The Story Continues After Part 2

The dispatcher kept me talking.

She told me to get Piper out of her damp clothes and wrap her in dry layers, skin to skin if I could manage it.

I climbed into the back seat, peeled off Piper’s wet pajama top, and zipped her inside my coat against my bare chest.

She was so cold it hurt to hold her.

“Daddy, am I in trouble?” “No, baby. You’re not in trouble. You never were.”

“Grandma says I’m always in trouble.”

I pressed my cheek against her hair and made myself breathe.

“Grandma is wrong.”

I heard the front door of the house open…

PART 3

A woman called my name from the porch.

Dolores stood beneath the light in a long cream cardigan, one hand holding her phone and the other gripping a ring of keys.

“Daniel?

What are you doing out there?”