Enjoy this exclusive excerpt

A door opened down the hallway, and Kat Williamson stepped out. He froze. He hadn’t seen her since she’d told him about Emma hiding in the closet, and for some reason, he felt embarrassed at seeing her again.

Maybe it was because his family seemed bent on making her life more difficult. Kat and Gavin’s sister Grace had gotten close a year ago when Kat had helped Grace exonerate her boyfriend Jaime, after he’d been falsely accused of stealing from River’s Bend. Now, Kat was the one to discover his daughter hiding in school supply closets.

“Gavin,” she said as she approached. “How are you?”

“Fine. Well, not really. But it will be fine, eventually.” He knew he was babbling. He ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t want to keep dumping my problems on you, though. You don’t deserve it.”

She smiled a little. “It’s not dumping if I want to know, though.”

“Still.”

They stared at each other, and eventually she gestured to go outside to the parking lot. “I was about to leave anyway. I don’