I Want You Back (Want You #1)(39)

Nolan’s eyes narrowed. “Do you hear yourself? That’s why we took the decision out of your hands. It’s not about which one of you can buy Mimi the fanciest cell phone and who she’ll love more. This is strictly a safety precaution.”

“Why?” I demanded.

“Last week, one of the Melgard grandchildren got separated from her class during a field trip. The outing was rural enough there were concerns about her roaming around lost in the woods, and the outing was just urban enough that there were four roads intersecting the area where anyone could’ve picked her up. There was a lot of ground to cover when she went missing. If she’d had a trackable device like this”—he pointed to the box—“as well as instructions on its importance to her safety and how to use it, then it wouldn’t have taken them twelve hours to find her.”

My gut twisted. I said, “Why wasn’t this in the news?” even when “Lindbergh baby” popped into my head. That kidnapping and murder had happened decades ago, but no one had ever forgotten the horror of that sick incident. The Melgard family were titans in the Midwest, owning a chain of home-improvement stores that were worth billions, so our family similarities weren’t lost on me.

“My understanding is the family immediately had their personal security firm handling the search, not the local authorities. The girl attends a private school, so no one spoke to the media. They found her sleeping in a barn, six miles from where her class had been.” Nolan ran his hand through his hair. “She was scared and hungry and confused. But it could’ve turned out a lot differently.”

“How old is she?”

“Six.”

“Jesus.”

“After the incident was whispered about among the Twin Cities elite at some fund-raiser last week, the Lund patriarchy met with our security detail. They made this decision for Mimi. And they volunteered me to be the messenger.”

“Who got stuck delivering the message for Jensen and Rowan regarding Calder?”

“Annika.”

I exhaled. “I suppose this is less invasive than embedding a microchip in the youngest Lund heirs.”

Nolan gave me a wry look. “Don’t think that option wasn’t discussed. Both you and Jens are sports celebrities with fans, so it puts your kids at an even higher risk than them just being heirs to a billion-dollar conglomerate.”

“Part of me knows that, but I still want Mimi to have a normal childhood.”

“Part of her normal will have to be her awareness of her safety. If you ingrain it in her now, hopefully it’ll stick.”

I hoped Lucy wouldn’t throw a huge fit about this. Maybe I could find a way to sugarcoat it. I glanced at my silver-tongued brother.

“What?” he said warily.

“I don’t suppose you’d be willing to play the messenger again for Lucy?”

“Nice try. You’re on your own.”

“You suck.”

Mimi returned with Calder. While Nolan let them add each other to their new phones and showed them how everything worked, I prepared dinner.

I’d had zero cooking skills during my hockey-playing years. It’d been easier to pay a personal chef and nutritionist to keep me on track health wise. After rehab, I needed an activity to fill my extra time, so I hired a few chefs in Chicago to teach me how to cook. Oddly enough, I discovered I enjoyed cooking. Every month I had a private lesson through the Minneapolis Culinary Institute, and now my cooking skills were above average. I couldn’t wait to test out the custom chef’s kitchen I’d had designed for my new apartment.

After Calder left, Mimi set the table for three—Nolan was always up for a free meal—and we settled in.

“Daddy, you made my favorite!”

I scooped a helping of orange sesame chicken with bok choy and pea pods onto the mound of cauliflower “rice,” topping it with a mix of cilantro and crushed baked garbanzo beans for extra crunch. It amused me that Mimi had no idea that her favorite meal was extremely healthy; she just cared that it tasted good.

“Jax. Seriously, man. This is better than eighty percent of the food I’m served eating out.”

“Only eighty percent?”

He shrugged. “You’ve yet to master desserts, and you know I need my daily dose of sweet stuff.”

“Mommy is teaching me to bake cookies,” Mimi added. “I’ll save some for you next time, Uncle Nolan.”

He leaned over and kissed her forehead. “Sweet cookies from my best girl. What more could a man want?”

I never would’ve believed my party animal, manwhore brother would be content spending an entire Saturday with me and his niece. Nolan and I had always been tight, but in the months since I’d returned to Minnesota and spent more time with him, I remembered why I’m so lucky that he’s still my best friend.

“Have you tried out your new phone and called your mom yet?” I asked Mimi as I watched her playing with it.

“Huh-uh. She probably won’t answer.”

“Because it’s an unknown number calling her?”

“Nope.” She reached for more rice. “Because she’s on a date.”

I went utterly still. Even in all the times I’d been bodychecked into the boards, I’d never had the wind knocked out of me so fast.