His First Choice

by Tara Taylor Quinn

  A woman married to her career.

  One who was fulfilled, satisfied. One who contributed to society in a positive way.

  And who was financially secure, too.

  Really, if one had a choice, who wouldn’t want to be her?

  Pulling up in front of the little cottage that would have looked more in place on the beach than on the nondescript street in an older neighborhood on the outskirts of town, Lacey picked up her tablet, turned it on and opened the file she’d created the day before. And then opened the document that was, as of yet, mostly blank.

  The next half hour would be critical. She couldn’t afford to make any mistakes as she met the woman who quite possibly was abusing Levi Bridges.

  * * *

  “SOMEONE’S HERE, JEM, I gotta go.”

  Heart trying to thump blood through a gut of rock, Jem stood at his kitchen window, looking out over the backyard, listening to the fountain through the window he’d opened when he’d come in to prepare the vegetables he’d be grilling with chicken for dinner that night.

  “At least I think they’re here. Someone just pulled up in front of my house. Hold on, let me look. I don’t recognize the car, but...”

  Tressa’s voice sounded expectant. Which was better than mistrustful. This was good, considering the drama-ridden world in which his ex-wife lived. And he, thankfully, did not.

  Chewing on his lower lip, he waited, deliberating over his options. He’d called to see if she’d tell him anything. Give him any clue as to whether or not she was behind the call to social services. To the fact that his world had once again been turned completely upside down.

  It had been why he’d left her. Or rather, taken her up on one of her oft-repeated “offers” to leave him. He couldn’t have his son growing up with the drama-based tension that Tressa brought into every room she occupied.

  If she stayed there long enough, that was.

  “Who is it?” he asked now, trepidation knotting his insides to the point of decimating his appetite. A feeling he’d grown used to during his years with the woman who’d captivated him and then slowly instilled pity within him. Heart-wrenching pity. For her.

  She’d given no indication, in the five minutes they’d been talking, that she’d had a visit from social services. Or any indication that anything was wrong, either.

  Other than her job, but that was another story...

  “I don’t know. No one’s getting out. But I can see her there. It’s a woman. Her hair’s in a twist.”

  Lacey. But if she’d been there to report back to Tressa, as in, his ex-wife being the one who’d called to report him, Tressa would surely have recognized her and made a quick excuse to ditch him. Unless she had concerns...

  “She’s blonde. Looks about our age...” There was curiosity in Tressa’s tone now. But the tone was still soft. Still the calm and therefore quite likable side of the woman he’d married. “She’s wearing some kind of jacket, sky blue. Who wears sky blue jackets anymore?”

  So Tressa.

  And also, so Lacey. He knew exactly what the outdated jacket looked like. She’d had it on that morning when she’d escorted his son down the hall and away from him. To play with cars, according to Levi.

  Jem reached for a beer. If Tressa had not called social services, this was not going to be good.

  Lacey hadn’t said a word about visiting Levi’s mother that evening when she’d called just as he was basting the chicken that was already on the grill.

  She’d called to check on Levi, she’d said.

  Like a storm chaser, he could predict what was coming. He also knew that he wasn’t going to say anything to Tressa about it—a decision made right that second. After all the years he’d spent defending his wife’s actions, her words when she went off inappropriately, so many years of smoothing feathers she hadn’t meant to ruffle, he didn’t want anyone associating him with her anymore.

  Not in a partner sense.

  And most particularly not when a decision maker from social services was involved.

  “She’s getting out now,” Tressa was saying. “Probably just selling something. I hope it’s not clothes.” His ex-wife chuckled, still at ease.

  Jem gripped the back of his neck.

  “If it’s jewelry, I’ll buy some. Poor thing, having to go door-to-door to make a living. I can always give it for Christmas presents. Nice car she’s driving. I wonder if she just lost her job. Or maybe her ex dumped her for someone a little more fashion conscious...”

  Sounding truly compassionate now, Tressa’s voice was fading.

  “I’ll talk to you later,” Jem said, reminding her that he was still there.

  “Yeah, fine, Jem. Call me.”

  She’d disconnected before he heard the doorbell ring. Call me. That was Tressa. I only want people in my life who prove they want to be there.

  It was always about meeting her expectations. As long as you could do that...

  Jem looked down at the bundle resting on the counter beside him. He’d been about to carry it out to the grill, but had decided to check in with Tressa first—right after Lacey had called him, butting into his evening, bothering him all over again...

  He picked up the bundle—broccoli and corn with a little bit of butter, wrapped in foil. Weird way to prepare them, maybe, but Levi liked them that way.

  And only broccoli and corn. Not carrots. Not beets. And certainly not the Brussels sprouts Jem tried on him one time.

  He’d eat raw cucumbers, too. But only if they were peeled...

  Not once, in the entire five minutes they’d been on the phone, had Tressa asked him how Levi was doing with his cast. She’d asked about his day in school, asked if he’d missed her. But not a word about the broken arm their son was carrying around, learning how to adjust to. Not a word about the T-ball he’d missed.

  In that aspect, she was a bit like their son—able to let go of regrets. Except Levi’s disruptions were truly gone once he let them go. Tressa just swept hers under the rug.

  Lacey Hamilton didn’t seem like the type of woman you swept away.

  * * *

  HAVING TAKEN A moment to prepare herself, to erase her morning with Levi and focus only on the woman she was about to meet, Lacey felt ready as she climbed the step up to the small, neat porch.

  She liked the wicker bench and table, the red geraniums blooming in a pot in the corner. Geraniums took care to maintain, she knew.

  The only way to help Levi was to open her mind up to whatever facts might present themselves. No matter how hard or bad they could turn out to be.

  The flowers were a nice touch. And based on the pale pink discoloration of the white picket rail behind them, the blooms had been there awhile.

  She knocked, expecting to wait a minute while the resident checked her out through the peephole. Or the nearby window, she revised, as she saw the curtain move.

  Would the woman answer the door? Or slip out the back?

  Pretend she wasn’t home?

  She’d once had a parent climb out of a second-story window with the endangered child in her arms.

  There was no second story here. And she knew for a fact that the child wasn’t in residence. She’d called Jeremiah Bridges before she’d left her office to see how Levi was doing after his meeting with her that morning. She’d wanted to know if he had any questions that needed answering. She’d told him that he was to refer all such questions to her. According to him, there hadn’t been any.

  Could be true. Considering the fact that Levi was only four. It could also be that his father was very calmly and politely telling her to go to hell.

  The front door opened.

  “Hi. Can I help you?” The first thing Lacey noticed, besides the warm and welcoming tone, was the woman’s smile. Had she not been
working, it might have put her immediately at ease.

  “My name is Lacey Hamilton. I’m from social services. May I come in?”

  The model-beautiful blonde frowned. “Social services? Is there a problem? Someone in trouble?”

  The questions came faster than she could answer them. The woman’s bewilderment seemed completely genuine.

  “Is it my brother? I told him not to come to me if he got himself into trouble again. I just can’t help him. I promised Jem... Sorry.” The woman shook her head. “That’s my husband...ex-husband, really...but if you’re here about Kenton, you probably already know that.”

  Wow. Could someone put on an act that good if they were really feeling tense inside?

  Records showed that Tressa Bridges was working as a manager of a small local branch of a major bank. She’d had the job for a little over a year. Before that she’d been an account manager for a well-respected investment firm. People who worked with large amounts of money had to first pass rigorous background and character checks.

  People who did poorly in one financial institution, or left under negative terms, were not generally hired by another. Not in the same town, nor in a close time frame.

  Tressa had paused long enough to ask her in. “I’ll tell you anything you need to know about Kenton. I’ll do anything I can to help him. But he needs to know he has to stay completely away from Jem. I mean, he’s lucky Jem didn’t press charges. And he can’t live with me, and I can’t give him any money.”

  Wow, again. Lacey followed the vivacious woman to a small but meticulous living room with a camel-colored sectional that perfectly complemented the one camel-colored wall. The other walls were a peaceful cream color.

  Lacey’s eye went straight to the built-in bookshelves on either side of the mounted flat-screen television set. In addition to books and DVDs, there were some trinkets. And a lot of photos of Levi.

  Scanning the movies, she did indeed notice preschool titles on a higher shelf.

  Wondering if the trunk-size wicker basket that served as a side table contained the preschooler’s toys, Lacey said, “I’m not here about your brother.”

  “Oh.” The woman blinked and sat down. “I’m so sorry,” she said, “going on about my personal stuff like that. Jem says that I need to watch that. I tell him I will, and then off I go again, not even realizing. So, forgive me.” She stood up. “I was about to have some tea. I’ve just come in from work. Can I get you a glass?”

  “I’d like that,” Lacey answered, more because she wanted to be able to follow the woman to the kitchen, to get as much of a look at the house as she could, to see how Levi’s mother lived when she wasn’t expecting company, than because she actually wanted a drink.

  Tressa didn’t ask why she was there. Contrary to her previous behavior, she didn’t say anything at all, just pulled a couple of glasses out of the cupboard and filled them with ice. “Sweet or unsweetened?”

  “Sweet.” She didn’t allow herself the indulgence often.

  “Me, too.” Tressa crinkled her nose and then grinned. “I manage to make myself drink it unsweetened about half the time.”

  Lacey was up to about three-quarters of the time. Most weeks.

  Maybe not this one.

  Walking around to the other side of the breakfast nook off the kitchen, Tressa pulled out one of four white wooden chairs at a block table similar to the one Lacey had seen at Jem’s house. “We might as well sit out here,” she said, indicating the chair directly across from her. Lacey sat.

  The table had professionally embroidered, flowered linen placements. Bright and colorful. A matching print on the wall behind Tressa caught Lacey’s eye as she sat down.

  “I love this room,” Lacey said, glancing out the sliding glass door to a small walled courtyard lined with flowers and a little birdbath-type above-the-ground fountain.

  “Me, too,” Tressa told her. “I work at a bank, and while I love the challenge of making money work for you, some days I can’t wait to get home to my little oasis.”

  What about her son? What did she think about not getting home to him every night? And on days when Levi was there, did he disturb the oasis?

  Lacey looked from the woman, who was sitting perpendicular to her, to the wall Tressa was facing. She also had a view of the kitchen. For the first time she saw the side of the refrigerator facing the breakfast nook.

  All available space was covered. Magnets held up drawings, scribblings, photographs. All done by, or taken of, Levi. It was a shrine to the boy. Which his mother faced every single time she sat down at the table.

  Maybe Levi Bridges was just accident prone and was exhibiting changed behavior because of a developmental stage he was going through.

  Maybe she had to be looking more closely at the day care.

  “I’m afraid to ask why you’re here.” Tressa smiled. A tremulous, timid smile. No hint of defensiveness. Or authority, either.

  Lacey smiled back, offering all she could offer at that moment—compassion.

  If Tressa was hurting her son, she needed help. It would be Lacey’s job to connect her with resources...

  If she was hurting her son.

  Lacey liked the woman’s home.

  And hated the case.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  “WHATCHA’ DOIN’?”

  Jem glanced down at the little boy staring so solemnly up at him. And swore to himself, then and there, that he’d take the boy and run if need be, to protect him. He knew he wasn’t hurting Levi. And he’d be damned if some stranger thought she could come into his life and proclaim that he was...

  “Getting ready to put the veggies on the grill,” he said, picking up the foiled bundle that had been sitting on the counter for far longer than he’d originally intended.

  He’d been waiting for Tressa to call him back. He’d wanted to deal with whatever drama was coming his way before he started cooking dinner, because once the food was cooked, he intended to sit outside with his son and enjoy the meal. Sans drama.

  “That was before Whyatt.” Levi’s stare was no less piercing for his youth. When he’d headed to the kitchen to start dinner, Jem had told Levi that he could watch one episode of Super Why! Which meant he’d been in the kitchen a full twenty-five minutes. It took ten, at the most, to prepare veggies for the grill.

  “Well, sometimes these things take a little longer,” Jem said, off his mark for having to be less than straight up with the boy.

  “You was just standing here looking...”

  “Were,” he corrected, and with veggies in one hand, he scooped Levi up with the other. “What do you say we go look over the boat while dinner’s cooking?” He swung Levi high and then landed him on his hip.

  Parenting books said to distract as a form of behavior management.

  “Can I help?” Levi was fascinated with the old schooner that took up most of their garage. Jem couldn’t wait until the day his son would be old enough to really participate.

  And hoped that by then he’d still want to.

  “I painted this weekend while you were at your mom’s. You can help me sand.” No tools. Nothing dangerous. Just in case they had a surprise visitor. Not because he didn’t trust himself to take perfectly good care of his son.

  Purposely leaving his cell phone on the kitchen counter, Jem headed outdoors.

  * * *

  “I’M HERE TO ask you some questions about your son.” Lacey hated this part of her job, where she tried to instill confidence so she could determine whether or not she had to become the person’s worst nightmare.

  In order to help. Always in order to help. Unfortunately, most parents in need of help didn’t see her as someone to turn to.

  That night, for whatever reason, she wished she could just be having a glass of wine with the woman
across from her, finding out what besides decorating styles, blond hair and a penchant for iced tea they had in common.

  “You want to know about Levi? Social services wants to know?” Tressa sat up straight, mouth open and brow furrowed. “Something’s happened to him? That can’t be. I was just talking to Jem. He’d have told me if anything was wrong. As infuriating as that man can be, he’s great with Levi. That’s the only reason I can bear to be without my baby. Because I know that Jem’s such a great dad.”

  “And you don’t think you’re a great mom?”

  “Of course I do,” Tressa said. And then added, “Well, mostly. I’m not as goofy with Levi as Jem is. I don’t make him laugh as much. Those two, from the very beginning, they had this rapport. Everyone noticed it. I had a baby and it was like I became a third wheel. But I’m a good mom. I’ve been reading to Levi since he was born and I taught him to read. He’s only four, you know.”

  Tressa took a sip of tea, as though confident that everything was going to be just fine.

  Jeremiah’s energy had been more like that of a caged lion.

  “My office received a report that someone’s been abusing him.”

  Those big blue eyes opened wide in shock, and alarm. Lacey read no subterfuge there. Noticed no dropped glance or prevarication. Tressa was staring her straight in the eye.

  “That’s a lie,” the woman said. “I just had him this weekend and he was perfectly fine. He’s always fine. Every single time I see him. He may not live with me full-time, but I’m his mother. He’s my only child. I’d have noticed if he wasn’t okay.”

  Not an atypical response. Either way—if she was an abuser or if she wasn’t.

  “So you don’t think your husband could be hurting him?”

  “Jem? Are you nuts? He’s the most gentle man I know. Except maybe when people screw up at work, and only then because construction is a dangerous business and people could get hurt. He’s really protective of his crews. It’s not like anyone would think they could walk all over him or anything. But he’d never hurt Levi. Not ever.”