Baylee sighed. She hoped they weren’t staking out Kit’s house at this very moment. Her friend desperately needed some downtime.
That was the reason why she’d offered to open up for the next couple of mornings even if it meant she and Sarah had to get up extra early to make the drive in from Agoura Hills, from the sweet little guest cottage she’d rented from Gloria.
Baylee didn’t mind. Kit was more like family, more like a sister than her best friend. They would do anything for each other. The least she could do was mind the store to keep Kit away from the prying eyes and the inane questions of the pesky media. Even though it might mean she and Sarah risked wandering into the spotlight right along with Kit and Jake.
She shook off the alarm that wanted to creep in. Chancing a quick look at her almost six-month old daughter, who sat in her swing behind the counter, content for the moment to chew on a red plastic teething bracelet, Baylee sucked in a breath. Knowing Collin had been desperate enough to kidnap Kit last night was bad enough and sent chills down her arms in spite of the heat from the espresso machine.
But as she methodically passed the finished product, the latte, to the waiting hands of her customer, she fought off images of what Collin’s brother, Connor, might do if he found out she was here in San Madrid, and had been for months.
She needed to think about leaving L.A. for good. The problem with taking off again though, meant she’d be leaving behind her dying father, not to mention the fact that she’d have to go on the run with Sarah.
How could she keep doing that to her baby daughter? Sarah deserved better. To Baylee it seemed she’d been on the move ever since the baby’s birth, unsettled, moving from place to place.
She had to get her life back on track. But how could she do that when she was so terrified Connor would find out about the baby. The idea put the reality of her situation front and center.
As she wiped down the counter again for the twentieth time that morning, Baylee thought about what she wanted. She wanted for her and Sarah to be left alone, to feel secure again, she wanted her life back the way it had been before Connor Boyd had crossed her path and shown her the dark side of his life. She wanted to be left alone to raise Sarah on her own. And she’d do anything, absolutely anything, if he never ever learned Sarah existed.
Was that asking too much? If she hadn’t had to come back to L.A. because of her father’s cancer, she would still be living in Denver, where she’d given birth. Living back with her friend, Blair Rafferty, the person she’d turned to during her pregnancy, and who had given her a job.
She knew she’d hurt her friends, Kit and Quinn, by doing that. By shutting them out, they had been excluded from participating in Sarah’s birth. But how could she explain what had happened? She couldn’t take the chance that Connor wouldn’t have followed through on his threats.
No, she thought, she would continue to keep her secret. Kit had too much going on in her life right now, too much to deal with to get bogged down with her problems. And Quinn, Quinn was a brand new resident doctor, just a month into her first year of residency. Others might not recognize her as “doctor” Tyler just yet, but as far as Baylee was concerned, Quinn had earned the right to focus on her future, her career, without the added problems she brought to the table.
Baylee sucked in a nervous breath and made a promise. She’d been handling the stress and pressure of it all for the past fifteen months―by herself.
She would handle this on her own as well. She had to.
Vickie McKeehan is the author of five novels and makes her home in Southern California, next to the ocean she loves.
Connect with Vickie on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/VickieMcKeehan
Table of Contents
Other Books by Vickie McKeehan
For Gene and Keith,
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
Other Books by Vickie McKeehan
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DEEPER EVIL
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