The Daddy Box Set

As I searched for street parking next to Baker’s Brothers, I didn’t see Jess’s car. My heart sank, but I held onto a little bit of hope that I could convince Sierra to contact Jess if she wasn’t at the store.

Gina and I briskly walked to the store. I glanced through the window and saw a few people inside. None of them were Jess.

“She might not be here,” I said to Gina, wanting to give her clear expectations of what might happen.

I held the door for Gina, and she burst inside.

I followed her and scanned the room for Jess. My stomach sank when I didn’t see her.

“Hey, Gina,” a young woman said. My attention went to her unnaturally bright red hair, then to the chain of earrings in her ears. She looked as if she belonged in a metal band with her tightly cropped shirt, ripped jeans, and big black boots.

“Sierra!” Gina clung onto Sierra’s leg. It surprised me that Gina was so close to this girl I barely knew. Jess had been right. By working as much as I did, I missed out on a lot. My daughter had made connections with these women and I had broken them by firing Jess. If I needed to feel more like an ass, I did at that moment.

“This is my Daddy,” Gina said. “Where’s Jess?”

“She’s not here.” Sierra looked at me, and her eyes hardened.

“Gina, why don’t you take a look at some of the records while I and Sierra talk?” I said to Gina.

Gina skipped away toward the back of the room.

“I hate you, you know,” Sierra said.

Jess definitely told her about what happened. “I know,” I said.

“Too bad Jess doesn’t hate you as much as she should,” she said, curling her fingers toward her and checking out her nails. They were covered in chipped blue nail polish.

“I went to her place this morning. I want to apologize to her,” I said. “I made a mistake.”

“You’re too late,” she said.

“But you told me she doesn’t hate me,” I said. “Just tell me where she is so

I can talk to her in person. I know you’re trying to protect your friend—”

“She’s not here anymore,” she interrupted me. “She’s not in the States. She left.”

“What? What do you mean?” I asked.

“She went back to Australia yesterday.”

“Are you serious?” I’d fired her two days ago, and she’d already moved? She was more pissed off than I realized. What the hell was I going to tell Gina?

“You see this face?” Sierra said, pointing her finger at the grimace on her lips. “I’m dead serious. My best friend fled the country because of you.”

This girl was harsh. But honest.

“Does she have her phone?” I asked. “It went to voicemail before.” Her leaving the country might have been the reason for that.

“She does, but she said she’d be out of contact for a few days.”

“I can’t believe this,” I said.

“Can’t you?” she asked. “You were the one to fire her for no reason.”

“I know,” I said. “I didn’t expect her to leave so soon.”

“Neither did she. Somehow her mom convinced her. I suppose they made up on the trip, or whatever.”