Piper bit her lip. She took off Bella’s shoes and socks, then finally looked back up at Karen. “He lives in San Diego.”
“He does,” Karen agreed.
“Would you move there?”
Damn, and she thought kindergartners were tough.
“It’s only been five days. You don’t talk about moving in together after only five days.”
“I bet Drake would.”
“I’ll tell you what, let’s table this. You work on your homework, and I’ll work on Bella’s toenails.”
Piper looked down at Bella’s feet, then looked back up at Karen. There were tears in her eyes. “I love you, Miss Eastman. I wouldn’t want you to leave, but I would love to have you as a sister.”
Oh God. Teenagers were really tough.
“I love you too.”
***
“I can’t believe she had the gall to ask me to get Piper to meet her.” Trenda was fuming. Usually, it was Evie who got this mad.
“Do you think there is even the slightest chance that she’s just missing her daughter?” Karen asked. She knew that Drake was still holding out hope for his mom to land on the side of angels, therefore, so was she.
“I’ve known her a long time, Karen. The rot has just gotten worse as the years have gone on. Then with what Piper’s told us about her being gone for days on end? Her setting up Drake? Nope.” Trenda’s hand trembled as she slid a cookie off the sheet and put it onto the plate. “No, she’s too far gone.”
“Oh, Honey.” Karen hugged her.
“Don’t tell Drake, okay? He’ll be out of his mind pissed off that Mom would be setting Piper up.”
“Yeah. Yeah, he would. But he has to know.”
“Let me tell him.”
Karen gave her a hard stare.
“I promise, I will,” Trenda said resignedly.
Karen hugged her again, then left the fragrant kitchen for the living room.
The bong of the security system went off. Darius looked surprised, which meant that none of the SEALs had called him first to say they would be at the gate. Karen got up off the floor to follow him to the console.
Three county sheriff cars were pulled up at the gate.
“That’s Sheriff Arnold,” Karen said pointing to the screen. “Nobody’s supposed to know where we are.”
Darius’ expression was grim. “Karen, text Drake. Ask him what his ETA is. If he’s available, he’ll answer.”
Karen texted Drake and held her breath for an answer.
She could see Sheriff Arnold getting red in the face as he kept pressing the buzzer. Darius must have muted it because it didn’t ring into the house.
“Aren’t you going to answer him?” she asked.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“I want to see if the guys are close first. They might be coming up behind them. They can talk to them.”
“Drake shouldn’t talk to him. He should stay away from the sheriff.”
Darius turned away from the console and looked at her with a grin on his face. “You’re so cute.”
“I’m getting damn sick of everybody acting like this isn’t serious. Drake could end up in prison if this guy gets his way.”
“There is no way some small time sheriff is going to be able to get away with phonying up a trumped-up charge on a Navy SEAL, it just isn’t going to happen. It was bad enough when Drake was the only one in town. Then Aiden showed up. Now there’s four of us. My God, woman, this guy should be hiding under his mama’s skirts.”
Karen felt some of her fear dissipate. She hadn’t thought about it that way. These men were career military. They were in one of the fiercest fighting forces in the world.
Karen giggled. “It really isn’t a fair fight, is it?”
“Now you’re catching on.”
Her phone vibrated.
“They said that they just delivered Huey to the DEA. They are fifteen minutes away.”
“Call him.”
She called him and was amazed how relieved she was to hear his drawl.
“Honey, are you all right?”
“I’m fine, but the sheriff and two other deputies are at the gate.”
“Damn it, I wonder how he found us. Is Dare there? Can you put me on speaker?”
She pressed the speaker button.
“So, you’re just giving the DEA presents right and left.” Dare grinned.
“I like them. Now, I don’t like the sheriff. So, they’re at the gate, huh?”
“Yep. Karen confirmed it’s your friend Delmar.”
“He loovvess me.”
Karen shook her head at his silliness.
“I’m not letting him in, I’ll let you handle him when you get here.”
“Okay, we’ll have a talk with him. If it gets ugly, we’ll let Mason loose. He’s on a tear today.”