Chapter Six
Mia waited for Bailey to get out of school. She’d gotten to the parking lot early so she could get a decent parking spot and decided to wait in the car until it was almost time for the kids to be let out. She listened to music on the radio, her mind continually drifting back to her night with Austin.
Even when she wasn’t thinking about him, her body still hummed with desire. He’d lit a fire in her she hadn’t known existed. And though the next day they’d both acted like nothing happened, she knew better.
So did he.
Over the last week, his gaze tracked hers when he thought she wasn’t looking, and she was just as guilty, her gaze falling on him over Bailey’s head. If he turned around, she watched his tight, sexy ass. If he looked her way, she met his knowing stare. Sunday night, she stayed locked in her room, not even coming out for her normal cup of tea. She didn’t want to fall into a nightly routine that could be detrimental to her heart and her peace of mind. Because Austin was a man she could easily fall for.
Unwilling to think about it any longer, she climbed out of the car to wait for Bailey by the exit to the school. She smiled at a few of the friendlier moms, and soon the bell rang and the kids began to flow out, the teachers of the younger children walking them to the doors.
Mia caught sight of Bailey’s dark hair and was just about to call the girl’s name when someone did it first.
“Bailey!”
Mia spun around in time to see the child’s mother waving toward her. “No.” Mia pushed past a few parents to reach Bailey first, grasping her hand just as Kayla strode into their personal space.
“Bailey, baby, it’s Mommy!”
Mia froze, holding Bailey’s hand tight. This was what Austin feared, Bailey being confronted by her mother, and neither Mia nor Austin knew what the little girl remembered about her.
Bailey squeezed Mia’s fingers back, her little hand feeling fragile in Mia’s larger one.
“Bailey?”
“You need to leave,” Mia said to Kayla, keeping her voice level so as not to frighten Bailey even more.
Kayla looked nothing like the other moms in jeans, shirts, and jackets. Instead she wore a skimpy dress and high heels, as out of place in this environment as she was in her daughter’s life.
“I have a right to see my child.”
“Not according to the custody agreement I understand exists.”
Kayla perched her sunglasses on top of her head, her eyes not focused on Bailey but glaring at Mia. “Bailey, honey? Don’t you remember me?” She wasn’t even smart enough to drop down to Bailey’s level to try and reach her.
Bailey backed her body into Mia’s, causing Kayla to frown as her daughter clearly made her choice. A choice no child should have to make, between a caregiver and her mother.
“Kayla, go now.”
“Is there a problem?” One of the teachers strode over and asked.
“Yes,” Mia said.
“No,” Kayla replied.
Mia glanced at the older woman. “I’m allowed to pick up Bailey. She isn’t.” She gestured to Kayla, refusing to call her Bailey’s mother out loud. She didn’t deserve the acknowledgment and she refused to scare the little girl.
“I’m sorry, Ms.…?” She glanced at Kayla for an answer.
“Gibson. Kayla Gibson,” she said sullenly.
“Ms. Gibson, do I need to go to the office and check the parental forms?” Or will you leave quietly? The words were implied.
Mia, keeping her grasp on Bailey and brushing her head soothingly, held her breath.
“I’ll go.” Kayla plopped her sunglasses back down on her nose. “But this isn’t the end of things. You”—she pointed at Mia, almost poking at her with her finger—“tell my ex-husband he knows what he has to do if he wants this to end.”
She glanced at Bailey, almost as an afterthought. “I’ll see you soon,” she said, waving her fingers at her daughter… for show. There was no caring that Mia could see.
She waited until Kayla not only walked away but climbed into her car and drove off before taking Bailey and walking her to a quiet space on the grass.
Mia knelt down and glanced at the little girl, who looked up at her with big, frightened eyes. “Are you okay?” Mia asked her.
“I don’t like her,” Bailey whispered. “She yells a lot.”
Mia swallowed hard. She’d minored in psychology but nothing had prepared her for this. “You know her?” Better than saying do you remember her? Mia didn’t know if it made a difference.
“That’s Mommy,” Bailey whispered. “She hurt me.”
Oh, shit. That was the perfect answer to Austin’s custody problem and the worst answer for this happy little girl.