here, sweetheart.” In the rearview mirror, he saw Kaitlin hug the stuffed giraffe close.
“Ah, Mr. O’Malley?” Noelle’s voice was soft, almost hesitant. He hated seeing the shadow of fear in her eyes, but he didn’t know how to reassure her he was innocent of the crime he’d been accused of. He could talk all he wanted, but without proof that he was being framed, there wasn’t much he could do.
“Caleb,” he corrected curtly. “Call me Caleb.”
“Uh, sure. Caleb. It’s past five-thirty and Kaitlin usually eats dinner about this time,” she said with a hint of nervousness.
He flushed, squelching a flash of guilt. He should have realized that his daughter would need to eat soon. After fourteen long months in jail he’d forgotten how to be a father. “Sounds like a plan. What would you like?”
“Kaitlin, what do you want for dinner?” Noelle asked.
The little girl pulled her thumb out of her mouth. “Chicken bites.”
In the rearview mirror he caught the fleeting grimace that passed over Noelle’s face, but she readily agreed with Kaitlin’s decision. “That would be great.”
“Looks like there’s a fast-food restaurant five miles ahead,” he said, gesturing to a road sign. “We’ll get something there.”
“Thank you.”
He swallowed a frustrated sigh. Noelle acted as if he was some sort of ogre keeping her and Kaitlin prisoner. Yet what could he have done differently? If he had left Kaitlin behind and something had happened to his daughter, he’d never have forgiven himself. No question he’d give up his life for Kaitlin.
And he couldn’t bring himself to trust the police, either. Not when he fully believed that someone from his SWAT team had set him up for his wife’s murder.
Feeling grim, he imagined that the cops were right now swarming Noelle’s house, gathering evidence. What would they think when they found the slugs from a high-powered rifle and a canister of tear gas in her house? Would that prove his innocence? Or would they turn the whole thing around to somehow make him the bad guy?
He couldn’t help believing the latter. It wouldn’t be long before the killer was hot on their tail. He needed to figure out a good place to hide until he could find someone to trust.
Not that he could think of too many people he trusted at the moment. He’d put his faith in his lawyer, Jack Owens, but Jack had been the only person who’d known Caleb’s plan of going to Noelle’s house. Not that he could understand why Jack would try to kill him after working more than a year to set him free.
His wife’s killer had clearly set him up to rot in prison for the rest of his life. And now that Caleb had been given a get-out-of-jail-free card, it was possible that the same person had tried to kill him. Unless his wife had other lovers who he didn’t know about, someone who’d taken shots at him in an effort to seek revenge?
He sighed and turned off the highway, heading onto a side road leading to the popular fast-food restaurant. He pulled in and headed down the drive-through lane.
“I hav’ta go potty,” Kaitlin announced.
He inwardly winced, feeling guilty for not anticipating his daughter’s needs. He made a quick U-turn in the parking lot so he could pull into a spot located near the front of the building.
He slid out from behind the wheel but before he could try to help Kaitlin out of her booster seat, Noelle took control, undoing the buckles to free his daughter. She carried Kaitlin out and set her down on the ground.
“I hav’ta go now!” Kaitlin said, rushing toward the door. Noelle sprinted to catch up, quickly capturing Kaitlin’s hand.
“I’ll take you to the bathroom, okay, sweetie?”
Caleb followed them inside, feeling like an outsider. He’d lost so much time with his daughter. The fact that she didn’t want to be near him was like a knife to his heart.
Standing at the back of the lobby area, he stared blindly at the menu selections. Food wasn’t nearly as important as keeping his daughter safe from harm. He felt exposed standing here in the middle of a fast-food joint, considering how just three hours ago, someone tried to kill him. Yet he’d kept a careful eye out to make sure they hadn’t been followed.
But they weren’t safe yet, not by a long shot.
Noelle and Kaitlin returned from the bathroom and he couldn’t help smiling at the way his daughter was giggling.
“I had no idea public restrooms could be fun,” he said with a smile.
Noelle shrugged. “She found the air hand-drying machine entertaining.”
“So, Katydid, what would you like for dinner?” he asked, capturing his daughter’s gaze. He hoped she remembered his pet name for her.
She tilted her head to the side and gave him an exasperated look. “I already tole you, chicken bites.”
She hadn’t reacted to the nickname, but at least she wasn’t crying, either. He tried to take heart at the minor step forward. “Okay, one order of chicken bites. Noelle, what would you like?”
“I’ll have a grilled chicken sandwich.”
“What about to drink? I’ll get Kaitlin some milk, but what would you like?”
“Water is fine.”
He nodded and decided to order a thick cheeseburger for himself. Soon they had their food piled on a plastic tray. Noelle and Kaitlin picked out a small rectangle table and he made sure to sit where he could keep an eye on the door.
He found himself distracted by Kaitlin, who’d grown so much in the time he’d been stuck behind bars. Before he could dig into his food, Noelle surprised him by taking Kaitlin’s hand in hers and bowing her head.
“Dear Lord, we thank You for providing this food for us to eat and we ask for Your protection and Your guidance in showing us the right path. Amen.”
“Amen,” his daughter echoed.
He paused, unsure of how he felt about the fact that Noelle was teaching his daughter to pray. He and Heather hadn’t been particularly religious and he instinctively knew Heather would have been upset at Noelle’s teaching Kaitlin about God. But he decided there were worst things than being a Christian so he didn’t say anything. Although he couldn’t help wondering what else Noelle had taught Kaitlin while he’d been gone.
He bit into his cheeseburger, enjoying the juicy taste he’d long been denied. He divided his attention between Kaitlin and the door. His daughter ate sparingly, spending more time playing with her chicken bites, pretending they were animals talking to each other. Regret burned in the back of his throat for the time he’d lost. He wanted nothing more than to gather his daughter into his arms and hold her close, but he’d rather cut off his arm than scare her again.
“Eat your dinner, Kaitlin,” Noelle said in a soft but stern tone.
“Are we goin’ home soon?” Kaitlin
