“Ivy?” My voice cracked as I spun around, scanning the aisle. “Ivy!”
Nothing.
“Oh God?—”
I ended the call and shoved the phone into my pocket, heart pounding in my throat. “Ivy?” I called again, louder now, pushing the cart aside and jogging past startled shoppers.
How could I have let this happen?
My hands shook. My chest caved in on itself. She’d been right there. She’d beenwithme. And now?—
Laughter. A soft giggle sounded from up ahead.
I turned the corner and found her beside the candy dispenser machine near checkout, grinning around a cherry red ring pop. Standing next to her, one hand resting lightly on the top of her head, was Matty.
I sagged in relief, stumbling toward them like I’d been pulled out of deep water.
“Jesus, Ivy.” I crouched and wrapped my arms around her, checking her, even though I could see she was okay. “You scared me. Why did you go off on your own?”
All it took was a second for kids to disappear in these times, never to be seen again. What would I do without her? She was my whole world.
She licked the sticky gem, shrugged, then mumbled around it, “Mista Customew.”
The first words she’d said in hours. I could have cried.
Matty raised a brow, the corners of his mouth twitching like he wasn’t sure whether to be amused or pissed. He didn’t say anything, though. Just looked at me, unreadable as ever.
I stood, raking a hand through my hair. “Thanks,” I said hoarsely. “Seriously. Thank you. I—shit, I thought I’d lost her.”
“It’s fine,” Matty said. “She’s safe.”
“I’m sorry. She’s… she’s had a rough day.”
Matty folded his arms. “What happened?”
The urge to tell him everything was powerful. I wanted to tell him about the night terrors. About the way she’d cried for Heather. About how I was barely holding it together. About not being able to afford her new therapist. But I shook my head. “I’ll spare you the long story.”
He didn’t care anyway. He’d been avoiding me. The best thing for me to do was to take Ivy and leave.
“Come on, Ivy.”
Ivy wrapped her arms around Matty’s jean-clad leg and pressed her face against him. She scrunched up her face the way she did right before a tantrum.
“No, Daddee.”
“Bug, we need to finish our shopping. Let’s leave the nice man alone.” Nice my ass, but she seemed to have latched onto Matty, and he had kept her safe, so I held back my opinion. “We’ll get ice cream after? You can get sprinkles on your scoop.”
She didn’t budge, shaking her head. Ice cream always did the trick. Matty wasn’t being helpful either, just stood there with my child wrapped around his leg like she was also his.
My heart skipped a beat at the longing inside me for that dream to be a reality.
Ignoring me, Ivy looked up at Matty. “Ivy up,” she demanded, stretching her arms toward him.
“Ivy—”
I reached for her, and she wailed. Anyone would have thought I was kidnapping her.
“It’s okay.” Matty bent and picked my daughter up effortlessly, hitching her to his hip. She giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck, laying her head on his shoulder.
