“I think we should lock her ass up,” Dalton said. “She could have killed you.” His voice broke after that. “She could have…she could have really hurt you, Clarisse.”
Clarisse shook her head. “But she didn’t. She had that chance. She wasn’t going to kill me. She’s frightened. She’s just as frightened as we’ve always been. She woke up. I’d fallen asleep. She saw Cheryl there and she was confused. I might have done the same thing if I were her. Can you imagine? That’s confusing as hell. Anyway, I’m going to check on them both after the meeting. McCann said Graham has them at his place. They’re fine there.”
“I’m thankful he found her trying to take the girl. I can’t imagine what would have happened. I don’t want you near her.”
“I know, I know. Don’t look at me like that; you’re killing me.” She smiled. “You have to think of this from her perspective. We picked her up off the road in the middle of a forest fire. Took her across the state and then when she tried to escape, we wrestled with her…and I put her to sleep. I’d be pissed off too.”
“She should be grateful,” he broke in.
“She’s scared. We make the worst mistakes out of fear. You taught me that. She suddenly finds her missing daughter next to her? I can’t blame her for her actions.”
“We saved her. Let’s not forget that. She would have died there had we not stumbled across her. And Graham confirmed the girl isn’t actually her daughter, but she’s had her since she was a baby.”
“Not surprising. That’s actually a good trait in her favor then. She cares for her. She was fighting for her child, Dalton. Can’t you see? You’d do the same. You have done the same. We all have,” she amended. She leaned into him then and held tight, trying not to remember the time when she thought he was gone and would never return to her.
“Yeah, okay. I guess I can understand. I just don’t want anyone around with the capacity to harm you.”
Making light of the situation, Clarisse said, “Well…” she chuckled, “that’s a tall order these days, considering. Come on, we have to go to the meeting.”
And as if it was an afterthought as they headed out the door, Dalton said, “Graham’s bringing her, isn’t he? That’s what he told McCann this morning.”
“That’s right. Listen…you will not say anything, please. Let me handle Paige.”
“I have questions for her,” Dalton said.
“We all have questions for her,” Clarisse said as she led the way to what Rick called the community center.