Free Gasping For Air 2 (Last Chance Romance Series) by Abigail Keam Page A

at the Last Chance Motel working the desk, even though Jeremy hadn’t been caught yet. They received word that he had fled to relatives in Texas. The Texas police were looking for him as well. That was enough for Lillian to resume her life.
    A guest had called the front desk asking for a new clock. Since housekeeping had gone for the day, Lillian locked the office and headed to the laundry room where the motel kept extra supplies. She got another clock and hurried to Bungalow Three where she installed the new clock for a grateful guest.
    On her way back to the office, she stopped by the pool and asked the sunbathing guests if there was anything she could do for them. After chatting for several minutes, she retraced her steps to the laundry room where she put the clock in the repair bin with a note to Juan.
    “Mom?”
    Lillian swirled around.
    There stood her daughter looking accusingly at her.
    “Emma?”
    “Mom, what are you doing?”
    Lillian ran over to Emma and embraced her.
    They held onto each other until Emma pushed her away. “You look so different. Your hair. Your clothes. I wasn’t even sure it was you.”
    “Do you like my new look?”
    “Mom, do you know how worried Dad and I were? How could you do that to us?”
    Lillian stepped away from her daughter. Had nothing changed? “I left letters for both of you. I explained why I left and that I would be in contact when I felt ready.”
    “You abandoned us!”
    “That’s absurd. I never abandoned you. I just needed some time to myself. To get my life in order.”
    “How were we to contact you if there was an emergency?”
    “I was the emergency.”
    “Dad gave you everything. How could you repay him by leaving like you did?”
    Lillian bit her lip to keep from replying. “Why are you here, Emma?”
    “To make sure that you are all right and bring you home.”
    “This is my home now. Your father and I are divorcing. That doesn’t mean that our love for you is less. As soon as I am in a permanent place, I would like you to visit.”
    “Where are you living now?” asked Emma, looking with contempt at the motel.
    “In a suite behind the office. Speaking of the office, I need to get back. You can walk with me.”
    “Is that all you have to say?”
    “No. I have much to say, but this is not the appropriate place to say it. I’m working now.”
    “But I’m your daughter and I have come all this way.”
    “I appreciate that, but like I said, I’m working and I need for you to go. I can meet you somewhere after five today. Where are you staying?”
    “Not at this dump, that’s for sure,” sneered Emma.
    “The Pink Flamingo Motel is hardly a dump.”
    “I’m really angry. You’re treating Dad and me with complete indifference to our feelings. Dad said you were having an affair and that’s why you left.”
    Lillian’s face grew into a fury. “I was not the person who was having an affair, if you must know. And as for you, daughter, if you don’t start treating me with respect, you can get back on that plane and fly the hell away from here. I’m tired of your condescension, which I have put up with since you were a teenager. I know it’s my fault for not putting a stop to it when you were young but you’re grown now. You should stop acting like a witch.”
    Emma’s mouth twitched trying to find the words to respond.
    Lillian continued, “And I mean right now. Please excuse me. I have to get back to work.” Lillian turned and rushed back to the office. She held back her tears. She had worked so hard to form a new life here in the Keys and she’d be damned if anyone was going to snatch that from her . . . even her daughter.

33
    O fficer Masterson stopped by the Pink Flamingo Motel knowing that Lillian’s shift was almost over. He walked into the office, but the clerk at the desk told him that Lillian went to help a guest and then she was going to check on the pool.
    After checking the laundry/housekeeping facility, he tracked