16 Find Lina.
'Lina?' Pete muttered as his eyes continued to trail after her till she walked out of the store and completely out of sight.
"Uncle Pete," a small voice called, snapping him out of his thoughts, and he looked down to find two pairs of her eyes staring at him.
"Over there," Madeline tipped her chin towards the counter, and Pete raised his gaze to see the cash attendant waiting for him.
"I'm sorry," He apologized and started offloading what he had in his cart on the counter, but his eyes kept darting toward the store entrance.
"That would be 550, sir." The girl over the counter announced, redirecting Pete's attention to her, and he hastily fished out his card.
He hurried towards the door, frantically darting his eyes around in search of her.
"Uncle Pete, are you looking for someone?" Max inquired, his big blue eyes curiously staring at Pete.
"Uhm, not really, champ," Pete answered, his head still swiveling around, and Madeline snorted.
"Adults and lies." She muttered under her breath as she resumed scrolling through her phone, but Pete had heard her.
He gazed at her, "Really, young lady?" He raised a brow, and when she gave a non-committal shrug, he snatched her phone.
"Uncle Pete!"
"Get in the car, little miss." He tipped his chin towards the car.
Madeline scowled at him and grumpily sauntered towards it.
"Come on, champ," Pete said to Max and led them to the car. He toured his gaze around again, but there was no sign of her.
She was gone.
Pete silently wondered if he had seen correctly. He couldn't have made a mistake, could he? No! He didn't think so.
That face had been etched on his mind for weeks, and it was one face he had come to admit he'd never forget, not anytime soon.
Pete looked in the rearview mirror. "Maddy, your seat belt." He told her, and she met his gaze through the mirror.
"It's not Maddy, Uncle Pete. It's Madeline." She tersely corrected, her scowl not easing off her face.
"Whatever. Seat belt." He instructed, completely ignoring her glares. He smiled when she grumpily strapped herself in and then her brother, who kept fumbling with his.
It was barely a quiet drive to his place as Max kept sharing details about his day at school, much to Pete's amusement.
"Ava!" Max chirped and raced towards the border collie that hurried towards them the moment Pete opened the door.
The dog snuggled into Max's arms, and he gave it a big hug. His childish giggles echoed across the room when Ava happily licked his face. Madeline joined them on the floor and ruffled Ava's furs.
Strolling towards the kitchen island, Pete set down the groceries bags and quickly started making lunch, but all through it, his mind kept wandering back to Lina.
Was that little girl her daughter? If she was, does that mean she was married? He didn't remember her wearing a ring. And the girl, why did she look so familiar?
Sharon Hills. He suddenly remembered.
He had seen the little girl's pictures on Sharon's social media handles, as well as Lina's. After the wedding, he had asked around about Lina, but no one he was familiar with had any information about her, except her friend, who he had gathered had brought her to the wedding.
His cousin, Tim, had mentioned her social media handle, and he had searched her out to find Lina, but all he got were pictures of her and the little girl and that they had both come from Pamilton to attend the wedding. But now she was here?
Pete picked up his phone and quickly searched for Sharon's handle again. Her recent post was two hours ago, and her tagged location was Pamilton, which meant she was still in Pamilton. He further scrolled down and suddenly stopped when he saw a post she had made a week ago.
'Relocations suck, and I suck at goodbyes because they hurt as hell. So this isn't goodbye, but see ya.' She had captioned, and attached to it, was a photo of Lina and the beautiful girl he had just seen a few minutes ago. The picture was taken at the airport.
What does this mean? Did she relocate here? To Newfaux? Pete was weirdly surprised to think that. He didn't know why he felt pleased to think she was in Newfaux. But he wanted to see her again if she had relocated there.
He had no reason to see her, or maybe he did, but he was yet to articulate it. Perhaps it was intrigue — intrigue in that carefulness, that cautiousness he had seen in her eyes. Or maybe it was how she spoke so little, yet her eyes spoke volumes.
Her glistening brown eyes always seemed to reflect a conflict probably going on in her head, and the challenge of always trying to see right through them had almost been euphoric that night.
He could still remember every emotion that had flickered through her eyes as she stared at him. He had seen the struggle not to give in to him and the daring indulgence to see how far she could let herself go with him.
It had all been intriguing to watch, and that was the first time he had seen someone be so real with him, even though it had been done in a silent struggle.
"The pasta, Uncle Pete." Madeline beckoned to him and gestured towards the stove.
"Shit!" Pete cussed as he hurriedly switched off the stove. He sighed in relief when he realized it had barely dried up and it wasn't burnt.
"Thanks, Madeline." He smiled and said to her.
"Don't thank me. You adults are so irresponsible these days. You could have triggered the alarm and caused Max and Ava to panic."
"Really? And what about you?" Pete cocked a brow.
"I don't panic. Panic disrupts your mind from thinking about solutions. I'd rather be a problem solver than a crybaby like Max." She said, looking over to her brother, who was lost playing catch with Ava.
Pete amusedly stared at her. "How old are you again?" He asked, his arms folding across his chest.
"Five years, eleven months, and two weeks, but if you want to join the other part of the world that loves the idea of getting old too quickly, you can say I'm six."
"I'd rather say you're going to be trouble, an adorable one at that." Pete smiled as he lifted her into his arms.
"Uncle Pete put me down. I'm not a kid." She protested, desperately trying to get off his arms, but Pete smiled as he placed her on the kitchen island. She was every bit a kid.
She glared at his hand when he ruffled her hair, and Pete rumbled out into laughter. "You're forever going to be our baby, Madeline Wright. Your parent's baby and mine." He told her and chuckled when she glared even harder. Her small hands, desperately trying to fix her hair, and Pete helped her.
"Can I have my phone now?" She asked, staring at the phone barely a foot away from her.
Pete glanced at it. "Only after lunch and a one-hour nap—"
"Uncle Pete," She cried out.
"And I'll look through everything you've been doing with it in the last two weeks before giving it back," Pete added.
"Privacy is a word." She sternly told him.
"But not applicable to a five-year, eleven months and two weeks old lady." He told her.
Madeline narrowed her eyes and stared him in the eye. "Fine." She grunted, and Pete smiled sweetly at her.
"That's my princess."
"I don't watch Barbie, and I hate pink." She tersely told him, silently declaring her disinterest in being called a princess.
Pete wondered how his sister handled this daughter of hers daily, but then he remembered Alice was just like her when she was a kid — Stubbornly smart and always have a way with words.
"Alright, small lady, let's get lunch served and have you fed." He put her back on the ground, and he watched her walk away.
His eyes fell back on his phone, and he remembered what he had been, or rather who he had been thinking about. Lina.
That was all he knew about her — Her name.
But what if he found something else? He had said he wouldn't find her because, firstly, he didn't want to get involved with any woman who was far away as Gina Wilmort and speaking about Gina, it was about time he put a clean break on whatever they had.
He would check his schedule and see when to make a quick trip to her. He was done waiting and trying to fit into her life.
But now that he knew Lina was here, maybe he could find her, and how hard could it be for an IT guy like him to find someone in Newfaux? It shouldn't be that hard, right?
