Page 28 of Caught By the Chief of Staff

Chapter 8

Mu shu cluster fuck

“Mom?” Rachel asks when she walks through the doors to the front office of her school.

“Hey, honey,” I say, pasting a fake smile on my face. If anything, I can’t let her feel how hysterical I am on the inside.

“They said I have a dentist appointment?”

“I got done with work early and thought we could play hooky for an afternoon,” I whisper my lie in a conspiratorial fashion.

After I left the offices like a bat out of hell, I knew I raised more than a few eyebrows. Tomorrow, I’ll tell them all I started my period and had to leave quickly. Nothing like getting photographed by the paparazzi with blood-stained clothes. That should explain away my strange behavior. I jumped in my car and raced all the way to Rachel’s school. It felt like it took forever to get here, but really it was just shy of twenty minutes.

I walked into the office and told them I thought with all the recent changes that had been made to Rachel’s life, she could probably use an afternoon to decompress and have a little fun with her mom. I told them to tell her she had a dentist appointment until I revealed our plans for the rest of the day. The ladies in the front office of this school are the best, so they were more than happy to play along.

“Are we going to get into trouble?” she asks.

“Of course not, darlin’,” the older lady who works the front desk says with a happy smile. If only she knew the thoughts that drove me to come here and spirit away my only child; she might have more reservations about the situation.

“Oh okay.” She slings her backpack high up on her shoulders and follows me through the parking lot and to my car. I do my best to hide the fact that I keep looking over my shoulder like a teenaged shoplifter. I feel a nervous tingle up the back of my neck, but when I look for signs of anyone watching us, I see none.

“How does Chinese sound?” I ask when I slide behind the wheel of my little Jeep.

“Mu shu chicken?” she asks, looking so hopeful I know what’s coming next. “And ice cream sundaes after? Pretty please? With a cherry on top?”

“Yes.” I laugh as I pull out into traffic. “Dial up the Golden Dragon and order. We’ll swing through the grocery store on our way, so it’ll be ready when we get there.”

“On it!” she cheers as she jumps into action. I love that my girl is such a happy child. Her zest for life is amazing. “Should I text Dad and ask him to come?”

“Oh… uhh,” I start to panic all over again. The way I left things with Rick this afternoon was not a happy one. And I need him to stay away in order to keep Rachel safe. “I think I remember something about him having a late meeting tonight.”

“Oh okay,” she says, sounding sadder than before as we pull into the grocery store’s parking lot.

“Let’s go get all the candy,” I tell her with a big fake smile.

“And whipped cream and cherries!” she says, catching on to my subject change.

“Absolutely!”

I beep the locks of the car behind us, and Rachel grabs a cart from the rack by the front door on our way in. We like to pretend we’re onSupermarket Sweepwhen we come in for snacks and junk food. It’s weird, but it’s fun. It’s just our thing.

I let Rachel get a little carried away as she tosses in different kinds of ice cream, frozen pizzas, cold cereal, and candy. Chips and juice as well. I wouldn’t usually let her choose all the things, but I throw in fruit and vegetables when she’s not looking. This will keep us covered if we have to hunker down for a while, while I figure out our next moves.

“Having a party?” the cashier asks as we load up our haul on the conveyor belt.

“Yeah, something like that,” I mumble while Rachel happily chirps about her favorite boy band on the cover ofPeople Magazine.

“So do you, Mom?” she asks me.

“Huh? What did you say?” I ask, shaking my head from side to side like that will clear my thoughts. My daughter shoots me a look that says she is not amused I wasn’t paying attention to her, and I hate that I wasn’t.

“I said, ‘Do you think Uncle Jake will invite Sudden Drop to the White House, and then I can meet them?’” she asks me, making me laugh.

“You know you can’t use your connections to the president for your own personal gain, right?” I ask, taking over loading the groceries into the cart before I pay the cashier and start pushing it out into the lot.

“Ugh,” she whines. “You’re no fun. I’ll ask Dad.” And the thought of the terrifying Rick Donovan being the fun parent makes me laugh.

I unlock the car before handing her the keys. “Why don’t you get in the car and lock the doors while I load the groceries.”