“I’m just an observer,” she said, addressing the crowd. “I’m not licensed to practice law in the state of California.”
“Not yet,” Red said. “But, don’t worry, honey, I talked to Judge Miller and he said he’d put you in contact with somebody who could offer you some sort of umbrella to let you handle a couple of trials until you take the exam.”
Casey’s stomach turned over. She knew that professional courtesy was common practice, but she’d hoped her father didn’t.
She put on a fake smile and said, “We need to talk.”
Red looked at her a moment then told his guests, “I think we got the basics down. You all know what to do and if you have any questions give the two cochairmen…I mean, co-chairpersons, a call. I’m gonna be politically correct one of these days, right?”
A few good-natured replies said otherwise.
Casey looked around, wondering who the two unlucky saps were.
A man in a faded flannel shirt and bright-yellow suspenders called out, “Where can we get their numbers?”
“Well, Sarah’s in the book under Mills, and you can reach Casey right here.”
Casey’s mouth dropped open far enough to drive a truck in. Oh, Red, what have you done to me this time?
AFTER CHECKING the files for current clients, Nathan needed a few minutes alone in the executive restroom to clear his head. Casey’s father’s arch-nemesis was indeed one of his company’s premier clients. Fortunately, Eric Mathers was on Nathan’s “keepers” list, so the client would have experienced representation in the upcoming battle. But Eric’s last two trials had ended in monetary awards far less than had been sought and Nathan wanted to place a strong litigator in the second chair.
Normally, he’d have overseen the case personally, but that wasn’t possible given his wife’s father’s association with the opposition. Nathan would have to make damn certain there was no room for finger-pointing or accusation of collusion. In theory, the case looked open and shut, but Nathan had learned long ago that where people were concerned never to count on probability.
When he returned to his desk, he found a surprise. A big one.
“Hi. I hope you don’t mind, but I asked your secretary to let me in.”
Nathan stopped dead in his tracks. “Gwyneth, what are you doing here? Didn’t we just talk yesterday?”
She was dressed as if she’d just stepped out of court—a severely cut black wool suit with knee-length skirt that showed off her superb calves and high heels. A glimpse of white silk at the V of her ample cleavage.
“We did, and I’m hoping I didn’t read more into your tone than you’d intended, but I sensed that you needed my help. So, here I am. Please tell me I didn’t overstep.”
Nathan swallowed hard. He could almost hear his mother saying, “Be careful what you wish for lest you get it.” “You’re not wrong. I’m up to my eyeballs here and I do need help, but what about Boston? There will be hell to pay—”
She cut him off. “Actually, when I presented my case to the partners, they agreed that I was the logical choice since this is where I started right out of college. I only worked here a few months, but one quick call from Nolan Reisbecht and I had my privileges reinstated. Just so you know, I’m only on loan for a month until things even out.”
“Where are you staying?”
“The company apartment. Didn’t you use it when you came west to check things out?”
He had. He and Casey. They’d planned on using the five days as a minivacation, but she’d wound up contracting some kind of bug the first day and had spent most of the time in the bathroom.
Gwyneth’s body language said a hug was expected, but he used the pile of folders his secretary had handed him on his way past her desk to keep it formal. Casey wasn’t going to be thrilled about this development. Although they’d never talked about Gwyneth directly, he knew that his wife was sensitive to his colleague’s dramatic flair and blatant sexuality.
“Well, that’s fabulous,” Nathan said, motioning her to sit down. “You’re a welcome sight. I managed to dig myself an enormous hole in a very short time, so grab a shovel.”
She moved with the haughty grace of a runway model. She stepped to the desk but didn’t sit down. Instead, she leaned over and placed her hands flat on the scattered papers that he’d left in uncharacteristic disarray. “Can we be frank, Nathan?”
Nathan willed himself to keep his eyes on her face, not her cleavage. “I think so.”
“I came here for one reason. And one reason only. You.”
Damn.
“You may not realize it but you’ve been the person I’ve tried to emulate in my career. I’m not done learning from you, Nathan. But, ultimately, you should know that what I really want…is your job.”
Nathan let out the breath he’d been holding and rocked back in his chair. “Why does that not surprise me?”
“I didn’t think it would. You’re smart and savvy. You know the score. You also know that I want your ass, but since this is the workplace and I’d never do anything to compromise my chances for advancement, we’ll have to leave any extracurricular activities to outside the office.”
She spoke so fast Nathan might have thought he’d imagined the reference to his posterior if not for the rakish look she shot him. “I’m going to need a day to unpack and get settled. If you have anything you want me to look at before tomorrow, bring it over after work. You know where to find me.”
After she left, Nathan closed his eyes. Casey, why aren’t you waiting at home when I need you?
He picked up his cell phone and hit the speed-dial number to connect to Casey. “Hi, there. Sorry I missed your call. Please leave a message.”
His initial smile—he loved the sound of her voice—gave way to an annoyed frown. Where was she? Locking horns with her dad or getting reacquainted with her old boyfriend. Johnny or Dusty or something.
He tried to picture Casey in some cowpoke’s arms but not a single image came to mind. But Gwyneth popped right up like the damning slice of temptation she was.
He reached for the phone on his desk and buzzed his secretary. “Do you know if there’s a rental car agency close by?” He was driving to the valley this weekend. Gwyneth could use the time to play catch-up on the files. And Nathan could use the time to reconnect with his wife. Before something irreparable happened.
CHAPTER FOUR
SHE FOUND JIMMY right where she thought he’d be—working on the tractor. He was wearing a pair of filthy coveralls that might once have been brown but now were several shades of grease.
The meeting had broken up an hour earlier, and Casey had spent the time since then trying to convince her father that she wasn’t up to co-chairing the committee with Sarah. Naturally, she could have saved her breath. Sarah had conveniently slipped away with a nod at Casey and a “Doctor’s appointment. Gotta run,” to Red.
Frustrated and out of sorts when she’d realized her father and his close circle of friends weren’t planning to take a break from their talking and drinking any time soon, she’d changed into jeans and a T-shirt and walked across the field hoping to find a sympathetic shoulder to cry on—figuratively speaking.
“Hey,” she said. “Buy an old friend a beer?”
Jimmy scooted away from the upraised arm of the tractor. “Hi, Case. I wondered how long you’d last with the rabble-rousers. Nothing like a mutual enemy to bring people together, right?”
She nodded. “Sure seems like it.” She looked around, trying to get her bearings. Only the age and make of the equipment seemed to have changed. “Does Red still keep a fridge…?” She stopped, spotting the ancient brown refrigerator in the corner. “Can I get you something?”
“A Pepsi, I guess.”
She tried to hide her surprise and as she walked to the far side of the barn, she reminded herself that she really didn’t know Jimmy. She’d assumed that he would follow in her father’s social drinking footsteps, but why she thought that, she couldn’t say. Other than a f
ew polite exchanges at holidays, they were strangers. And yet, they weren’t.
She opened the door. Four brands of cola and a case of her father’s favorite beer. Casey hadn’t tasted Sierra Pale Ale in ages. She used a bottle opener, then carried both beverages to the loader. Jimmy was on his feet, wiping his hands with a rag.
He pocketed the cloth and sat down on a nearby hay bale. On the other side of the big yellow Cub Cadette, her father’s utility tractor, was a green metal pen. The smell and sounds told her this was Mother the Pig’s current home. Normally, she loved to watch the baby piglets root for their mother’s teats, but at the moment she was too upset to care.
“Is my father crazy?”
Jimmy laughed, nearly spewing his soda. “Depends on what you mean by crazy.”
“What gives him the audacity to assume that I will agree to head this committee with your wife? A woman I haven’t spoken to in fifteen years. He’s insane.”
“Maybe it’s his way of helping you and Sarah mend fences.”
Casey took a drink of beer. “As if it were that easy. Did Sarah agree to this? I wanted to ask her, but she disappeared before we could talk.”
He nodded. “Her regular monthly doctor’s appointment. I used to get to go along, but now she won’t let me be there. I told her I planned to be in the hospital when the baby was born, but, knowing Sarah, she might not even call me until it’s over.”
He sounded both mad and sad.
“What happened to you two, Jimmy?”
He looked at the can of soda in his hand. “A lot of things. Nothing major. Your dad says that’s what life is. A lot of little things—good and bad—strung together like a puzzle. If you believe Sarah, most of the bad ones were my fault. And you probably should. She’s a saint, remember?”
His bitterness was obvious, but he did have a point. When they were friends, Sarah Myerson had been Casey’s exact opposite. Shy, quiet, studious, a regular teacher’s pet. The kind of girl who participated in Job’s Daughters, a Catholic society that Casey had always wanted to belong to but her father refused to even discuss. Sarah was the one who got asked to babysit for the principal’s kids. Casey always figured Red had encouraged the two girls’ friendship hoping some of that sweetness would rub off on Casey.
“I’ll have to take your word on that, but we all know I’m not perfect. I could see Red asking Nathan to spear-head this group, but not two women.”
Jimmy’s teasing grin made him look sixteen—and just as sexy as she remembered. “You may not know this, Case, but your dad’s turned into a real liberal. He’s talkin’ about convertin’ the old Ford into a bio-diesel.”
Casey couldn’t help but laugh.
More seriously, he said, “Sarah may look sweet and quiet, but that woman has a will of tempered steel.”
Casey could respect that, but fifteen years of not speaking didn’t just go away overnight. Did it?
“Even if I wanted to help out, I don’t live here. I’m not even completely unpacked, but Red insisted he needed me to come down today. I do have a life, you know.”
He shrugged. “You’re telling the wrong guy, Case. But we both know you’d have a better chance convincing him that Wednesday was Tuesday once Red has his mind made up.”
She took another drink. The beer had a stronger bite than she remembered but it was full of flavor. “You’re probably right, but…”
She knew she should be back in San Francisco talking this out with her husband, but lately their conversations made Casey feel as if she and Nathan were on different planets. She’d mention her father and he’d reply in lawyer-speak.
“How bad is this going to get?”
Jimmy didn’t answer right away. When he did, he spoke slowly, carefully. “I’ve known Red Buchanan for a long time. I’m a hell of a lot closer to him than I was to my dad. And I can honestly say this is the first time I’ve ever seen him scared.”
“Scared?”
The taste of beer on her tongue turned sour. Her father was invincible, fearless. And he’d called her to help. But was she up to the challenge? And what would this mean to her plans to reconnect with Nathan and make a baby?
The word baby brought to mind Sarah’s silhouette. “Jimmy, it’s none of my business, but if you need a friend—”
Jimmy stood up. “We were friends, Casey. A hundred years and a thousand gallons of water rushing under the bridge ago. Now, we’re old acquaintances with a shared past.”
Casey was surprised by his fatalistic tone. “I guess you’re right, but from the way my dad talks about you, you’re practically an adopted son. That would make us siblings, wouldn’t it?”
His lips twitched. He was still a handsome man, despite the deep tan and a few lines she read as loss. “So, sis, what do you want to know? Why my wife kicked me out?”
Casey frowned. She’d assumed whatever happened in their marriage was mutual. “Hey, marriage licenses don’t come with any money-back guarantees.”
He sucked in a big breath of air. She could tell he didn’t want to talk about his problems. “Guess that explains why I’m living here, instead of the house I’m paying the mortgage on.”
Casey looked through the barn doors to the small, but stylish guesthouse her father had built around the time she’d graduated from law school. Although he’d never come right out and said so, she’d always known he’d built the place for her.
“Red used to have a couple who ran the nut company living there, but they decided they wanted to be closer to their grandchildren and moved to Texas. He has a new manager, but she’s got a place in Madera. It was sitting empty till I moved in.”
“He made your move sound temporary.”
“I know. He feels funny since it’s your house and I’m the reason he sent you away.”
Casey’s jaw dropped open. “That’s not true. I’m the reason he sent me away. He was afraid I was going to turn into some kind of loose woman,” she said, trying to mask the old hurt.
“You were the prettiest girl I’d ever seen. I used to have to bust other guys’ jaws on a regular basis just for looking at you wrong. Red knew if it wasn’t me, it would be one of the other no-good cowpunchers who sweet-talked you out of your innocence. He just wanted to protect you.”
“Because he couldn’t trust me.”
Jimmy shook his head, but Casey didn’t want to discuss the old chicken-egg dilemma. “He did the right thing. I have a great life.” Except that my marriage is suffering from some strange affliction neither Nathan nor I can bring ourselves to talk about. “Um, just out of curiosity when did you know things were in trouble between you and Sarah?”
“Who said I knew? Everything seemed fine until one day I found all my stuff sitting on the back step.”
Casey’s ability to catch a “tell”—the giveaway in poker that subtly announced whether or not a person was bluffing—had always served her well in the courtroom. She knew he was lying when he looked away rather than meet her eye. But she let it go. This wasn’t any of her business.
“Okay,” she said. She swirled the last dregs of beer around in the bottle. “I guess I’d better get back to the house. At some point, Red is going to have to talk to me. Right?”
“I’m not the person who should be giving you advice, Case, but one thing I know about your dad is sometimes you gotta listen real hard to hear what he doesn’t say.”
Casey looked at him a moment then chuckled. “Wow. That was almost metaphysical. I had no idea you’d turned into such a philosopher.” She included a wink to make sure he knew she was kidding. His returning smirk made her insides go soft and mushy. She didn’t feel any lingering spark of attraction for Jimmy beyond that which she’d have for any good-looking man, but he’d been her first love and would always have a special place in her heart. She wondered if there was any chance they could be friends again?
Impulsively, she leaned in and kissed his cheek. Well, she’d intended to kiss his cheek. But somehow their lips wound up touching.
/> She pulled back, flustered and embarrassed, and jumped to her feet. As she turned to leave, she saw Sarah standing a few feet away. She must have parked at the nut company and walked to the barn since neither Casey nor Jimmy had heard her car.
“Well, damn,” Casey muttered, hating that her cheeks were probably bright red. “That must have looked like something it wasn’t.”
Sarah’s chin lifted and her eyes narrowed. This wasn’t the Sarah Casey remembered. This was a very angry Sarah. “Really? It looked like you were kissing my husband.”
“Looks can be deceiving,” Casey said defensively. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you looked jealous. But how can that be since you kicked Jimmy out?”
Jimmy stepped around Casey. “What’s wrong now, Sarah? Is the pilot out on the water heater?”
She crossed her arms belligerently, as if to say she wasn’t talking while Casey was present. Casey put up her hands and made a wide detour. “I’m out of here.”
“What’s new there?”
“Sarah,” Jimmy said with a sigh. “Don’t start. Casey, ignore her.”
As if Casey would turn away from such a blatant challenge. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Isn’t that what you do? You leave.”
“Because my father made me go. And the minute my back was turned you swooped in like a vulture and gobbled up my boyfriend.”
Sarah crossed her arms over her belly. “That is such a lie. First off, he was only your boyfriend because you said so. One kiss in a hayloft does not automatically make you his girlfriend.”
“It was more than that.”
“Fine. He touched your breast. Big deal.” She looked at Casey’s chest. “Well, not very big, but you get my drift.”
Casey’s mouth dropped open. She wanted to shriek in outrage, but instead she started to laugh. She honestly didn’t have a comeback. This was Sarah—the girl who traded training bras with Casey before either of them had anything to put in one. And now, thanks to the baby on board, Sarah’s size triple D bosom made Casey look flat-chested by comparison.
A Baby on the Way Page 5
