by Taryn Quinn
“Right, from the park. With Poppy.”
“Yes.” He seemed relieved. “I know this is a bit forward, but I’m in a spot. I’ve called a few people, but no one seems to want to take on my case.”
“Case?”
“You work for a lawyer, right? I think he was the one you came into the adoption clinic with.”
“Right.” I cleared my throat. “Yes, he was my boss.”
“Was?” He sighed. “Oh.”
“What seems to be the problem, Grant?”
“I don’t even know if your former employer would take my case. I just…” He seemed to trail off to collect himself.
“It’s okay. Just tell me what’s up.”
“It’s my daughter.”
“Poppy? Is something wrong?”
“Yes. No. I mean, she’s fine, but I just got served from my in-laws. They want to take my baby from me. I can’t let that happen.”
“Preston will help.”
I hadn’t even aware that would fly out of my mouth. But I knew he would without question.
Grant blew out a breath. “Do you think he’d take my case? Truly?”
“Yes. I don’t know the specifics, but Preston is your man.” Family law wasn’t exactly his expertise, but I’d believed him when he told me he wanted to help people rather than specializing in divorce. He was a stand-up guy.
I rattled off Preston’s direct line at work because, well, that was probably the best way to reach him since April wasn’t exactly there to take his calls.
I couldn’t help wincing. Nor was I.
“Call him and tell him about your problem.” I made my tone as reassuring as possible. “He’ll win your case, Grant.”
“You don’t even know the details.”
“You love that little girl. That’s all I need to know.”
“Thanks.” His voice was deeper and full of emotion.
“And I know Preston will do whatever is necessary for you to keep your child. I know him.”
I did, I realized. Maybe it didn’t make sense in terms of time, but that certainty was a steady glow inside my belly. I fisted my hand against it. There was so many things I wasn’t sure of, but that he’d always try to do the right thing wasn’t one of them.
“I’m sorry to impose and I shouldn’t have dug around for your number, but I was desperate.”
“We do what we have to when we’re protecting our family.” I glanced out the window to where my mother was hanging hanks of yarn on her makeshift racks. “Family is all we have in the end. And those who we care about the most.”
“I don’t know the specifics, Miss—”
“I think we can go with Ryan.”
He laughed lightly. “Ryan, then. But I can tell you from personal experience that life is short. Don’t waste it. When I lost my Anna, it tore me apart, but I’m a better man for loving her. Even if it was only for a few short years.”
My throat tightened. His pain was palpable, but there was determination in there too. “I hope Preston can help.”
I know he can.
“Thank you, Ryan. I hope you find what you’re looking for.”
How did he know? Was I that obvious? “Thanks. Kiss that little girl for me. And the ever-precocious Bosco.”
“I will. Talk soon.”
And then he was gone.
I plugged my phone in again and grabbed my deck. I shuffled and threw two cards to see what the cards had to say.
I laughed at the Three of Swords and Ten of Swords.
“Damn cards.”
I turned the deck up to see what the shadow card was and found The World.
Endings and beginnings.
Then I looked at the three of swords piercing the heart. Was that my future or was I just afraid that it would be? The Ten of Swords spoke of endings as well. Of working through the pain, but with the hope of something new on the horizon.
Was PMS my new horizon or the pain I had to work through?
That was the bigger question.
“Ryan! What are you doing in there? Food is ready.”
“Coming,” I called.
I swiped up my cards and stuffed them in my hoodie pocket. Dealing with my mother’s love troubles was definitely easier than trying to decipher my own.
Twenty-Five
“You liked working with me?” In the silence of my office, my voice boomed out at a level not appropriate for the words I was about to utter.
And I. Did. Not. Care.
“You tied up my cock with my belt. That goes beyond chapter ten in the employee handbook. Goddammit.”
I punctuated that statement with a kick against my desk. Then when that didn’t have the desired effect, I swept my arm across the tabletop, sending papers, pens and even the phone flying.
Satisfying crunches and cracks filled my head, but it wasn’t enough. I lifted my arm and was about to dispatch the computer as well when my door flew open and my brother sailed across the room, catching the computer like a firefighter swooping in to save a flailing baby.
“I was breaking that,” I muttered before turning away to brace my hands against the floor-to-ceiling glass windows that fronted my prison.
But for a few days, it had felt like less of one.
And I’d felt like more.
I’d seen only possibilities. Options. Walking away from the firm was letting my father down, but I fully intended to find someone capable to take over for me. Maybe Bishop.
Maybe even Dex.
Now it seemed futile. I didn’t want to be a divorce attorney any longer, but had I just quit my job only to have more time to consider what exactly I’d done?
More time to spend alone with my new cat, who much preferred she who would not be named.
My brother placed the computer back on my desk and quietly closed my office door. It was late afternoon, and I’d spent a chunk of it making phone calls so I could pace a tread in the carpet beside my desk. I’d been too keyed up, wondering where the hell Ryan was. What she was doing. If she was okay.
If we were okay, as lowering as that was to admit.
“I’m getting married to a stripper I met in Southampton. Will you be my best man?”
I gave him a dismissive glance over my shoulder. “Yes, as soon as I draw up your prenup.”
“Is that how you view true love? I thought you were running off to embrace your inner love child or some such bullshit.” He sat across from my desk, shaking his head of sun-bleached hair. All he needed was large golden dog beside him and a surfboard to complete the look.
“Wanting to do something different has nothing to do with embracing my inner child. And get your feet off my desk, you heathen.”
He didn’t move a muscle. “Stop watching me in the glass and face me.”
“Make me.”
“You know, this whole exchange is fascinating. I’d given up hope of you engaging in baser emotions like rage and lust like the rest of us mere mortals. And here you are, in the grips of both.”
I dragged my gaze away from the relentlessly sunny day to focus on Dex. He appeared positively delighted.
“I’m not enraged.”
“Oh, just got a sudden yen to redecorate?” He kicked my gold pen across the floor, and it rolled over the mirrored tiles. “Gotta say, I never did like that blotter. It screams yuppy.”
“Shut up.” But I laughed as I picked up said blotter and stuck it standing up out of the trash. The stupid thing had cracked in half.
I dropped into my chair. “I think I got dumped.”
“Your assistant quit early too.” He widened his eyes with false surprise. “Oh, are those events related?”
I flipped him off.
“I got the general drift when I walked in on you screaming about her doing questionable things to a part of your body that should only be treated with love and respect. I should’ve guessed she was kinky.” He shook his head. “You lucky bastard.”
“I was.” I rose to make coffee, even if it curre
ntly tasted like dirt.
I had to assume that was the direct result of heartbreak, since I knew the coffee was perfectly fine and had tasted superb yesterday when I was fresh off an orgasm high with the promise of more to come.
Now I faced an orgasm desert of indeterminate length, and even coconut-caramel coffee could not placate me.
“What did you do?”
“Hell if I know.” I pointed at the K-cups I’d so lovingly arranged in the basket. “Want?”
“You know I don’t drink your caramel shit. You don’t know what you did?”
“Other than we were closer than we’ve ever been, nope.” I banged the lid down on my Keurig.
He snorted. “Um, you barely know her. Closer than you’ve ever been in several days?”
“I don’t expect you to understand.”
“Do you?”
“No.” I watched the coffee pour into my mug. “But I know it’s real, because nothing else has ever felt like this.”
“Dude, we’ve all had one of those. Or a couple of them if we’re really lucky. The sex twists you all up into a pretzel and you’re ready to shave your head and take up residence in a hut somewhere if it means you can live on sweet, sweet love.”
I arched a brow as I tossed the spent K-cup and returned to my desk with my coffee. “I’m curious about your sex life, brother.”
“As you should be. I’m just saying, the haze clears. Those first few days or weeks, you’re ready to do whatever it takes to live in blissful harmony forever. Then you wake up some morning and you realize you hate how she chews. And that’s that.”
“You’re a strange one.”
He jerked a shoulder and kicked aside the mess on the floor I wasn’t inclined to clean up on his way over to the mini bar. He splashed some scotch into a short glass and leaned back against the bar, sipping slowly as he regarded me. “You’re sure it’s not just the ‘any pussy is awesome after an endless drought’ syndrome?”
I shook my head. “That is only a syndrome in your shriveled little brain.”
“I can assure you it is not.”
“And it had not been that long for me. A while, yes, but I dated now and then. I’m just particular.”
“Must be a woman with cat’s eyes and possess mystical leanings. Gotcha.”
“In any case, this isn’t about sex.”
Dex gave me a thumbs up. “Sure, bro.”
“It isn’t,” I insisted. “If need be, I could go without for a very long time. Not easily,” I acknowledged as my brother laughed hard enough to splash scotch on his custom navy blue suit. “But I have before.”
“Yeah, but you found your brand of catnip. Now you’re in trouble. Much harder to resist when you’ve had a faceful of the good stuff.”
“If you only knew.” Before he could expound upon that subject, I forged ahead. “You told Dad what I said to you in confidence.”
“You said a whole lot of nothing, as usual.”
“Yet you told him I wanted to quit.” I drank half my coffee in one throat-searing swallow. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”
“Look, it’s your own fault for—huh?”
“You broke the ice with him for me. I appreciate it.”
Dex stared at me for a long moment, his expression puzzled. Then he set down his glass and walked over to flatten his hands on top of my desk. “I take it all back. You need to get this woman back. I have her number. I’ll call her. I’m not above offering her a cash payment to put up with your annoying ass.”
Only one part of that statement stood out to me. “Why do you have her number?”
He stepped back as if he was weighing his personal safety. “Company records?”
“You asked her for it.”
“Maybe?”
I sighed. “She’s allowed to give you her number. It’s a free country.”
“That it is, but when I asked for it, I didn’t realize you had your first boner in half a decade in her direction. I haven’t used it.”
“Your free pass for insults is almost used up. Get your last few in before I kick you out of my office.”
“Ah, yes, but it won’t be yours for much longer. I’m glad you told Dad you were done with his crap.”
“It depends how long it takes for me to wrap up my cases—and to convince Bishop he wants to throw his lot in with you.” I pointed at him. “Use that cash payment you were going to give Ryan to wine and dine him. Unless you want to helm this ship all on your own.”
He returned to the mini bar to retrieve his drink. “I’m okay with stepping up to shoulder more of the load, but I’m not prepared to carry it all on my shoulders. I enjoy divorce law for the sport it is. I also enjoy my very active personal life.”
“Rub it in.” I drank more coffee and debated getting another, liberally laced with scotch.
Or perhaps a scotch laced with coffee.
“She’s into you, man. I saw it myself. You were all sparky.”
I laughed. And kept right on laughing while my brother gazed at me questioningly and probably wondered if it was too soon to call for medical help.
A knock sounded at the door before our mom popped in her coiffed head. “There is literally no sound I love more than my boys laughing together. I hope I’m not interrupting.”
“Of course not.” I rose and waved her over, kissing her cheek and accepting her hug.
Was I imagining things or was her embrace a little tighter than normal? Could’ve been mother’s intuition or maybe she wasn’t as happy with her arrangement with my father as he claimed.
Frowning at the assorted desk paraphernalia scattered on the floor, she went over to hug Dex as well. He held onto her as he gestured to me. “Your eldest son is in love. You should start planning the wedding.”
I’d picked that unfortunate moment to take my last sip of coffee—and ended up spitting it out over the vest that Ryan had chosen for me that morning.
Our mother let out a tinkling laugh. “So, your pretty assistant sealed the deal already? Is she out selecting her bouquet? I was hoping to see her today. There’s a tarot festival in Turnbull in a few weeks, and I was wondering if she’d like to attend with me. Maybe we could make it a threeway.” She tapped her chin.
Dex shook his head. “Don’t use that word with other people, Mom. It doesn’t mean what you think it does.”
“Like you know what I think, you big oaf.” She reached up to twist his ear while he laughed.
I sank into my chair and rolled over to the garbage can to unbutton my jacket and squeeze out my tie. At least I hadn’t made too much of a mess. “I thought I moved fast. You two have me married, for God’s sake.”
“Oh, you’re moving fast? You admit it?”
“I’m not moving at all right now. She’s gone.”
“Gone?” our mother echoed, exchanging a glance with Dex. “How can you marry her if she’s not present?”
“That is a quandary. Except we aren’t getting married yet.”
“Did you hear that yet? I heard a yet.”
“Record it on your phone,” our mother suggested. “That way, when he does his Frosty the Lawyer thing, we’ll have proof he has warm feelings for her.”
I rolled my eyes. Frosty the Lawyer was a nickname I hadn’t heard in years. I hadn’t missed it either.
“Try sizzling. You see all that?” Dex pointed at the scattered pens and papers on the floor. “He was having a mantrum when I came in here. He almost tossed his computer.”
“Enjoying yourselves?” I asked mildly, settling my still damp tie back into place. I patted my vest and figured I might as well wear my coffee after the day I’d had.
“Hugely.” My brother circled his arm around our mom’s shoulders. “I almost hate to leave and break up the party, but I have a prior engagement.”
“Blond, brunette or redhead?”
“Speaking of threeways…” He ducked when our mother gave him a stern look.
I had to laugh as I stood. “Can you meet Bishop
and I at Lonegan’s Sunday evening?”
“Sure. Time to wine and dine?”
“Or get stupidly drunk. We’ll see how it goes.”
“If you need a designated driver, I’ll come get you,” my mother said, making Dex pat her on the head as if she was a slightly dotty senior citizen. She was not amused.
“Of course. Or maybe you’ll come and drink us under the table. Though last time we couldn’t get you down off the bar.”
She flushed and adjusted the big flower choker around her neck. “Oh, stop. I got down.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. Clearly, I needed to spend more time with my family—even if it would be an education I might not be ready for.
Now was as good a time as any to start.
“If you and Dad want to come…” I trailed off, feeling awkward as hell.
If they had an arrangement that worked for them, fine, but I didn’t know if I could just play along. I’d have to keep trying, because my father was my dad regardless. Their choices were their own.
Even if they would never, ever be mine.
My mom’s smile faltered. “No, that’s for you boys. A lot to talk about, isn’t there?”
I smoothed a hand down my vest. It wasn’t too wet anymore. “Dad told you? Or your mouthy son?”
“Wasn’t me this time.” Dex mimed zipping his lips.
“I talked to your father.”
“And you came to see if I’m on a ledge yet.”
“Yes, to see if you’re ready to put out your parachute and fly.”
It made me smile. “No wonder you like Ryan.”
“I love her. She has the most wonderful energy.” She nudged Dex toward the door. “Go on now. Enjoy your threeway.”
“If you insist, Mom.” He kissed her cheek and opened the door, glancing over his shoulder at me one last time. “She’ll be back. You know Shaw men are irresistible.”
“Keep telling your hand that.”
He closed the door behind him with a grin as I shut my eyes in horror that I’d said that in front of my mother.
Obviously, I was not fit for public consumption today. Or possibly any day until Ryan came back.
“Sorry,” I muttered.
“I’m going to blow your mind, Preston. Not only have I had sex, I know what masturbation is.”
