Teague Read Free

to ask for them to get through their grocery order quickly so she could get back to the cottage? All she wanted was a quiet night on the sofa with a book she’d pretend to read and a glass of wine to calm her nerves.
    She watched Harry march across the aisle and place the plain potato chips back on the shelf before returning to her side and putting his precious dill pickle chips on top of everything else.
    “Are we done?” he asked, eyes downcast. “I’m hungry.”
    She blew out a long breath, tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear and ran a critical eye over her cart. “I think so.” If she forgot anything, a quick trip back to town in the morning was a better idea than spending one more minute here tonight.
    “Let’s go.”
    Sabrina glanced behind her and then darted a look back to Harry. “Where’s your sister?”
    He looked behind Sabrina and pointed. “She was right there looking at the cookies.”
    Irritated, tired, and now a little anxious, Sabrina pushed her cart forward. “Let’s find her and go home. I’ll get takeout from Burger Mania. Sound good?”
    Harry said something, but Sabrina wasn’t exactly sure what it was because as she rounded the end of the aisle and went down the next one, her anxiety mounted. Morgan was nowhere in sight. She continued past the rice and pasta aisle and turned down the next one. Again, no Morgan.
    Trying not to panic, she increased her speed, whispering fiercely at Harry to keep up. Her heart was beating erratically, like a drum—thump, thump, thump—and as a wash of heat rolled over her, she leaned into her grocery cart because she felt dizzy.
    Oh my god! Where is she?
    Sabrina squeezed her eyes shut for a second, desperately trying to blot out the nightmare she’d been having off and on since Brent passed away. The fear of losing her children—the fear of being alone—made her gag and with a strangled grunt she broke out into a jog and pushed her cart toward the dairy aisle, eyes wild as she continued forward.
    What if someone had snatched her precious Morgan while she was arguing with Harry over a stupid bag of chips?
    “Morgan,” she whispered fiercely, eyeing a young couple a few feet away. “Have you seen a little girl? Dark braids and blue eyes?” she asked. “She’s wearing a Spiderman T-shirt?” They shook their heads and she didn’t bother to reply as she raced toward the produce aisle. If Morgan wasn’t there, she didn’t know what the hell she’d do.
    “Mommy,” Harry shouted, trying to keep up.
    “Not now,” she snapped.
    The elderly man she’d seen earlier was bent over a bushel of tomatoes and a bunch of teenagers were nearby, gathered around the apples and oranges. A couple of the girls kept glancing to their right, elbowing each other and giggling. Sabrina followed their gaze and spied Teague Simon.
    He’d shaved and showered—that much was obvious—was dressed in faded khaki shorts, an old Rolling Stones T-shirt, and flip flops. A Yankee ball cap kept half of his face hidden, but the generous mouth and masculine jaw was unmistakable. His height, broad shoulders, and tattoos gave him an air of danger so she got the girls interest.
    But she didn’t care about any of that. All she cared about was…
    The little dark-haired girl who was talking animatedly and staring up at him with a look Sabrina knew all to well. Her daughter was on a mission and what that mission happened to be, Sabrina had no idea. But Morgan was in the thick of it.
    Her daughter’s hands were on her hips and her little mouth moved a mile a minute. Any other time, Sabrina would have taken a second to enjoy the spunkiness of her mini-me. But right now, the panic of nearly losing her was all too real and she moved forward, a heavy frown in place when she brought her cart to a halt.
    “Morgan Anderson Campbell,” she said, the words strangled a bit because she could barely catch her breath. “How many times have I warned you never to wander away?
Jesus
.”