I grunted and tapped my fingers against the steering wheel. “Yeah. I got called out for the vandalism and break-in. The situation was a little messier than I anticipated. Took longer than I thought it would.”
Hayes laughed again, and I heard him tsk-tsk me over the line. “It took longer because you probably spent a solid twenty minutes arguing with Mrs. Barlow. Like you always do. Doesn’t seem right her new place got trashed. She didn’t do anything to deserve that kind of treatment. She’s a nice lady.”
Hayes knew Aspen better than I did. For years, Becca fought me tooth and nail to keep me out of my son’s life, and for most of that time, Aspen was the attorney representing my ex-wife. Aspen had endless meetings with my son and spent more time alone with him than I did until he was a teenager. When Hayes was finally old enough to speak for himself in court, he explained to the judge which parent he wanted to spend most of his time with—me. Becca was furious when she no longer had a leg to stand on. Our son flat out told the judge he wanted to live with me. For the first time in years I felt like I could breathe. Being the temperamental, high-strung woman she was, Becca fired Aspen on the spot and accused her of throwing the case. The look of relief on Aspen’s face had only lasted a moment, but I remembered it, and it made it hard to ignore my son’s insistence that she wasn’t a bad person, just someone stuck doing her job even when it wasn’t a pleasant situation.
“No, she didn’t do anything to deserve it, but I bet she’s made more than one person angry while in court. I’m pretty sure this was someone’s idea of petty revenge.” But I wished I could shake the feeling that the destruction and slurs went deeper than simple retaliation. “She’ll be all right and back up and running in no time.”
I started the SUV and slowly backed out of my parking spot. I flicked a glance over to the sidewalk where Aspen was still squared off against her estranged husband. Her arms were crossed defiantly over her chest. Her dainty chin tilted upward, and her dark eyes and eyebrows were scrunched together in a fierce scowl, giving the impression she was a split second away from losing it. It was the reaction I’d wanted when I dropped the bomb between them, only now, I was annoyed by the way her soon-to-be ex was looming over her and pointing his index finger in her face. I didn’t like men who intimidated women with their size and strength.
David Barlow wasn’t a huge guy. He was several inches shorter than me, and he was pretty soft, all things considered. However, he was still a lot bigger than Aspen. Most people were. The woman was barely an inch or two above five feet. She simply seemed taller because of all the attitude she packed into that small frame. Her only oversize feature were her wide, dark doe eyes. They were huge, prominent, and right now glaring at the man across from her like he had been the one to ruin her day.
Remembering my son on the other end of the phone I sighed and told him, “Hey, kiddo, I gotta go. I’ll get home as quick as I can, but don’t wait up for me.” I could practically feel Hayes rolling his eyes somewhere on the other end of the call. “And don’t spend all night on the phone.” Hayes seemed to chat up a different girl every day of the week, and it was getting old dragging him out of bed in the morning so he wouldn’t be late for class.
“Be safe, Dad.” It was how he ended every call, and it never failed to get me right in the gut.
Swearing softly under my breath, I pulled alongside the arguing couple and rolled down the passenger window. David Barlow looked at me over the top of Aspen’s head and scowled fiercely at the interruption.
“Can I help you?” The man didn’t even have the decency to address me by my title.
I cocked a brow. “I was about to ask the same thing. Think it’s time you move whatever conversation you’re having from the sidewalk. You’re going to draw attention to what happened here.”
The man in the suit stiffened, and Aspen whipped around to glare at me. She opened her mouth to say something, but her jackass of a husband immediately talked right over her.
“Tell her she should come home with me. Tell her it isn’t safe for her to be alone with stuff like this going on. Obviously, someone wishes Aspen harm, and the best place for her to be is where I can keep an eye on her.” There was no question or cajoling in David’s tone. He made his demands like a man who fully expected them to be followed without hesitation.
Unfortunately for him, I was the one used to giving orders. “Counselor, do you want me to escort you home? I’ll make sure to have one of my patrol units swing by your place every few hours if you’re concerned about whoever did this showing up at your place tonight.”
I grinned when David’s chest puffed up with indignation. I liked to ruffle Aspen’s feathers, but it was just as much fun to push the rich boy’s buttons.
The clearly aggravated woman threw her long, midnight-colored hair over her shoulder and turned her back on both of us. “I’m going home. I don’t need an escort or a babysitter. I’ll be fine, thank you both for your concern.” She neatly evaded her husband’s manicured hand as he once again reached for her. The feisty attorney was ensconced in her luxury sports car and gone in a flash.
David Barlow turned his attention to the window and back to me. “Shouldn’t you be the one to cover the window up? You’re a public servant, after all. My taxes pay your salary.” He tugged on the front of his suit jacket and reached up to adjust his glasses. Pretentious son of a bitch. He probably didn’t even know what plywood was. “I’m really worried about her. She doesn’t always see the big picture.”
I leaned back in my seat and inclined my head slightly. His concern was understandable. It was obvious he was still in love with the prickly woman. “I’ll have patrol run by her house, and I’m going to see if I can track down any surveillance of the front of the building. Since it’s on the main drag, I might get lucky. Aspen and I have bad blood between us, but I’m not going to drop the ball on her case.” And I would get the damn window covered up if he wasn’t going to do it. Mr. Manicure probably didn’t even own a hammer.
David narrowed his eyes at me behind his lenses and put his hands on his hips in a gesture that I assumed was supposed to look intimidating. “You better not, Lawton. I know you’re supposed to be an improvement over your old man, I’d like to see you prove it.” With one last lingering glare he stormed to his Lexus and took off in a huff, much in the same way Aspen had.
They were an odd match. I remembered vaguely hearing about the country club king proposing to the bleeding-heart liberal right around the time my marriage really started to fall apart. I was so busy trying to make Becca happy and keep my family together I’d let the information roll in one ear and out the other. I’d never given much thought to the people in town with more money than sense, but I’d liked getting an update on Aspen. When I was younger I had a soft spot for the quirky girl from out of town who never fit in. She was so honest back then, so innocent. But when my marriage went up in flames, and with Aspen right in the center of the wreckage, it was hard not to wonder how someone who destroyed marriages for a living managed to have a happy and healthy one of her own. Watching the separated Barlows interact tonight, I understood a little better that no one’s marriage was perfect behind closed doors. Some folks were just better at hiding the cracks and keeping the ugly out of sight.
Instead of heading home, I went back to the station, filled out a detailed report for the break-in, and left my notes for the tech crew. I also swung back by Aspen’s office and tacked up a sheet of plywood over the ruined window. No one needed to be greeted by those derogatory words in the morning. They would scandalize the church ladies and send the teenagers into a hysterical tizzy. I didn’t want my dispatcher to be fielding complaints for endless hours when I could cover up the worst of things.
I was pulling into the driveway of my modest ranch-style home when my phone went off once again. I groaned into the darkness when I heard my ex-wife’s very specific ringtone fill the cab of the vehicle.
My split with Becca had never been easy or amicable. I
would never forgive her for the years I missed with Hayes, and she would never forgive me for not being the golden goose she’d thought she landed back in high school. The years following my return from deployment had been anything but blissful. We fought constantly, and both of us went out of our way to be as mean to each other as possible. It was far from my finest hour, but everything was unraveling around me, and there hadn’t been a port in the storm. Becca and I always pretended to play nice with each other in front of Hayes, but when he started getting old enough to realize it was strange his parents hardly spoke to each other and often spent the night in separate bedrooms, it was obvious there was nothing left of our relationship at that point. But I had no clue how evil Becca could be until we started the official divorce proceedings. She claimed I ruined her life, that I stole her very best years away from her, and she was determined to make me, and by extension my son, suffer for it.
When I finally got primary custody of Hayes, most of the communication I had with Becca passed between our lawyers. She occasionally called me directly to bitch about this and that, and remind me that I ruined her life. She would sometimes ask for money when she was between boyfriends, but that was about it. She didn’t typically call out of the blue in what was quickly becoming the middle of the night.
Starting to wonder if my day was ever going to end and if I was ever going to get something to eat, I begrudgingly answered the phone. Becca was the one person in Loveless I liked even less than Aspen, so talking to both of them, at length on the same night, was my own personal version of hell.
“What do you want?” I didn’t pretend to play nice with her any longer. It took up too much time and energy. I focused on Hayes. He was the only part of being with Becca I wanted to remember. The only part I still had a place in my heart for.
“Rude. I can’t believe you still have the manners of a Neanderthal. No wonder you’re still single after all of these years, Case. Lord knows the old biddies in this town have done their very best to marry you off every chance they get.” She sounded snide, but it wasn’t anything new. She always liked to poke at me until she got some sort of reaction. I’d learned to bite my tongue around her a long time ago. Everything I said was thrown back in my face when I was fighting to see my kid, so I refused to give her ammunition.
“It’s been a long day, Beck. I’m tired and I’m hungry. Tell me what you want. I’m not in the mood to spar with you tonight.” I was never in the mood, but my patience tonight was especially thin after dealing with Aspen.
“I hate it when you call me that.” She sniffed and then launched into a tirade. “I want Hayes for the weekend. He won’t return any of my texts or calls. I want him to meet Kenny. We’ve been dating for six months now, and I think it’s time they get to know one another.”
“Is he the rodeo guy or the bartender?” Becca had a very specific type. Men who looked an awful lot like I did back in my twenties and who happened to be a whole lot younger than she was now. The last guy who she swore was “The One” was closer to Hayes’s age than mine. I tried to stay out of all things related to Becca, including her love life, but when she tried to drag our kid into her shenanigans, I put my foot down.
“I’ve told you over and over that I’m not going to make Hayes respond to you if he doesn’t want to. He’s almost eighteen. He gets to decide who he wants to invest his time and energy into. If you want to be one of those people, maybe try and put some parental effort in. You blew off his last three football games, and you only remembered his birthday this year because I texted you.” I tried to keep the censure out of my tone but failed miserably. She’d never been the mother of the year, never really went out of her way to make Hayes her first priority. Which was why it’d been such a slap in the face when the judge ruled she was a more fit guardian than I was. Hayes always came first in my world, no questions asked.
“I hate football. He knows that. This is important to me. I want to see my son.” She sounded petulant and sullen. I had zero sympathy for her. I had begged, pleaded, and implored her not to take Hayes away from me. But Becca remained ice-cold, even as she knowingly broke our son’s heart.
“Football is important to Hayes. It’s a two-way street. Give a little, and you’ll get something back. Hayes is a good kid. He loves you, but you need to show up for him every now and then.” It was ridiculous I was still giving her parenting basics when our child was almost an adult. She was never going to outgrow being a selfish, spoiled brat.
“He listens to you. You’re his hero. If you tell him to come and see me, he will. Why can’t you ever do anything I ask of you, Case? You’re so busy trying to clean up your father’s mess and salvage the great Lawton name, you’ve lost sight of the people closest to you who need you.” I heard her working up to one of her very practiced and very fake crying jags. I’d let the gigantic tears and heartbreaking sobs manipulate me for most of my formative years. I was immune to them now.
“Beck. If he wants to see you, he will. End of story. I’m not going to pressure him or coerce him into doing anything he isn’t comfortable with. What I am going to do is remind you that Hayes is college bound in a very short time. You think getting him to drive across town is a challenge, wait until you have to get him to come halfway across the country. There is a very narrow window for you to prove to Hayes that he means something to you. If you let it close, there will be no prying it back open. Think about your son instead of yourself for once.”
She shrieked in outrage on the other end of the phone. Knowing how quickly things would escalate, I told Becca I had to go and hung up on her midyell.
I grabbed my Stetson off the top of my head and wiped my forearm across my forehead. My feet dragged as I made my way toward my front door.
Complicated women were going to be the death of me, and they were absolutely the reason I was going gray so damn fast. No doubt about it.
Chapter 3
Aspen
I was acutely aware of how dark and empty my house was when I shut the front door behind me. I toed my boots off and hit every light switch I passed on the way to the kitchen. Soon all of the lights in the place were blazing brightly, and the uneasy shiver running up and down my spine finally started to fade. I refused to let the events of tonight drive me back in David’s direction, even if every little creek and moan of my old Craftsman had me jumping out of my skin. I loved my house because it was older and needed some TLC. Both floors of the home had needed some serious attention when I first moved in. The whole house needed a second chance on life, just like I did. I was fine on my own, and I was going to prove it. I started off the renovations by building my dream master suite on the second floor. It was my escape from the world and I loved everything from the baseboards to the light switches. I fully expected David to show up at some point demanding to check every lock and window, but he wasn’t allowed in my sanctuary. I’d never been helpless or inept, and I especially didn’t want him feeling like I was his responsibility when I was doing my best to cut all ties to him.
I wished he would learn to let go.
After pouring a very full glass of red wine, I changed into a stretchy pair of yoga pants and an oversize T-shirt with a faded logo of an old heavy metal band on it. Well, it was a normal size T-shirt, which just happened to be oversize on me. I was used to swimming in clothes and having to get everything tailored for it to fit properly. I’d long since grown accustomed to my particularly small stature, too big eyes, and overly pale skin. I tended to run closer to striking or unusual-looking rather than any form of conventional beauty. My features were too pronounced and dramatic to lend themselves to simple compliments. Staring at myself in the bathroom mirror I started to think back on all the things that had led to me to this moment.
When I was little, my father told me I looked like Snow White, which I always thought was sweet. But by the time I reached high school, I’d grown used to people asking me if I was trying to be Lydia from Beetlejuice, or Wednesday Addams. The frame of reference f
or seriously pale girls who tended to wear all-black at all times was limited in small-town Texas. But being called weird and being looked at like I crawled out of a gutter whenever Case wasn’t around to play savior left lasting damage to my psyche. Each and every time it happened, I was reminded that I didn’t really have a place in Loveless, and it stung. I was used to being alone, but being lonely, that was a feeling I never quite knew what to do with. Sometimes it felt bigger and more prominent than anything else I tried to feel, which was probably why I’d latched on to the simple kindness Case showed me.
Funnily enough, as soon as I started dating David Barlow, no one called me a weird girl anymore. No one looked down their nose at me, and no one snidely asked how long I was staying in town. As soon as David and I were official, it was like the people of Loveless no longer had any choice but to accept me. I wished I could say I was no longer lonely, but it would be a lie. I was rarely alone after David entered my life, but sadly, I was still lonely.
David wasn’t into any of my quirky hobbies or outside interests. He didn’t care about cool vintage clothing or watching crime documentaries with me. He didn’t get why I was obsessed with upcycling and scavenging funky antiques at flea markets. He laughed when I told him I wanted to learn how to swing dance, and he flat out refused to go with me when I told him I was going to a Women’s March in D.C. He called me and my interests cute instead of weird, but I was still alone most of the time because he wasn’t invested in the things that made me happy outside of our marriage.
Justified Page 4
