I laughed. “You want to pick up a seven-year-old from elementary school dressed like that?”
He glanced at his leather vest.fel
“Good point. I’ll wear a tiara.”
I smiled for what felt like the first time all week.
We handled everything properly. The school copied his ID, I completed the authorization forms, and Travis was officially added to Emma’s pickup list.
Emma thought it was the greatest thing that had ever happened to her.
Ryan did not.
“I don’t want our daughter depending on some biker every afternoon,” he said the first night.
I was washing dishes. “He’s not some biker. He’s Travis.”
“I know who he is.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
Ryan’s jaw tightened.
“You trust people too easily.”
I told myself he was simply an overprotective father. Emma was our only child, and Ryan worried about everything from strangers to school buses.
So I let it go.
For three weeks, everything went smoothly.
Every afternoon, Travis walked Emma home.
Every afternoon, she was there when I returned.
She loved those walks and talked about them constantly at dinner.
“Travis showed me how motorcycle engines work.”
“Travis says crows remember faces.”
“Travis knows how to whistle with two fingers.”
Then, on a Tuesday, everything changed.
I was at my desk when my phone rang.
“Ma’am, can you come to school right now?”
I stood immediately. “Is Emma okay?”
There was a pause.
“Emma is okay…” Then her voice dropped. “It’s about the man who picks her up.”
Every warning Ryan had given me rushed back at once.
I barely remembered the drive. By the time I reached the school, my hands ached from gripping the steering wheel.fel
Emma’s teacher met me near the front office.
“Come with me. The principal will explain.”
That only made my fear worse.
She opened the office door.
Emma was inside with Travis—and someone I never expected to see there.
Melissa.
The principal sat behind his desk.
Emma looked furious and close to tears. Travis stood in the corner with his arms crossed, angrier than I’d seen him in years.
