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Chapter 12

"Avery," Lauren started, trying to keep her voice calm. "Do you know where Laney went?" She asked hopefully.

Avery nodded simply, her head resting on Camila's shoulder.

"She went with that pretty girl."

--

"Pretty girl?" Lauren repeated under her breath, trying to understand what the toddler meant. "Did you see which way Laney went?"

Avery nodded again, pointing to a bend in the path where the giraffe exhibit wrapped around.

Lauren immediately took off in that direction, weaving her way through the mass of people. Her eyes darted around frantically as she tried to locate her daughter in the crowd, and she felt her entire body relax when she saw Laney standing near the fence feeding another giraffe. She let out a deep breath and tried to gather herself as she approached the little brunette.

"Laney," Lauren said softly, bending down to meet her eye level. "You can't go off on your own like that," she scolded. "You really scared Mommy," she added, bringing the girl's tiny face into her hands.

"Sorry," Laney replied simply before turning her attention to the giraffes.

"Baby," Lauren started. "Where did you get all of that lettuce?"

"Caitlin gave it to me," Laney said nonchalantly, giggling when the giraffe took the food out of her hand.

Lauren's chest tightened upon hearing her ex-girlfriend's name. What would she even be doing at the zoo?

"You saw Caitlin?" Lauren questioned, trying to keep her voice calm.

"Yes," Laney answered, her eyes focused on the giraffes.

Lauren stood up and immediately began searching the crowd again, this time looking for Caitlin. Her blood boiled when her eyes met the back of a head that was covered in familiar light brown waves.

"Okay, let's go," Lauren said quickly, picking Laney up as she fed a giraffe her last piece of lettuce. She walked at an extremely quick pace toward where the girl was standing, grabbing her shoulder and spinning her around when she came to her.

"Excuse me?" The girl spat, a little caught of guard.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry, I thought you were someone else," Lauren apologized when the face that met hers turned out not to belong to Caitlin. She quickly turned away, walking back to Camila.

Had Caitlin really been there? Or did Laney make the same mistake that Lauren just had and confused her for that stranger?

Lauren decided that she really didn't want to wait around long enough to find out. Things didn't really end well with Caitlin, and if she were there she definitely wouldn't be happy to see Lauren and Camila together. The four girls had been having such a good day; she didn't want to let anything, or anyone, potentially soil it.

"There she is," Camila smiled, first at Lauren and Laney and then at a worried-looking Avery. "Is everything okay?" She asked, noting the way Lauren's face had gone a little pale.

"Yeah, she just scared me for a second," Lauren replied, forcing a smile. "But you're not going to go running off like that without telling me again, are you Laney?" She questioned, bouncing Laney on her hip.

"Nope," Laney smiled.

"So where to next?" Camila asked, reaching into her purse for the zoo map.

"Actually I think now might be a good time to head home," Lauren suggested. "It's getting close to dinner time and I know Laney will start getting cranky. Are you hungry, baby?" She directed to the little brunette in her arms.