He must have seen the disbelief all over her face.
“I know,” he said quietly. “I know how it sounds.”
“No,” Lauren said. “What it sounds like is impossible.”
“I understand that.”
“She looked like she’d been on the street.”
“She had.”
Lauren’s anger arrived before her pity did.
That surprised even her.
“She’s seven.”
“She’s eight.”
“That is not better.”
He took that hit without flinching.
“It isn’t.”
Lauren looked toward the couch to make sure her mother was still asleep.
Then back at him.
“Start talking.”
He nodded once.
Slowly.
Like a man stepping into water colder than expected.
“My daughter’s name is Maddie,” he said. “Her full name is Madison, but nobody calls her that unless she’s in trouble.”
There was a twitch at the corner of his mouth that failed to become a smile.
“She ran away six days ago.”
