Only In His Sweetest Dreams (Secret Dreams Book 2)

by Dani Collins

  “I think she said they would be taking the bus to Holbrook.”

  “When?” Mercedes set down her clipboard.

  “Gladys had to have them at the depot by three.”

  “Do you have a phone number for Gladys?”

  “Oh, they were all packed and ready to go from the mall. Why?”

  Because the kids need their mother.

  “The kids could have played,” Mercedes murmured, checking her watch. She would never get these medications put away in time to go to the school, pick up the children, drop them at the Y, then arrive to the bus depot to ask Gladys’s daughter if she knew Porsha. If she had any idea where, exactly, Porsha might have gone.

  “Well, you’re obviously busy. I’ll leave you to your work.”

  “Thanks, Mrs. Farley.” Mercedes bit her lip. She couldn’t leave the meds for another time. The residents were used to picking them up by four o’clock on Fridays, and even though everyone knew her office was off limits while the meds were in here, she never felt good about leaving them lying around. She couldn’t leave on a wild goose chase to the bus depot.

  But Glady’s daughter might know where Porsha was.

  Zack came to the door and dropped his backpack with a sigh, then rolled his shoulder as he studied his job board.

  “I did the Wellington’s fence already.”

  “Their dog rubbed it while it was wet, so it needs to be done again. Zack—” No, it was stupid. Even if Gladys’s daughter did know where Porsha was, it wasn’t like Mercedes could go get her. It wasn’t like she could fly to see her sister, face to face, and tell her how much her kids missed her. That they needed their mom.

  “What?” Zack prompted.

  She had paid him to watch the kids in the pool a few times and he’d played ping-pong with them on his own time. Listening in, she’d been reassured by the growing rapport between him and the kids. She could trust him.

  “Is there any chance you could pick the kids up from school today and watch them for a bit at my place? I have to run an errand. I’d take them, but—” It might unfairly raise their hopes.

  “I don’t mind. Want me to take them to the pool?”

  “Maybe later. Ayjia can’t get into her new suit by herself. I’ll give you the key to my place. If you could just give them a juice and make them a peanut butter sandwich or something?”

  “No problem.”

  “I need my car. You’ll have to walk.”

  “It’s only a few blocks.”

  “You’re a lifesaver. Thanks! Let me call the school.” She had to write a note for the school records stating Zack was allowed to collect the kids. When she handed it over with her apartment key, she said, “There and back. No detours.”

  “Aye, aye. I’ll just refill my water bottle and go.”

  She put up the last of the meds, locked the boxes, and made the call to the drugstore, feeling vaguely anxious, like she was making a poor decision. No, she was getting great reviews on Zack from the residents. Everyone loved him. It wasn’t like she was asking L.C. to fetch them.

  L.C.

  Mercedes wouldn’t even consider what it would mean for her love life if she found Porsha and got her to take her kids back. No, she was doing this for the kids.

  Nevertheless, she wanted to reassure herself Zack was able to pick them up without any problems, so when she climbed into her stifling car, she took the side road to the highway, so she would pass Zack and the children walking home. She would wave and make sure they knew she wouldn’t be long.

  But the kids weren’t on the street and neither was Zack.

  Weird.

  Maybe there’d been a mix up at the school after all. Or maybe Zack had let them play on the playground for a few minutes. In this heat, he really ought to take them straight home.

  She was cutting it fine, but she detoured all the way to the school where a few straggler parents herded children to cars. No one played on the gleaming slide or brightly colored monkey bars. Zack wasn’t there and neither were the kids.

  That was really, really weird. Her stomach tightened further as she parked and ran into the school. They had to be here, getting a bandage for a scrape or waiting for Ayjia to tie her shoes.

  No, Ayjia’s classroom was empty except for Miss Scott. She lifted her head from marking something and smiled a greeting at Mercedes.

  “Did you get my message about letting Ayjia go with Zack?” Mercedes asked.

  “I did, and he was here.” She nodded reassuringly.

  “So they’re gone?” Mercedes said.

  “As far as I know.” Miss Scott’s smile faded. “Is there a problem?”

  “I don’t know.” Maybe Dayton had a detention. No, his classroom was abandoned. Mercedes began to sweat. She went back outside, circled the school, checked and rechecked the parking lot. Looked in her car.

  Oh God, oh God. Her kids were gone.

  Chapter 12

  Mercedes had asked a favor. Seeing as she’d been avoiding him since their trip to the appliance store on Monday, L.C. looked forward to complying. It gave him an excuse to seek her out.

  He fingered the list he’d found on the ping-pong table beneath the jar of wilted flowers Ayjia had left there. The note wasn’t personalized beyond Mercedes’s girlish printing: These are the jobs I told you about. Let me know what you think they’ll cost.

  L.C. already knew what he thought. He could do all of these jobs for half what any general contractor would charge because he didn’t have a mortgage or overhead.

  On the other hand, Zack ate a lot and wasn’t making great strides when it came to kicking in for groceries, so a few bucks for pizza would be nice. If the bill stretched to cover a babysitter and a quiet dinner for two...

  Dreamer. Just like his old man. Forever chasing the least attainable skirt.

  Stepping onto the mat in the courtyard, he waited for the doors to the main building to swoosh open. A rush of cool air hit him and he sighed as he entered.

  Something twangy was playing on the country channel to an empty lounge. L.C. was tempted to change it over to rock videos, but Mercedes had warned him he could get away with some light blues, but he’d have to play his devil’s music outside the complex.

  Smirking, because he liked those little asides of hers, he wondered where she was right now. Ferrying the kids from school to daycare didn’t usually take this long. He was sorry he’d missed her, but he was here now, so he strolled behind her desk to examine the windows. The seals had broken in three panes, allowing condensation to cloud the view.

  The sound of footsteps halting made him glance over his shoulder.

  Mrs. Garvey. Terrific. She pivoted to read a poster, pretending she hadn’t seen him.

  Same shit, different neighborhood.

  L.C. went back to his inspection, aware of her suspicious attention. He’d need three pair of hands to remove and reinstall, but other than that, this job was only a matter of driving the windows to the glazier for resealing. He thumbed the corner of one, trying to determine how best to pop them out.

  “What exactly are you doing?” Mrs. Garvey asked, moving into his periphery.

  “Casing the joint.”

  She didn’t laugh, but he hadn’t expected her to.

  “Mercedes asked me for an estimate on the repairs Zack can’t do.”

  She shook her head. “You must have misunderstood.”

  L.C. didn’t argue, just held out the list.

  She didn’t approach.

  Frightening old ladies wasn’t his idea of a fun way to spend an afternoon, but he was so offended, he wouldn’t have read that list aloud on a dare. In fact, he issued one by continuing to hold it out.

  When she paled and started diddling her collar button, he took a step, set the list on Mercedes’s desk and went back to his study of the windows.

  Why he was so sensitive to her judgment he didn’t know, because it wasn’t like he hadn’t learned to accept that kind of censure years ago. He had never live
d up to whatever it was people expected from ‘good’ folk.

  “No, these aren’t necessary,” she said from a position well on the far side of the desk. The paper trembled as she read it and she shook her head. “The garden plots? Hardly anyone uses them.”

  “They can’t, can they?” Most of the plots had been neglected so long, the dirt was like concrete and the ties holding the dirt in place were crumbling.

  “It’s too hot to grow anything. I tried. Nothing took.”

  “Tomatoes and peppers do all right in this climate.” He should shut up. Arguing was perverse when he should thank her for relieving him of the task and get on with his life.

  “Nightshade plants are hard on the digestive system.”

  L.C. resisted the urge to suggest ingesting some nightshade plants might ease that constipated expression off her face. “I’m just doing what Mercedes asked me to do.” And he would mention to Mercedes that a bonus for bullet-dodging might be in order.

  “I’ll speak to her,” Mrs. Garvey said to the list. “These jobs need to be handled by someone reputable.”

  L.C. watched her set down the list. She reminded him of so many people back home. The word ‘trash’ was only seconds away. Yet he’d never backed down from any of them and wasn’t about to start skulking away now.

  “Hiring someone ‘reputable’ is going to cost more, Mrs. Garvey.”

  “If you think I’m not aware that having you here will cost in the long run, Mr. Fogarty, then you underestimate my intelligence.” It cost her plenty to say that. Her spine was like re-bar and her mouth smaller than a matchhead. But she was also scared, so he didn’t let loose on her.

  “I respect people who say what’s on their mind,” he told her, keeping his voice level, but feeling his street-fighting nerves twitch. “So why don’t you tell me exactly what you think I’m going to do that’s so bad.”

  She puckered some more. “You’re freeloading. Anyone can see it.”

  “And I’m a bad seed and I’ll never amount to much? My stepmother used to say the same thing. Funny, I thought you a more imaginative woman than her.”

  Her eyes went buggy and she gathered herself into a tighter coil. “I’ll defer to her higher knowledge. I’m sure she knows you better than I ever intend to.” Under her breath, she added, “Pity the woman sentenced to raise such a person.”

  “I imagine she pities herself, seeing as she was sentenced to prison.” L.C. held her startled gaze. “For arson,” he added. “But I’m sure you’ll want to check that story, make sure I’ve got my facts straight and didn’t pour the gasoline around the house myself.”

  He was almost outside when his cell rang. It was Mercedes.

  Mercedes was hyperventilating, staring at the front door of the school, her hand soaked in a sweat so numbing she could barely hold her phone.

  “Zack wouldn’t do anything to harm those kids,” he said after hearing her out. L.C.’s voice was firm with conviction. “I know that. He took them for ice cream or something.”

  “But I told him—”

  “I know, and he should know better, but it’s just a matter of catching up to them. I’ll drive around some of the side streets.”

  “No! Stay there and call me if they show up. Maybe I just missed them. I’ll drive around.” She sniffed back her fear. “I shouldn’t have asked him to pick them up. It was wrong. What was I thinking? The social worker was going to tell Dayton’s dad about my taking custody. What if she didn’t understand about Ayjia’s father? If she told him…. He’s not right in the head, L.C.”

  “Is that a serious possibility?” His voice went so cold and hard, it stopped her heart.

  “I don’t know! I’m probably overreacting, but I can’t find them, L.C. Would Zack let someone else take them if—”

  “No. He’ll bring them home. We just have to wait.” He sounded grim.

  Mercedes used her forearm to push her hair off her damp face, not comforted at all. “I’ll drive around. If I don’t see them in the next few minutes, I’ll call the police.”

  “All right.”

  She ended the call and started to open her car door, but a woman walked by, pushing a stroller, following a child on a bike. Mercedes thought she recognized the boy.

  “Is your son in Miss Scott’s class? Does he know Ayjia?” she asked the woman.

  “She’s the new girl,” the boy told his mother.

  “I guess he does.” The woman’s smile died as she read Mercedes’s distress.

  “I’ve misplaced Ayjia and her brother,” Mercedes said, then asked the boy, “Did you see her after school?”

  “She was at the sign up,” the boy said to his mother.

  “The sign up?” Mercedes repeated.

  “At the high school,” the woman explained. “We just walked up to put Jacob’s name on the list for summer camp. It’s a really popular program. You have to get your name in early. Were they with the teenager with the blue backpack?” she asked her son.

  The boy nodded.

  “They’re there,” she assured Mercedes. “Two blocks up and two over.”

  “Thank you!” Mercedes jumped in her car, clenched her teeth so she wouldn’t speed, and reached the high school in a couple of heartbeats. She parked in the bus turnaround where a few dozen parents hovered in groups. Children played tag nearby.

  Zack stood at a table speaking to the two girls behind it. He held a flyer in one hand while Dayton dangled from his elbow. Ayjia clutched his other hand and drained a water bottle. At least they were in the shade.

  She texted L.C. that she had them, then climbed from the car.

  The girls at the table, a sporty blond and a cute African-American, quit playing with their hair as Mercedes approached. Their welcoming smiles faded to wary ones.

  “Zack!” At the last second, Mercedes got a grip and only touched his shoulder, rather than shaking him senseless for the viewing enjoyment of Flagstaff’s stay-at-homes.

  “Oh, hey, Mercedes. This is—”

  “Let’s talk in the car,” she suggested with a stiff smile. “Or you can stay if you want. Come on, kids. Into the car.”

  “But Zack said we could walk home with him and he’d make us mac and cheese.”

  “I thought that’s what was going to happen too,” Mercedes said to Ayjia, barely holding a civil tone. “But he didn’t do that so you’ll have to come with me.” She steered them toward the car.

  “Mercedes,” Zack called behind her, baffled and defensive.

  “Cameron’s mom said I could go to his house to play one day,” Dayton said.

  “She did?” Too bad Auntie M wouldn’t be letting either of them out of her sight for the foreseeable future.

  “Zack says if we go to summer camp, girls like Holly and Patricia would babysit us,” Ayjia said. “And we can paint and do clay. Can we, Auntie M? Can we?”

  “Not right now.” Mercedes checked her watch. If she hurried, she might still catch Gladys at the bus depot. It was a long shot. She wasn’t even sure why she wanted to bother, but if there was a chance to reunite these kids with Porsha—

  “But we have to sign up right now or we might not get in,” Ayjia said.

  “I don’t want to go to summer camp,” Dayton said.

  “It’s not that expensive,” Zack said, coming up to the car.

  “Are you coming with us?” Her hand shook as she snapped Ayjia into her booster. She shut the door. “If you are, get in the car.”

  “I’ll hold the spots for you,” one of the girls from the table called.

  Zack lifted his hand in a jerky wave then climbed into the passenger side of the car. “I didn’t think you’d be mad.”

  “I want to go back to Holbrook,” Dayton said.

  Mercedes gave Zack a killing look and said, “I know, honey,” to Dayton. To Zack, she added, “Price isn’t the point and before we even get into that—” She checked for cars, then accelerated onto the road. “I said ‘there and back.’ Do you know what I’
ve been through in the last twenty-five minutes? Even your father was worried.”

  “Are you kidding me? You called him? What did you think was happening?”

  “I don’t know, since you didn’t answer your phone.” It took every effort to keep her voice steady. “But I can’t believe that I’ve stood up for you, put my job on the line, and then you go and do something this stupid and irresponsible.”

  “It was five minutes!”

  “Let’s not do this in front of the kids, okay? I just...have to get to the bus depot.”

  “The least you could do is hear me out. Look at the flyer.”

  “I’m driving.”

  “I’ll read it to you.”

  “Not now, Zack. Believe me. You’ll be walking home.”

  “But Auntie M, it would be fun,” Ayjia said.

  “I’m sure it would be, sweetie, but let’s talk about it later, okay? I need to concentrate on driving.”

  “If you’re worried about getting them there every day, I could take them,” Zack said, tucking the brochure into his backpack.

  “Oh, yeah, I’m putting you in charge of these kids every day.”

  “I would have told you where we were going, but I didn’t know about it until I got to the school. They said you have to sign up right away so I took them to the high school.” He was talking like she was the unreasonable one here.

  “I said I don’t want to talk about this.”

  She flicked on the radio, cranked some country tune, then leaned over to hiss at Zack. “You won’t be here. You’re going home to Washington. They should be going home before then. Did you think of that? Don’t set them up for crap like this.” She straightened and lowered the volume.

  He didn’t say anything. After a moment, he hooked his elbow on the open window and braced his fist against his chin.

  “Can we get a burger?” Dayton asked.

  “After my errand.” Mercedes worked the steering wheel in her sweating palms.

  “Where are we going?” Ayjia asked.

  “I just want to see someone.”

  “I’m hungry now,” Dayton said.