pants pocket and walked along the silent suburban streets to his house.
The driver had been right about the neighborhood, he idly thought as he rounded the bend toward home. The houses were all well-tended and there was little crime in the area. In the months he’d been renting there, he hadn’t met a single unfriendly neighbor. It also suited him being a short drive from the ball field and convenient to Denver nightlife. Although he doubted he’d be there much longer since his contract was up and his agent was close to finalizing a deal with Atlanta, the neighborhood had served him well.
His head throbbed dully with every step he took, telling him he was sobering up. He longed for a bottle of water. A frigid wind had him picking up the pace and burying his hands in the pockets of his Berluti suede bomber jacket. He sure as hell wouldn’t miss the Denver winters, he mused as he finally headed up the path to his front door and fished his keys out of his pocket.
He’d forgotten to leave an outside light on, so he struggled with finding the right key on his heavily shadowed front porch. The cold night air quickly numbed his fingers. He dropped the keys with a jarring clang.
Cursing, he shifted and bent to look for them, swaying a little as the alcohol rushed to his head. He fought to correct his balance. His foot connected with the keys, sending them skittering under one of the two porch chairs.
He cursed again, more loudly this time, and lowered himself into a squat to retrieve them. He couldn’t see a damn thing under the chair.
Having an a-ha moment, he pulled out his phone and triggered the flashlight. He turned the resulting beam toward the chair and caught the glint of light off metal.
Then the shadows in the second chair moved.
He jerked back into a standing position and braced himself for a possible assault. His heart throttled into overdrive.
“Who’s there?” he demanded.
Jesus, Campbell, he thought. Could you sound any more like a fucking horror movie cliché?
He forced his hand to remain steady as he aimed the phone toward the second chair. His racing heart calmed as fear eased into confusion. There was a small, shivering lump sitting in the chair…a lump with two long braids and wide, glistening eyes staring right at him.
A little girl.
Why the hell was there a little girl on his front porch?
He had no clue how to gauge a kid’s age, but if he had to guess, he’d say this one looked no older than three or four, certainly too young to be out there on her own. She had her legs up on the chair, her knees pressed against her chest and her thin arms wrapped around them. He didn’t recognize her as one of the neighborhood kids. From what he could see, she wore only a button-down sweater and jeans with sneakers. She was woefully underdressed for this weather.
He looked around blankly as though he’d find the child’s parents standing nearby. He found nothing but silence and darkness. Looking back at the girl, he moistened his lips and struggled to think clearly. Never before had he so regretted overindulging in alcohol.
“Um, hey,” he began. “Hey there, little girl. Are you lost?”
She didn’t respond. If possible, she drew into an even tighter ball.
“Look, I can help you find your parents,” he said. “I just need to know—”
A brisk wind whipped across the porch, cutting him off. A biting chill ran through him. The little girl had to be freezing.
“Let’s get you inside where it’s warm,” he suggested, slowly lowering himself so he could pick up the keys while keeping his gaze on her. “I’m sure we can figure this out.”
The child remained silent.
Will sifted through his keys until he found the right one. Relief surged through him as he inserted the key into the lock and opened the door. Light from the hall lamp that he kept on an automatic timer flooded out onto the porch. He stepped inside to deactivate the alarm. Once that was done, he eased back outside, half-hoping the kid was gone.
Okay, more than half-hoping.
She was still there. He bit back another curse.
“My name is Will,” he said in an attempt to put the child at ease. “Will Campbell. This is my house. What’s your name?”
Silence stretched between them for a full minute before he realized she wasn’t going to answer. He looked from her to the inside of his