When Love Walked Away novel · Chapter 2 of 24

Chapter 2: The Table by the Window

Brodie, Lacey and her son are at lunch while Tilly is in the car; Theresa makes the room hear her and dials 911.

Copper Ridge Country Club sat behind a stone gate with a guard in a white cap.

"Members and guests only, ma'am," he said.

"My husband is a member."

"What's the name?"

"Brodie Dalton."

He checked a tablet, and his face stayed polite.

"I don't see a Dalton lunch reservation."

"Then check Birch," I said, because I had no better guess.

His eyebrows moved a little.

"Birch is a member," he said.

"Then I'm her guest. Open the gate."

He did, and I hated how easily it worked.

The valet stand was a white awning with three boys in black vests.

I left my car in the circle with the door open and the engine running.

"Ma'am, you can't leave that here."

"Where do you park the cars you take?"

"Overflow, ma'am. It's a shuttle for the big events."

"Is there a silver Audi with a child's seat in the back?"

"Ma'am, I park a hundred cars a day."

I didn't wait for the rest.

I walked into the clubhouse past a hostess who said "Ma'am?" three times behind me.

The dining room was cold and bright, with white tablecloths and a wall of windows facing the golf course.

Women in linen sat with iced tea.

Men in golf shirts talked about money.

Brodie sat at a table by the window.

He wore the slate suit, with his jacket hung on his chair and his sleeves rolled back.

Across from him sat Lacey Birch, with her blonde hair blown out smooth.

I knew her.

She had been his college girlfriend and his best friend ever since, and she had sent me a gift basket when Tilly was born.

Beside her sat a boy of about six, coloring on a paper placemat with a crayon.

Nobody at that table looked worried about anything.

Brodie looked up and saw me.

His face went through three things in a second: surprise, annoyance, then a smile he wore for clients.

"Theresa," he said. "What a surprise."

"Where is Tilly?"

"She's fine."

"Where is she?"

"She's in the car, Theresa. I cracked the windows. I'm halfway through my salad."

The sentence landed in the room.

A woman at the next table put down her fork.

"She called me," I said.

"She's been in there for over an hour."

"She's five, she's asleep. She'll be fine for a few more minutes."

"She is not asleep, Brodie. She was crying and counting."

"Oh, for God's sake." He glanced at the room and lowered his voice. "You're making a scene."

Lacey tilted her head at me.

"Honey, kids nap in cars all the time," she said.

"My mother left us in the car at the grocery store for entire afternoons, and we turned out fine."

Her son looked up from his crayon.

"Is Tilly in trouble?" he asked.

"No, sweetheart," Lacey said. "Theresa's just upset."

I put both hands flat on the white tablecloth.

My voice came out loud enough to carry to the golf course.

"Everyone in this room should hear me," I said.

"My five-year-old daughter is locked in a car outside this building, and her father is eating lunch."

The room went silent.

A man in a pink polo stood up halfway.

Brodie pushed his chair back.

"Sit down," he hissed. "You're embarrassing me."

"Give me the keys."

"I don't have them."

"What do you mean you don't have them?"

"The valet took them, it's a valet club, Theresa, it's how it works."

"Then she's not at the front."

"She's in my car, in the lot."

"Which lot?"

He opened his mouth, closed it, and looked, for the first time, like he had not thought about it.

"It doesn't matter. The valet knows."

"The valet is parking a hundred cars a day, Brodie."

"I'm not going to run around this club like a lunatic."

"Then I will," I said.

I took my phone out.

"If you call the police," Brodie said softly, "the bank hears about it."

"Good," I said, and I dialed 911 in front of every table in the room.

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