Read Second Chances: A PAVAD Duet for Free Online Page B

mind
functioned―especially when something knocked her for a real loop.
And Ally was good at playing the sounding board for the team,
especially for volatile Kel. “So how are you going to deal with
this?”
    “ I don’t know.” Kelly
crumbled a cookie into tiny pieces, then another one. Followed by
another one. Ally grabbed a few before they were all gone. Oatmeal
raisin was her favorite. And cookies were always a comfort. “Talk
to her. Find out why she lied.”
    “ And him?” Ally covered her
hands, “What about your father?”
    “ I don’t know.” Kelly
looked back toward the FBI building. “I’m just so pissed at him I
can’t describe it.”
    “ Why?” Ally sipped slowly.
“Break it down for me.”
    “ I’m mad at him for not
being dead. How sick is that?” Kelly’s voice rose. “I’m mad at him
for me believing he was dead. Most of all, I’m mad at him for just
forgetting about us!”
    “ I never forgot about you,
Kelly-girl.”
    Kelly jerked, and Ally
struggled not to choke on her coffee; she raised her eyes to
the two men standing just behind her partner. Neither woman had
heard them approach. The silver-haired man backed away a bit,
leaving Dan Reynolds standing there staring down at Kelly’s purple
hair. Kelly’s mouth hardened and her eyes narrowed. It was
only the sudden nerves in her eyes that gave any inkling to her
true feelings.
    Ally waited for what she
was sure would happen next. Kelly always reacted to fear with
anger. It was just her way.
    The fury didn’t
come. Ally started to rise, and then hesitated. Should she
leave Kelly alone with this man? Wouldn’t that be abandonment?
Kelly was one of the most alone people Ally knew. And she didn’t
handle confrontation well, especially something of this magnitude.
Hadn’t Kelly knocked the front canine tooth loose from Jack the
Jerk the night he’d put the moves on Kelly?
    It had cost quite a bundle
for Ally’s ex-husband to get that tooth fixed, a bundle he hadn’t
had―since his assets had been seized when Ally had filed earlier
that week.
    Ally owed Kelly for that,
if nothing else. Kelly hadn’t deserved that. Jack had been striking
out at her actually filing before he could. Kelly had just been a
convenient victim for Jack. Ally would never forget
that.
    Kelly turned and stared at
her father. The silver-haired man nodded at Ally from across the
patio, and she stepped toward the far counter where he stood buying
more cookies. “Excuse me; I’m going to grab a few cookies for the
rest of the team. Kel―you want a few more to...atomize?”
    They all looked at the
plate in front of Kelly. Nothing remained of the cookies, just tiny
crumbs. Even the raisins had been pulverized. “No, Al, I’m
good.”
    Ally firmed her resolve.
Nothing would get accomplished if she stood like a mother hen over
the girl. She stepped away, leaving her best friend staring up at
Dan Reynolds.
     
     
     

C hapter 15
    The little girl was still
in there; Dan realized that as soon as she firmed her chin and
raised frightened eyes to him. He’d always hated it when she was
scared. She’d always been a tough little thing, doing her best to
be brave. He itched to grab his baby and hold her like he used
to―purple hair and all.
    But he knew it wasn’t the
right time for that. He waited until the pretty little doc scurried
away before sinking into the newly vacated chair. His aching leg
thanked him, but the rest of him was ready to break. He’d never
been so tense in all of his life. Why should one skinny girl
inspire such nerves?
    “ I never forgot you girls.
And I never stopped searching.”
    “ Searching?” She refused to
look at him again, staring instead at a spot just past his left
shoulder. “It’s not like we hid.”
    “ Where did you go? Where
did your mother take you, then?”
    “ She and Joe―“
    “ Joe?” Dan’s hands clenched
on the table. “Joe Phillips? My partner?”
    Kelly hesitated. “Yes. They
took us up to