relieved, and frustrated, and touched, and Molly had offered to share her room and it was so adorable she could hardly stand it—she burst out laughing and hugged Molly to her again. This time, she felt Molly hug her back.

“Is that a yes?” Molly asked, looking hopeful.

“That’s a, ‘we’re calling your dad and telling him you’re okay’,” Leticia informed her. She stood up and offered Molly her hand. “C’mon, kid. Let’s make sure your dad’s hair isn’t entirely gray by the time the day’s over, hmm?”

Molly giggled. “Okay.”