Stripped by Abby Niles Page B

they made their way to the car, there was a weird silence between them. It wasn’t awkward, per se. Like a new awareness, but neither of them was certain yet what it meant. Once they were in the car, that feeling didn’t change. Madison put on the radio for a distraction and a commercial came on about a cruise.
    “You ever been on a cruise?” she asked Jaxon, trying to get a conversation going.
    “Billionaire, Madison. If I want to go someplace, I’m not going to do it with three thousand other people.”
    Usually a pretentious comment like that would’ve gotten under her skin, but it didn’t anymore. She saw the humor in it now. “Touché,” she said with a chuckle.
    “What about you?”
    “No. Cruises have never really interested me. Actually for the same reason you just said.”
    “What kind of things do?”
    She thought for a moment. “I don’t know, really. With the kids, there are a lot of things I can’t do and, either way, I don’t have the money, so it’s not something I think about often.”
    “Often. So there’s something.”
    She sent him a crooked smile then turned her eyes back on the road. “You’ll think it’s stupid.”
    “Try me.”
    “It’s not someplace I want to go. It’s something I’d like to do. I’ve always wanted to go zip-lining.”
    He blinked at her. “That’s it? Out of everything you can think of…zip-lining?”
    She shrugged. “It looks like a lot of freaking fun. Ever done it?”
    “That’s not something that has ever been on my bucket list.”
    “Why not?”
    “I’m more of a sail around on a yacht sort, not extreme thrills.”
    “I guess skydiving would really freak you out?”
    He blanched and she laughed.
    “I’m joking. I’d never jump out of a plane. I wanted to see your reaction.”
    “Yeah. You’re a real comedian.”
    A comfortable silence fell between them for the rest of the drive. However, as Madison parked in front of the brick ranch home, nerves hit her stomach. When she’d agreed to give Jaxon a ride, she hadn’t thought this far ahead. She needed him to stay in the car, but didn’t want to come across as rude by saying so. “I’ll only be—”
    But he was already opening the door. She resisted the urge to groan. Oh well, he was about to hear an earful about her daughter. So far this week, Racheal’s mother had not been giving Faith a great report. She’d say the day would start off, “just peachy,” but as the afternoon wore on, Faith’s outbursts and anger would increase. Afraid the seizures might be behind the behavior, Madison had called their neurologist, trying to get an appointment, but the earliest he could get them in was next week. The appointment couldn’t come soon enough.
    She pushed open the door and stepped out of the car. She was barely halfway up the walkway to the front door when the wails drifted from the house. Jaxon heard them too if the way he froze was any indication.
    “Shit,” she muttered.
    “Is that Faith?” he asked.
    She didn’t bother to respond. She broke into a run, her heels clacking on the cement. Jaxon trotted behind her.
    He’d already witnessed this once. The poor man shouldn’t have to deal with it again. She had no idea what was going on with her daughter, but this had gone on for too long. She didn’t give a rat’s ass if the doctor didn’t seem concerned and said it could wait until they could see her next week, she was taking her daughter to the E.R. tonight.
    Yanking open the front door, she found Faith standing in the middle of the living room, howling her head off, fists clenched tight at her sides, body tight and shaking.
    “What happened?” Madison yelled over her daughter’s inconsolable sobbing to the older lady.
    A helpless expression came over the woman’s face as she lifted her arms. “I told her you’d be here any minute and to put her shoes on.”
    Madison stared at Faith, for the first time at a loss as to what to do with her daughter. She’d never seen