Next Door Lover

21.

Scarlett POV
"LMNOP, QRS," a lovely woman sings the alphabet song to my almost one year old and three other toddlers in the tiny bookstore story time room. Lizzie had mentioned this bookshop near Times Square and we walked in at the perfect timing.

My phone ringing makes me scramble to silence it but turn confused seeing Katie calling. It's only been twenty minutes or so since I've dropped her and Rose off. Did she forget something in my car?

I stand and move a couple steps away, near the door but still able to see my son and answer the call. "Hey Katie, miss me already?" I tease.

"S-Scarlett- shit, c-can you-, are you h-home already?" Katie's voice sounds panicked and like she's out of breath. I can hear a car honk their horn and the wind sweeping by through the phone. Is she outside?

"I'm not home yet. Are you okay? What's going on?" I ask worried.

"C-can you come get m-me?" She asks and her voice cracks at the end like she's about to start crying. My heart immediately clenches in despair that I'm not with her right now. But I sure as hell can be.

"I'm coming right now. Where are you?" I ask.

"I don't know. I made a right out side of the building and I'm walking straight." She says

"Okay can you find a street sign and stop next to it?" I ask.

"Okay." She says and I can hear the wind whipping around but not much else. "Church and park place." She finally says.

"Stay there Katie. I'm coming."

"Okay!" She squeaks and I can tell she's trying so hard to hold back her tears.

I quickly hang up and scoop Cosmo up, politely apologizing for leaving. After buckling Cosmo into his car seat I plug that intersection into my phone and it says it's 7 minutes away. Perfect and thank god she's wearing my clothes! I'll be able to spot her quickly.

I'm zooming through traffic and turn corners like I'm a professional nascar driver.once I get onto park place I start scanning the intersection names. Finally I see church place and I spot Katie on the corner, trembling. Tears are streaming down her face as she holds onto the street sign pole. I pull infront of her with my window rolled down and she looks into my car, relieved. She hops in the front seat and the second she's in she starts balling her eyes out even more. Her hands go over her face and I'm not sure what to do besides rub her back until she feels okay enough to explain.

"It's okay, you're okay." I whisper to her. She leans her body to the left, towards me and to the best of my ability I hug her. When her crying dies down a little and she can breathe normally without bursting into tears I decide I can probably ask her questions now.

"What happened?" I softly coo and brush some of her hair from her face.

"My m-mom." She says and I tense up in my seat. Did she hurt her again? "She showed up at my work. The twins moved all my stuff around so she wouldn't know anything but I just couldn't see her. They wanted me to talk to her. I couldn't. I won't." She explains while talking super fast.

"Try and take a deep breath for me." I try and she does. "Why would they actively let your mother inside when they both know what went down this weekend."

"I don't know. But I couldn't see her. So I ran." She says

"You ran! We have to call them" I say

"No! I'm not going back. I'll quit. I think I'm going to run away. I'll enroll in college, I'll get my trust and pick a school somewhere in Idaho." She rambles and I see her pull on the car door handle. Thank god the doors automatically lock when I started moving again.