True Love Cowboy by Jennifer Ryan

Somehow Thursday had become cursed in Jon’s world.

Last week, Steph couldn’t deal and made him pick up Emmy without any notice. Thank God Trinity understood and they’d still managed to have a really great evening together. That turned into cobbler and kisses on Sunday, a fantastic pancake breakfast on Monday, a fun but quick taco Tuesday at this little hole-in-the-wall Trinity knew about. She’d met him there for dinner, though she’d only had an hour off work. They’d even gone to a matinee movie yesterday.

He loved having the flexibility to meet her whenever she could carve out time. He liked it even more that she wanted to see him as much as he wanted to see her.

Which was why he’d rescheduled their Italian dinner date from last Thursday to tonight. But just when he was getting in his car to drive into town, his phone rang and Steph’s number came up.

He dreaded answering, but couldn’t not answer, because what if something happened to Emmy?

“Hello.”

“Daddy.”

Steph often called to let Emmy talk to him when Emmy was upset or she just wanted to tell him something. But the distress in Emmy’s voice sounded the alarm inside him.

“Hey, sweetheart. How’s my girl?”

“I did something bad.”

He didn’t like the sound of that. “What did you do?” He tried to keep his voice neutral so she’d open up to him.

“I tried to make the O noodles. I got the can open. It cut my finger. It really hurts.”

That worried him. “Is it a bad cut?” His stomach tied into a knot.

“Kinda.” Her voice wobbled.

“Okay. I’m sure Mommy has a bandage for it.”

“I can get one in the bathroom, but . . .”

His stomach dropped. “But what?”

“I put the can in the microwave.” She paused.

He held his breath, knowing where this was going.

“It made lots of sparks and blew up.” She softly cried.

Shit. “Did the microwave burst open or anything?” He prayed she hadn’t been hit by shrapnel.

“No. But it’s very messy inside and the glass cracked. Mommy is going to be really mad.” She cried a little harder. “Are you m-mad?”

He expected to hear Steph bitching in the background like she always did when Emmy did something she didn’t like. But he didn’t hear a single complaint or snide comment. “Wait. Where is your mom?”

“I—I don’t know.”

That raised another alarm and awakened his usual ire when it came to Steph taking care of his daughter. “Is she home?”

Emmy hiccuped. “No. She left with the man while I was watching TV.”

What the . . .

“I got hungry. Can Trinity bring some sp-spaghetti?”

Since the can of pasta rings with meatballs exploded, he got why she’d want an upgrade. She should be eating better.

“Do you have any idea where your mom is?” He jumped into his car, started it, and tore out of the driveway. He could not believe Steph would leave Emmy alone.

“Sometimes she goes to her friend’s.”

He wondered if the friend was the same guy he found in her bed on Saturday. “Does that person live close?”

“At one of the other doors.”

So in the same complex. At least Steph was close by, not that it made leaving their four-year-old any better. He should call the cops. But that opened a whole can of worms he wasn’t sure he was ready to deal with. And he hoped Steph returned soon and explained, but he couldn’t think of a good excuse for her to leave their child alone.

She could have been gone two minutes or two hours for all he knew.

“I don’t know which door she went to.” Emmy sounded scared now.

“How many times has she left you alone this week?”

“I put myself to bed last night. I made sure to brush my teeth.” She sounded very proud of herself, but he fumed. He wondered how scary it was for Emmy to be alone, in the dark, sleeping in a new place.

“Good girl. Listen, I’m on my way, but I’m going to text my friend Trinity and see if she can get to you right away so you won’t be alone.”

“I like her. Can she bring me something to eat? And a brownie?”

“Sure, baby. Stay on the phone with me.” He didn’t normally text and drive, but he was alone on the road and this was an emergency and he used the microphone to dictate his text.

Jon rolled his eyes at the irony of the street name.

“Daddy?”

“I’m still here, baby. I just sent a text to Trinity.”

“Okay. I’m waiting.”

He tried to distract her. “What are you watching on TV?”

She told him about the animal cartoon she was watching. He barely listened, instead reading the return text from Trinity.

He breathed a huge sigh of relief. She’d be safe with Trinity.

Emmy must have gotten lost in her show.

“Hey, Emmy, how was school today?”

“Good. Teacher asked some friends to share lunch with me.”

“Why?” He knew the answer, but wanted to hear it from her.

“Mommy forgot to pack lunch and my packet.”

So she didn’t have food or her homework. He fumed and forced himself to stop strangling the steering wheel.

Emmy sighed big and her hiccups disappeared. “Daddy, how come I can’t stay with you?”

“I would like that very much, sweetheart, but your mom wants to be with you, too.”

“That’s not true,” she whispered. “I’m always in the way.”

Stupid legal system. Since he and Steph had joint custody, his lawyer told him they’d give Steph every opportunity to hold up her end. He could file for full custody, but that meant building a case against her and getting the Department of Public Health and Human Services involved. So far, nothing Steph had done until now really warranted it. His lawyer advised him that Steph not doing things the way Jon wanted wasn’t enough to get DPHHS involved. Steph met Emmy’s basic needs, even if she did the bare minimum.

But this. This crossed the line.

Still, he tried to console Emmy. “Mom just gets frustrated sometimes.”

“All the time.” Emmy let out another too-big-for-her sigh.

He thought about her question for the rest of the drive, about staying with him and how she must feel that he didn’t do what she wanted and keep her full-time. She didn’t understand that legally he couldn’t just take her from her mom. And that even if she felt like Steph didn’t want her, Steph would fight him to keep her. It ate away at him for every mile and minute it took to get to her.