Karen Young - Sugar Baby

“Okay!”

The games were good for a five-year-old confined in a car for a long, boring trip. Unfortunately, it appeared that every other parent in LaRue had had the same idea. The sale table was a jumble of plastic cases. She started looking, thumbing through the leftovers, aware only vaguely of the kids and parents sifting through the merchandise along with her. A couple of minutes later, the young mother appeared with disposable diapers and a few other articles in her cart.

“Have you seen Jeremy?” she asked anxiously.

“Your little boy?” Claire glanced at the intersection and a display of no less than a hundred Mickey Mouse lunch boxes. “He was just here with Danny.” She walked a few steps and looked into the next aisle. Both boys were gone.

A child screamed suddenly. Her heart plunged to her feet at the sound.

Danny!

And like any mother, her first thought was for her child. For a second, she was frozen as the piercing, shrill shrieks ricocheted through the huge store.

It was Danny!

All the blood drained from her body, leaving her sucked empty of everything except a desperate need to find him. Galvanized by fear, Claire darted frantically into the next aisle. Then the next, pulled along by the sound of his shrieks as surely as if she were connected to him by electric wire.

And then his screams ceased and there was only the murmurings of the crowd, the isolated whimpering of a baby. But no Danny.

He wasn’t anywhere she looked. Suddenly she was in Shoes. People were murmuring, looking concerned, checking for their own young ones. Still no sign of Danny. Somewhere nearby, she heard the young mother calling for Jeremy.

“Danny!” she cried desperately. “Where are you?”

Utterly panicked now, she dashed across the main traffic lane into Electronics and there he was.

“Mommy!” He ran up to her and threw his arms around her, holding on with all his might. She dropped her purse and swept him up. He was trembling. For a minute, she wasn’t sure she could stay upright.

Danny leaned back, looking her in the eye. “It was the bad policeman, Mommy! He tried to get me to go with him, but I wouldn’t.”

“Oh, Danny…” She closed her eyes, swallowing the fear that was lodged in her throat.

“I screamed. Just like you tol’ me if a stranger wants to do bad stuff.”

“Yes, yes…” She realized she was rocking back and forth, but his small sturdy body just felt so good right now.

“Is everything all right here, ma’am?” A man touched her elbow and she nearly jumped out of her skin.

“Oh! What? I—I’m not sure.” She drew a deep breath. “Someone just approached my son.”

“It was the bad policeman,” Danny said eagerly. Now that the danger was past, he was wiggling to get down.

“Policeman?” the man repeated.

What should she do? Could Danny really have witnessed something in the hotel courtyard? Something that was bad enough to force the “policeman” to follow them here.

Oh, God.

“Ma’am? Nobody noticed a policeman.” He wore the familiar Star-Mart name tag and was handing Claire’s purse to her. Then he looked at Danny. “Can you describe him, son?”

Danny took a breath. “He was big! He was pulling me real hard, tryin’ to make me go with him. He had a gun!”

The employee managed to hide the quirk of his mouth. “A gun, you say?”

“Uh-huh. I mean, yes, sir.”

“A gun right here in the store?”

“Are you sure, Danny?” Claire gave him a stern look.

“Not here. I mean he had a gun at the hotel, not here.”

Claire caught his hand and squeezed it meaningfully. “I’m sorry about this, Mr…Taylor?” she said, reading the man’s name tag.

“Yes, ma’am. I’m the assistant manager.”

Assistant manager. She tried to think. Oh, God, she was so scared. “Um, yes. Mr. Taylor, my son says somebody—a man—tried to approach him, but apparently he’s gone now.”

“He can’t have gone far,” Taylor said firmly. “I’ll just call security and—”

“No.”

“Pardon me?”

She managed a weak smile. “We’ve caused enough commotion this afternoon, Mr. Taylor. I’m not sure what happened, but…” She shrugged. “I just realized that we’re late for an appointment. Come on, Danny.”

“But Mommy—”

“Come on , Danny.”

“Are you sure, ma’am?” Taylor trailed after her. “If something actually did happen, we really should let the police—”

“No, no. It’s okay. It’s fine.”

They were hurrying past the checkouts when somebody called Danny’s name.

“Hey, Jeremy,” Danny said, waving at his new friend. He tugged at Claire’s hand. “It’s Jeremy, Mommy. Now you’ll believe me, ‘cause he was there and he saw that man try to get me!”

She gave Jeremy’s mother a harassed look. “Did Jeremy see what happened?”

The young woman nodded. “He said a man tried to take your little boy out of the store.” She pulled Jeremy a little closer. “I can’t believe something like that happened in full view of dozens of people. What’s going on?”

“I don’t know.” Biting her lip, Claire studied the sidewalks and parking area. She shivered, feeling unseen eyes.

“Have you called the police?” the woman asked.

“No. I—”

“Surely you’re going to report what happened?”

Should she? Or should she take Danny and go while she could? “I’m not sure,” she said.

The woman lifted the infant from the cart carrier. “Look, my husband is an auxiliary policeman. I can call him and—”

And what if he’s a friend of the “bad policeman?” The crazy thought darted through Claire’s mind. Crazy or not, she could not take the chance. “Thanks,” she said, summoning a smile, “but we’re late for an appointment, as it is. I’ll take care of it later.”

“Well, if you’re sure.” Nudging her son, the young mother hoisted the baby onto her shoulder and stepped off the curb, heading for her car.

“Where’s our ‘pointment, Mommy?” Danny asked, squinting up at her in the sun.

“At the McMolleres, honey.”

“Is it time?”

“Not quite.”

Claire gazed uneasily at the cars and people milling around in the parking lot. What next? She couldn’t go back to the hotel. Not yet. Not until she knew for certain that he wouldn’t be waiting for them. Whoever he was.

What was she going to do?

“What’s wrong, Mommy? Did you forget where we parked?”

Her gaze went to the car parked at the most distant edge of the lot. It was nearing dinnertime and some of the crowd was clearing out. Walking to her vehicle was a chance she didn’t want to take. What if he was waiting nearby? He knew her car, but she didn’t know his.

She looked around, terror welling up inside her. Her eyes fell on a pair of pay phones just outside the store entrance. She walked over and deposited a coin.

“Whatcha’ doin’, Mommy? Who you callin’?”

“Your uncle Mack, sweetheart.”

Danny’s eyes got big. “Really?”

“Yes. He wanted to drive us to Sugarland. Now’s his chance to do just that.”

EVEN BEFORE Mack pulled into Star-Mart’s crowded parking lot, he was scanning the store entrance for a glimpse of Claire Woodson, but there was no tall redhead with a little boy anywhere he looked. He followed behind a slow-moving Suburban, his thumbs drumming with impatience on the wheel, his blue eyes sharp beneath the brim of his Stetson. Where was she?

He’d hung up after her S.O.S. totally baffled him. Why had she changed her mind? Why did she now want him to pick her up, when not an hour before she’d acted as though riding with him was second only to a touch of ptomaine? He’d been left with the definite feeling he wouldn’t hear from her again until she arrived at Sugarland with Danny. Had he only imagined a hint of panic in her voice?