Hearing the slight unsteadiness in her own voice, she gave him a quick summary of Alice’s escapade. “She led her grandparents to believe I knew about the plan,” she added grimly. “When I find her…”
He rested a hand on her shoulder when her words faded into a taut silence. “I’m sure she’s fine.” He sounded as though he was trying to reassure himself as much as her. “Someone would have called if anything had happened. She’s probably having fun and lost track of time.”
“I told her I didn’t want her riding in a car with teenagers. She knew I wouldn’t have approved this plan. How could her grandparents have let her go with them? They’re supposed to be watching her!”
“Maybe they’ve forgotten how to control a teenager. And Alice has never pulled a stunt like this before that I know of, so she must have caught them off guard.”
Jacqui nodded tightly. “That’s what Mrs. Burns said.”
“Okay, first thing we need to do is find Alice. We can call…”
Jacqui jumped when the phone buzzed and vibrated in her hand. A glance at the screen made her close her eyes momentarily in relief before she spoke. “Alice?”
“I’m sorry, Jacqui.”
The miserable tone in the girl’s voice didn’t soften Jacqui’s own one bit. “Where are you?”
“I just got back to my grandparents’ house. I didn’t know it was so late.”
“You’ve forgotten how to tell time?”
Jacqui could almost hear the girl wince in response to the sharp tone of the question. “I guess I didn’t look at the clock,” Alice muttered. “I’m sorry.”
“First, you should be apologizing to your grandparents for worrying them. And for misleading them that this harebrained idea had been approved ahead of time. You and I will be having a long talk tomorrow. And I have a feeling your father will be discussing this with you when he gets home later this week. I wouldn’t be surprised if your mother hears about it when she talks to her parents. She’ll probably have a few things to say to you, also.”
“You’re going to tell Dad?” Alice wailed. That was the warning out of Jacqui’s litany that seemed to concern her most—and rightly so. Jacqui had only seen Seth mad once or twice in the time she had known him, and she would hate to be on the wrong end of that cool, lawyer-sharp temper.
Alice wouldn’t be pulling a stunt like this again any time in the near future, Jacqui predicted.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said. “In the meantime, you be extremely polite and considerate to your grandparents so your visit with them doesn’t end entirely badly.”
“I will. I guess you’re pretty mad, huh?”
“You could say that. Are your friends on their way home? Have they called their parents to let them know they’re safe?”
“It was just Maggie and Kelly and Milo. Kelly’s parents are out of town. She’s spending a couple of nights with Maggie. Maggie told her mom they were coming up to visit me at my grandparents’ house at the lake and that a friend of my uncle’s was driving—and that’s true,” she added with a just a hint of renewed defiance. “They just called Maggie’s mom and said they were on their way home. Maggie doesn’t have to be supervised all the time like I do.”
Maggie, who Jacqui knew through Alice’s swim team, was a year older than Alice and the daughter of a single mother who had never seemed focused enough on parenting in Jacqui’s opinion. Alice had been invited to several unchaperoned parties at Maggie’s house, which Seth and Meagan had refused to allow her to attend. Jacqui would have done the same, had it been up to her to make the decision. From now on, Jacqui would be keeping a closer eye on Alice’s association with Maggie—as she suspected Seth and Meagan would be.
After a few more terse words with Alice, Jacqui disconnected the call with a low groan. “I will be so glad when Seth and Meagan get back in town,” she said on a hearty exhale. “They’re the ones who should be dealing with Alice’s sudden teenage insanity, not me.”
“She’s okay?”
“Yes.”
Mitch visibly relaxed a little when Jacqui repeated what Alice had told her. “I’ll have a chat with Milo tomorrow,” he promised. “I’ll get his number from Scott, who is also going to hear how I feel about his worthless brother hanging around with a group of fourteen-and fifteen-year-old girls. Trust me, after tomorrow, Milo will turn and walk in the other direction whenever he sees Alice.”
“She’ll be angry with you,” Jacqui warned, believing absolutely that Milo would avoid Alice from now on. She’d never seen Mitch look quite this intimidating. And it irked her that she responded quite physically to that look.
Mitch shrugged. “She’ll get over it. Or she won’t. Either way, she won’t be in a car with Milo Lemon again.”
“Good.”
Wearily, she pushed a hand through her hair, not caring that the gesture left it in spikes around her face. The mood was broken tonight. She might as well go on up to bed. Alone. Not that she expected to sleep well.
She would be glad when Seth and Meagan returned from their trip and life could get back to normal. Everything had been just fine before they’d left her in charge of their house and their daughter and a stormy summer night had left her sharing this house with Dr. Mitch Baker. Despite what he’d said about being attracted to her from the start, despite his surprisingly clear memory of the first time they had met, despite his insistence that their very different careers had no significance at all to him, she still had no intention of letting herself get carried away by improbable fantasies.
“I’m going up to bed,” she said. “Good night, Mitch.”