I made a sound of frustration. "And I didn'tknowit was ten miles, okay?"
He gave me a hard look. "So what's your angle?"
"I don't have an angle," I said. "I already told you, I was trying to get her home."
"Nice story," he said. "So tell me. How the hell did you get her?"
Get her?
Okay, that made no sense whatsoever.I shook my head. "What?"
Speaking very clearly now, he repeated the gist of his question. "How did you get her?"
"I didn't 'get' her," I said. "She got me."
His jaw clenched. "Was Brody in on it?"
I felt my brow wrinkle in confusion. "In on what?"
"You tell me."
"I can't tell you," I said, "because I have no idea what you mean."
We were still arguing back and forth when Cami – facing Mason, not me – nudged her way between us. With a strained smile in her voice, she told him, "You need to stop, okay?"
Mason was tall – a lot taller than me and Cami, which meant that I could see his face all too clearly when he replied, "And who are you?"
With that same smile in her voice, she said, "I'm the one who's going slap you silly if you don't calm down."
From the look on his face, her wordsfeltlike a slap, even if she hadn't actually done it. In a tight voice, he replied, "What?'"
Cami craned her neck to stare at him. "The question isn'twhat," she said."It'swhy. As in why you need to calm down." In a near whisper, she continued. "And the answer tothatis, 'Because you're scaring your daughter.'"
Slowly, Mason turned to look.
So did I.
Sure enough, inside the car, Willow's face was pressed tight against the glass of the side window. She was staring at all of us with obvious concern.
I dug deep and summoned up what I hoped was a smile. I gave her a friendly wave, as if to say,"Everything's fine, really."
From the look on her face, she wasn't buying it.
Smart kid.
Still, I kept the smile plastered in place until finally, she waved back, looking sick to her stomach.
By now, I wasn't the only one waving. Mason gave her a single stiff wave while Cami put a lot more effort into it, giving Willow a big, friendly waveanda thumbs-up.
Cami was still waving at Willow when Mason turned back to face me. In a dangerously low voice, he said, "I'll deal withyoulater."
Yikes.
If that wasn't a threat, I didn't know what was.
But soon, he was gone, leaving me wondering,What on Earth had just happened?
Chapter 59
