Holding my phone with one hand, I read the incoming text that had just come in from Michelle, Ellie's mom. We had slowly been working on all the little details so Eva, Hannah, and Ellie could talk again since they had been such good friends back in Michigan.

Hi, Hailey. Looking forward to the girls chatting tonight. I still hope that works for you, and I am so glad that we can do this for the girls. I know Elle will be so excited to talk to Eva again.

"Hey, Eva? We have to leave in ten minutes. Are you dressed?" I wrote back a quick response to Michelle before quickly throwing my phone on the bed and pulling on my other heel.

Hi, Michelle. I'm looking forward to the other girls. I think Eva will be pretty excited as well. I know all this change has been hard on her, and I hope this will help her by talking to her friends again. I may still be working. If I am, I'll make sure to fill in her nanny with all the information."

Perfect. Thanks, Hailey.

"How come you're all dressed up?" Eva appeared in my bedroom with her backpack already on, which was kind of a relief considering we were already running a little late.

"I have a bond hearing to attend this morning."

"What bond hearing?" Eva wrinkled up her nose, mostly because she seemed confused about what it entailed.

"It's when someone tries to reduce the amount of money they need to pay ." Tugging on my tan dress coat, I grabbed my phone and keys off the nightstand, ushering her out the door so we could get a move on. "Let's go."

"Did they do something wrong?" Eva asked as she followed behind me. I opened the garage door and she slipped underneath my arm as we both made our way to the car. I waited until we were both buckled before responding to her question.

"Some think he did."

"Hailey, is it okay if we get Betsey a present? It's her birthday next Friday." She changed the subject as she finished getting settled in her seat, which was a relief as I didn't quite know how to tell her who Al was and what he had done when it came to his charges.

"We can try going sometime this week," I told her, slowly backing out of the driveway, before closing the garage door as we went on our way. "Any idea what you want to get her?"

"Maybe some flowers?"

"What do you think about getting her a nice card along with the flowers?" I asked as we stopped at the light, watching the flow of traffic as people went on their way to school or work.

"Yeah! Can we?" Eva's eyes lit up with excitement as I peered into the backseat through the rearview mirror.

"We'll work on getting those next week then. We want the flowers to be fresh for her."

"Okay." Eva stayed quiet the rest of the car ride which gave me adequate time to think about the trial and put together everything I was going to tell Betsey later as we stopped in front of the school. There was a line of cars already there with people dropping their kids off, so I opted to park in one of the furthest parking spots so she could get into the building safely.

"You have everything?" She slipped off her buckle, her backpack dangling off one arm as she worked on getting the other strap over her shoulder.

"I think so."

"I put your permission slip in your green folder." I pointed to her backpack as she moved to the edge of her seat. "Make sure to give it to your teacher when you get to your classroom."

"Okay." Waving, she flung the door open and stepped out onto the asphalt."Bye."

"Bye. Betsey will pick you up after school. Please make sure you watch for cars." I wasn't sure she had heard me as she looked both ways before crossing the road. I watched as she ran into school before picking up my phone and dialing Betsey's number.

"Hello?" She picked up on the first ring. If she hadn't I would have left her a voicemail, although I was afraid it would be long with all the information I needed to fill her in on. Between the trial and work, I wouldn't have a lot of time to fit in a call, and it was important to me that Eva was able to talk to her friends.

"Hey, Betsey. I was just calling to fill you in on the schedule today. I have a trial to go to this morning. I may have to work a little bit later. Would you be okay with keeping Eva a little longer tonight?"

"Yeah, that's fine. Natalie has to work tonight, so I'm sure Owen would enjoy the company."

"Great, thank you. The latest I'll pick her up is around seven."

"That's fine. You want me to feed her dinner?"

"If you wouldn't mind? It may be too late by the time I pick her up. I'll let you know if that changes in any way."

"Perfect. I can do that."

"Great, thank you. One more thing I wanted to discuss with you."

"Yeah."

"Eva's friends from Minnesota are surprising her tonight on a video call. Would you feel comfortable setting that up for her if I don't get there in time?"

"Sure! We can set her up in the office."

"Thank you so much. You are the seriously best. I just dropped Eva off at school, but I'll send you all the information when I get back to work."

"Sounds good."

"Thank you, I mean it. I wouldn't be able to do my job without you. I know Eva is in good hands."

"I'll talk to you later, Hailey. Good luck with everything today, and I'll touch base with you when you pick up Eva tonight."

"Great, thanks." Twisting the keys in the ignition, the engine started up right away. I had a little under a half hour to make it across town so I could make it to the courthouse. "Bye Betsey."

"Bye."