“Let’s see what jewels you dropped for us, Gussy,” she cooed, unfastening his diaper.
“Oh, my goodness,” Callie said from the bathroom next door, “did you just call him Gussy?”
Addie laughed. “Did Gussy leave us a present?”
Gus smiled toothlessly, and kicked his small legs, his round cheeks red from his squalling fit. Opening the wet diaper, Addie found he had indeed. “Look what Gussy did,” she exclaimed cheerfully, removing the mess from him and throwing it in the nearby trash can. “Let’s get you cleaned up, little man.”
Callie entered the room just as Addie put a fresh diaper on the baby, and picked him up again. “Thank you so much for helping with that.”
Her long brown hair still wet from her morning shower, Callie tidied up Gus’s small room as Addie continued to hold a much happier Gus in her arms. Callie, the elder by two years, had the same rounded face and green eyes as Addie, as well as the lengths of brown hair they both inherited from their mother.
“It’s no trouble,” Addie replied, gazing down into Gus’s small face. “Am I too old to have babies?”
“Don’t be silly. You’re only twenty-nine. I’m older than you, remember.”
“I just feel so old, Callie.”
“Why, sweetie?” Callie sat down on the small stool near the crib. “You’re young, stunningly beautiful and have a great career in front of you.”
Bitterness rose unexpectedly. “Great career, right,” she replied, keeping her tone level. “Awesome prospects right here in Honey Creek, Texas. I’ll have folks lining up on the sidewalk outside my office, all needing a dysfunctional lawyer.”
“Hey, come on.”
Addie glanced at her sister. “You know this town isn’t big enough to need a resident attorney, Callie. Not with Odessa right up the road.”
“I certainly need you,” Callie said softly. “When Brett ran off, I had no one to turn to. But you came back and, well...” She spread her hands helplessly. “You’re my lifesaver.”
“I’m just glad I could help, Callie. I needed a place, too, even though Honey Creek isn’t what I envisioned for my life.”
“It’s your home.”
Addie’s thoughts flashed to Travis, and she wondered when she would run into him. As small as Honey Creek was, one couldn’t walk anywhere without finding a familiar face on every corner. In the days since she’d returned, she wondered how he was, whether he was happy. The rumor mill said he was engaged.
“Maybe it is,” Addie replied, despite knowing it was not.
She had never felt like she fit in here, even though she had grown up in Honey Creek. She had fallen in love with Travis, and tried to imagine a future with him. But the siren song of college, and her dream of escaping small town life, grew too strong to ignore. Of course, Travis would never leave Honey Creek.
He had the ranch.
“It is,” Callie went on. “No maybe about it. Even with Mom and Dad gone, you belong here.”
“Have you heard from them?”
Callie snorted. “You know better than that. They didn’t like us much when we were kids, they don’t like us any better as adults. I haven’t spoken to them for, gosh, ten years now.”
“That’s about the last time I talked with them, too.” Addie felt her throat tighten as she thought about their parents.
“How’s your new office?”
Addie brought her mind back to the present. “Shaping up. I need things to put on the walls. Right now they’re bare and boring.”
“I can help you decorate it.”
“Great.” Addie found a smile for her sister. “You have great taste. Far better than mine.”
“Do you like being back?”
Seeing the caution on Callie’s face, her wariness, Addie knew Callie was aware of how much Addie had wanted to live in the big city. Hence her flight from Honey Creek when she was eighteen. She broke off her relationship with Travis to go to college, then law school, and a good job with a law firm. Now forced to return, Addie suspected Callie blamed herself if Addie was unhappy.
“It’s no big deal, sis,” she answered, hiding her pain. “It’s an adjustment, but I can handle it.”
“I hope so. I feel bad enough that I dragged you back here, to the one place you never wanted to be.”
“What does that old Rolling Stones song say?” Addie asked, raising a smile. “Can’t always get what you want, but you get what you need?”
Callie laughed. “Old Mick did get that one right.”
“Yeah, he did.”
Gazing down at the baby, who seemed fascinated by her lengths of hair falling over her shoulder, Addie asked, “What happened with Brett?”
“I told you, I don’t really know.” Callie crossed her arms as if suddenly cold. “When I got pregnant, he said he was happy about it. But once Gus was born, he got distant with us. Then one day, poof, he was gone.”
“Not ready to be a daddy, I guess,” Addie commented. “But that’s still inexcusable. He could have at least tried. And no matter how he feels about being a dad, he owes you child support. Maybe I can help with that, get you in front of the judge.”
“That would certainly help,” Callie replied. “I don’t know where he went, though.”
“That doesn’t matter. I can find him. He made good money, and he can’t just ignore his financial responsibilities toward his child. The law says he can’t.”
“You’d think I’d have seen the red flags he waved,” Callie went on, staring at the floor. “I didn’t. He shook the dust of this place off his boots quick enough. But he took his secretary with him. Karma being what it is, I wonder how quickly he’ll dump her.”
“If he gets her knocked up, he probably will. Then he’ll have two children to support.”
Callie fell silent while Addie held Gus. Addie thought of how easy it was to shake the dust off, and head for greener pastures. I certainly did it. And look where it got me. An education, a law degree, and a broken heart. Just as I broke Travis’s, and that’s one sin that will never wash away.
“Will you ever go back to Eric?”
Addie glanced up to find Callie watching her. “Nope. That bridge went up in flames rather nicely,” she replied. “I’m very good at setting incendiary devices on relationships.”
“Didn’t you say once that he was too slick?”
Laughing, Addie nodded. “I liked it at first: a sharp, conniving lawyer who always managed to make his opposition look like idiots. But after a while, it got old, and too often I wondered what he really thought of me.”
“He asked you to marry him.”
“I suspected because he liked having me on his arm at cocktail parties.”
“You’re too good to be a trophy wife, Addie.”
“Thanks.” Addie grinned. “I came to that conclusion, too.”
“Look, you need to get going.” Callie held her arms out for her son. “I’ll bring lunch to you later.”
“Yeah? That would be sweet.” Addie shifted a now drowsy Gus to Callie, then bent to kiss him on his cheek. “Be a good baby, Gussy.”
Addie laughed as Callie rolled her eyes. “See you later.”
“Bye.”
Stopping by her room to grab her briefcase, Addie checked her appearance in the full length mirror. She wore a simple checked blouse tucked into blue jeans and black boots. No high powered suits in Honey Creek, she mused. Folks in West Texas would be uncomfortable around her if she garbed herself in the pencil skirts and jackets she wore as an attorney in Houston.
Callie’s comfortable three-bedroom house was an easy walk to the downtown area, which was comprised of a few municipal buildings, gas stations, the supermarket, a drug store and shops. She found an inexpensive office on the second floor of a building that also housed a doctor, two dentists, an accounting firm, a chiropractor and a veterinarian. The rest of the offices were empty, which might account for the cheapness of the rent.
As she walked, Addie wondered, with some
embarrassment, if the folks in town knew of her dismal failure in Houston. Small towns gossiped, but hopefully they thought she had returned home to use her skills to benefit them. Since she had returned, she had been greeted with both warmth and wariness. It was the wariness that threw her off, as though she had brought with her some citified plague that might turn them into urban dwellers who drove BMWs and craved high rise condos and poodles.
Crossing the small carpeted lobby, Addie took the stairs to the second floor, breathing in the faintly musty scent that never seemed to leave old buildings. The stairs creaked under her while the murmur of voices drifted from the offices. A small dog yapped incessantly from the vet’s place on the main floor, and Addie hoped the sound would not reach her office.
She unlocked the door to Office 201, glancing at the small plaque that read Addison Baker, Attorney-at-Law. The owner of the building promised to put her name and office number on the small marquee in the lobby. I forgot to check and see if he had done it yet. Closing her door behind her, she gazed around at her new domain.
The front room held chairs for clients to sit while waiting their turn, and Addie made a mental note to get subscriptions to magazines. Outdoor Life, National Geographic, and maybe Reader’s Digest. A counter stood midway between the entrance where a receptionist might sit – if Addie ever became successful enough to hire one.
She crossed to her expansive office, and set her briefcase beside the oak desk, stained a mellow shade of dark walnut. Her computer, a telephone and a blotter sat on it while the credenza behind the desk held a wireless printer and a set of manila file folders. Absently planning a marketing campaign to let the citizens of Honey Creek know a new lawyer had ridden into town, she sat at her desk.
“Like they don’t already,” she muttered, gazing at the nearly empty desk, the computer, the silent phone. “Enter all ye needy divorce cases and filers of accident lawsuits.”
As though in answer to her intoned comment, the outer door opened, then closed.
“Hello?” a male voice called.
Oh, my goodness, a client already. Lucky me.
“In here,” Addie returned, standing up to greet her visitor.
Heavy footsteps sounded as the potential client approached, and Addie watched the door, expectant. A man dressed in jeans, button-down shirt and holding a cowboy hat paused in the door to look in. He was tall with broad shoulders, and had short sandy-brown hair. Wow, he looks a lot like Travis.
A bolt, like the shock of electricity, shot through her. Addie knew, just knew, her legs would buckle under her. Her heart raced, her palms grew damp, as she stared at the apparition who walked into her office. Even after twelve long years, she knew those eyes, the way his lips always curved upward, as though he was about to tell a joke.
A strangled cry almost escaped her. Addie swallowed hard, and tried again.
“Hello, Travis.”
Chapter 3
What am I doing?
Travis drove his big Ford Dually toward town, trying to convince himself he was doing the right thing. The Parnell lawsuit was nothing he could blow off, as much as he wanted to. If the Hamilton Ranch had money, which it did, too many folks hoped to stick their fingers in and come out with the honey.
That old geezer. Why can’t he mind his own business. Uneasily, Travis wondered if the ranch was, in truth, on Parnell’s land. Could the survey have been wrong? I do not have the time to pull down all that fence and move it a few inches.
Pulling out his cell, he called Brady’s number. At this time of day, he’d be feeding Riley her breakfast. In the three years since his wife had died from cancer, he devoted as much time to her as he could before the nanny arrived. Then he would work like a mule through the day, and be home by six when the nanny would return home.
Brady answered on the second ring. “Yo.”
“Hey, I’m on my way into town to see that big city lawyer,” Travis said.
“You mean Addie Baker, don’t you?”
Travis heard the amusement in Brady’s voice. “Yeah, her.”
“You called me because you forgot her name?”
“No, I didn’t forget her name, nimrod,” Travis retorted. “I need to know where her office is.”
“Oh. I think it’s in the building on the corner of Main and Tipton. With the vet in it.”
“That should be easy enough to find, I guess.” Travis gripped his cell, wishing he had sent Brady to hire the attorney. He didn’t know if he could handle seeing her again. As the oldest brother, and technically the head of the family, it was his responsibility. Not Brady’s.
“When is the court date on that blasted lawsuit? I mean, do we have time to get our ducks in a row?”
“Hang on a sec. Let me take another look at that complaint.”
Brady set his phone down, and Travis could hear Riley in the background singing as she rattled the spoon in her cereal bowl. Brady’s muffled voice said, “Stop playing and finish your breakfast.”
Travis had to grin, imagining Riley with her elbow on the table, leaning her head on her hand while she splashed the milk in the bowl.
Brady came back. Travis heard the clunk as he picked up his cell again, then spoke, “This thing says we have twenty days to answer the suit.”
“That’s not a lot of time.”
“Good thing you’re going in to talk to Addie, then.”
“What if she doesn’t know squat about small county courts, and civil suits? Then I’ll have to find a lawyer in Odessa. Maybe this is a waste of time going in to see her.”
“You trying to talk yourself out of it, older brother?”
Travis hesitated. “Yeah, maybe.”
“Bite the bullet, hoss. We don’t have time to be messing around here. What are you expecting? That Addie turned into a three-headed hydra and will turn you to stone?”
“Knock it off.”
“Addie is a smart gal, and what she doesn’t know, she’ll find out. So suck it up, get in there, talk to her, and let’s get this lawsuit off our necks.”
“Yeah. Okay.”
Brady suddenly chuckled. “I saw a dead skunk on the road yesterday. What say I pick it up and mail it to Old Man Parnell?”
Before he stopped himself, Travis snorted laughter. That was Brady all right. To a T. “Good Lord. What kind of example are you setting for your child?”
“She’s too young to know. I’ll worry about that when she’s twelve.”
“You better start when she’s six.”
“Oh, all right. Listen, I gotta go, she’s run off somewhere and didn’t finish her cereal. I’ll see you when you get back.”
“Yup. You will.”
Though he still didn’t look forward to seeing Addie again after all these years, the laugh Brady gave him took the edge off his nervousness. Though he would never permit himself or his brothers to do it, the idea of sending the old geezer a gift of roadkill lightened his mood.
He reached the edge of town, and the fluttering in his stomach, as though he had swallowed a live mouse, resumed. He cruised through the main drag of Honey Creek, then turned a left on Tipton to arrive at the squat three story brick building that once had been the county courthouse.
Parking along the street, Travis looked at the office building before shutting the truck’s engine off. It ticked as it cooled, Travis recalling the rumors he’d heard about Addie being engaged.
To some fancy lawyer who probably drove a Jaguar convertible and played golf with the governor. It occurred to him that maybe her handsome hubby moved out here with her.
Naw. A dude like that wouldn’t move out here to the sticks. But it makes me wonder why she did.
Travis drew a deep cleansing breath, and finally got out of the Ford. If she’s happily married with the standard two point five kids, I’ll be happy for her. This is strictly business. Hire her for the job, wave at her once in a while when I see her in town, keep it friendly but distant. He didn’t realize until he had crossed the street that he had
broken out into a cold sweat.
He had never gotten over her. Lord knew he had tried. He had tried hard. He’d even gotten engaged two years ago, but that ended when Becky ran off with a ranch hand. Deep down, part of him realized after Becky left that he was still in love with Addie, so being left at the altar had turned out to be a blessing. It wasn't that Travis had expected anything to ever happen with Addie again, he just didn't want to be in a marriage where he wasn't completely invested.
Despite his efforts, he’d never been free of Addie’s distant yet unmistakable grip. She had broken his heart, and that should have been enough to free himself from her.
But it wasn’t.
None of that mattered at the moment, though. The ship that had been his time with Addie had sailed away long ago.
Now, he just needed a lawyer.
Entering the lobby, he heard the sounds of a dog protesting its presence at the vet, whose office stood straight ahead of him. Travis saw Harvey Smith, the building’s owner, pushing letters onto the marquee. “Hiya.”
Harvey turned. “Hey, Travis, what are you doing here?”
Travis shook his hand, observing past Harvey that he was adding Addie’s name and office number to the marquee. “Need a lawyer. I heard Addie Baker was back in town.”
“Yep. Signed the lease yesterday. You know, I think she’ll be good for this town. With her being an attorney, folks don’t have to drive all the way to Odessa to get their wills made.”
“Folks can do that online.”
“You know what I mean. We need a good lawyer around here.”
“Well, we’ll find out how good she is. What office is she in?”
“Two-oh-one. Top of the stairs.”
“Thanks, man.”
Climbing the stairs felt as though he were scaling Mount Everest. The annoying mutt finally shut up, and suddenly he wished with all his heart that Addie Baker had not come back to Honey Creek. Dragging his feet like a kid on his way to detention, he stopped in front of her office, and read her plaque on the door.
Cowboy Billionaire's Second Chance Page 2
