I stood there dumbfounded that I hadn’t been divorced, I hadn’t even filed yet, and I had been taking offers for drinks. Should it really have surprised me how I got pregnant by another guy right after I’d filed for divorce? My stomach churned from my own stupid decisions.
Staring up at the dilapidated building in front of me, I squinted my eyes from the sun peering behind the building temporarily blinding my vision. Casting my vision down to the surrounding area that I hadn’t noticed before, because I was trying to read my scribbles of notes, I saw that it wasn’t much better than the building I stood in front of.
“Come on. Let’s go see if we can figure out more of the puzzle.”
I nodded.
We took the elevator, which smelled like the outside looked, and all I could do was wonder how I had picked this attorney. “Maybe I should have looked through my notes a little more to reacquaint myself with my own case.”
“Doesn’t matter now. Let’s get in and see what he has to say.”
The bell rang out, alerting us that we’d arrived at the floor we needed, and as I stepped out onto the overly worn, faded red carpeting, my nerves kicked in. What was I going to say?
Standing at the door, I stared at the attorney’s name etched into the frosted glass insert. It was also faded, and I began to wonder if it was the only attorney I had been able to afford.
The plump redhead behind the only desk in the room cracked her gum as I pushed open the door. Immediately upon looking up from her computer, her face lit up. Her green eyes sparkled as she said, “Andi!” and pushed away from her desk. She stood and bounded toward me, pulling me in for a huge bear hug.
My eyes flicked over to her desk and I hoped she had a name plate. Unfortunately she didn’t, and I had no way of knowing her name except to ask her.
Digging her hands into my arms, she pushed me back, scrutinizing me. Her eyes didn’t leave any part of my body not looked at. “Amnesia.” She drew the word out as slowly as possible and then clucked her tongue as her head shook from side to side. Bright red curls swayed with her head as the smell of her perfume practically smacked me in the face.
The churning in my stomach had to be apparent on my face as her eyes widened and she stepped back. “Andi! Are ya gonna be sick?” She ran as fast as her legs could take her as Cal pulled me to a nearby seat and began fanning fresh air into my face. The secretary returned with a trash bin and said, “I’ll go get you some water.”
Cal leaned in and whispered, “Perfume?”
I nodded as I inhaled deep, cleansing breaths, praying not to get sick. It was the first time my pregnancy had affected me, and I wasn’t sure if I was excited to be sick like other pregnant women or dreading having to deal with it.
“Here, sweetie. Here’s some water.”
Cal took it for me as she stepped back. I hoped I hadn’t offended her, but immediately she shook her head.
“Pregnant? Andi. You’re finally pregnant after trying for all these years.”
The bit of water I sipped sprayed involuntarily…everywhere.
“Oh my!” was all she could say as she then rushed to get something to clean it up with.
“How does she? Oh, God,” was all I could say as I fell backward in the seat now that her perfume wasn’t in my face.
Cal seemed amused by all this; although concerned for me, I could tell he wanted to laugh.
The secretary returned and Cal stood to introduce himself. She looked him over as if suddenly it dawned on her that John might not be the only man in the picture.
“I’m Cal, Andi’s friend,” he said.
She stared, licking her lips as she then took his hand and shook it. “Agatha. Or Aggie, as everyone calls me.” She placed her hand on her hip and tilted her head. “You’re her…friend?” Her eyes went from Cal to me and back to him again.
She turned to me then and smirked. “Friend. You told me he was the man of your dreams. Couldn’t wait to get divorced to start out with him.” She turned, laughing as she waved her hand in the air. “Friend. Pfft. That’s a good one, Andi.” Behind her desk now, she looked at Cal again. “Well, it’s nice to finally meet Andi’s friend.” She drew out friend in the longest Southern drawl I’d heard and then giggled before pressing a button. “Dirk. Andi’s here. She brought her friend with her.” She giggled again as she looked at the two of us. Cal’s face was crimson, and his eyes were bright with amusement.
Unsure of what to make of what had just happened, I gingerly took a sip from my water—swallowing this time.
When Aggie began to show us to Mr. Hartley’s office, Cal touched my arm. “I’m going to wait out here, but I’m here if you need me. I think you need to be able to talk to your attorney without feeling guilty about anything you say about John, okay?”
I would have protested, but he was right. I should hear all of it alone. I squeezed his hand and gave him a thankful smile before walking through the office door.
As I sat in front of Mr. Hartley, my mind tried to catch up as he spoke. Flashes of meeting him before bounced through my mind like a pinball, without really settling on one particular image. The navy suit he wore was cheap in material. He seemed like a man who was trying to appear like he had a good business, but looking around the office and seeing the building itself, I wondered how I had found him.
I explained about the accident and the carbon monoxide poisoning too. He wrote all the information down while glancing up at me every so often as if he were a therapist. After I finished telling him everything-including how I just got my briefcase and laptop-I waited for him to tell me it would all be all right. My heart pounded inside my chest as I heard what he said next.
“Well, this complicates things further.” He sighed as he sat back in his seat. “You don’t actually remember, so your testimony is compromised.” His eyes flicked again to the door behind me before returning his gaze back to me.
“But I do remember,” I insisted.
“I’m sure you do, but it’s not reliable—not as reliable as it had been before your accident. You have no proof except that you remember flashes of it all.” He sighed as he said the next sentence. “John is contesting the grounds of divorce. He’s insisting he didn’t cheat.”
I sat up more, needing Mr. Hartley to understand. “But I can tell you it was my best friend, or so-called best friend, Mallory.” The frustration grew even more inside me. I felt like I didn’t have a leg to stand on, and the carpet was being pulled out from under me.
“You didn’t want to name her beforehand, so I can’t even take that into consideration either.”
“Why wouldn’t I want to name who he screwed? That doesn’t make any sense!”
“You had mentioned you were best friends. You wanted to go after him for everything at first, but we needed to name her. You weren’t fully prepared to do that. I don’t know what happened, but right before you were coming into my office, you mentioned on the phone that you were ready for battle.” He shrugged. “Said you wanted her named plastered everywhere.”
He paused for a moment before glancing at the door.
“Now their attorney says you were seeing that young man out there and stating that they have no idea if the baby you’re carrying is his or not.” He swallowed as he looked back down at the papers in front of him. “The prenup clearly states that if you cheated, you get absolutely nothing—you walk with nothing.”
I sat back almost in tears but trying to figure out if it really mattered. I had wanted to be done with it, right? So if taking money away from me was the worst he could do, shouldn’t I leave it to get out?
Mr. Hartley leaned forward again and heaved a heavy sigh.
“But the prenup…” I started.
“Is completely contestable. Even if you don’t remember signing it at all. Most judges aren’t too partial, and seeing the date on this and the ‘heir’ clause, I’m sure that’ll be thrown out.”
“Well, that’s a good thing, right?”
“If yo
u don’t want anything from him at all. You had insisted before that you wanted to take this alimony deal. You had wanted to start your own business. Do you remember any of that?”
I shook my head, even more confused at that point, but at least I knew the reason I was going to take his deal. Well, sort of. “He cheated on me. Why would I have let him walk?”
“You didn’t want this to become public, for some reason. I wasn’t sure if it was John pressuring you or not. You wouldn’t tell me the reason, Andi. I had a lot of concerns, but you were very insistent.”
I searched the air, looking for some sort of answer that wasn’t there. I should have taken the time to go through my notes more. Maybe the answers were in there.
“You had told me how he and his dad had coerced you to sign. Mallory,” he humphed, “had told you that it was a good deal. My problem with all of this is that it’s not in your best interest. And if you are carrying his child, he needs to pay big time.”
“And if it’s not his?”
Mr. Hartley looked through the small window of his office, out to the reception area. “Then we have a problem. Since you can’t remember and he can say anything he wants, we can’t really contest it too much without getting your friend out there to say something. But even then it’s not reliable. He could say anything he wants since he’s your boyfriend.”
“Is that why I decided to take the prenup deal?”
“No. Unless you were dating him before talking to me. We had discussed the divorce long before. You wanted a separation at first. I think even with him cheating, you still considered staying with him. Something flipped a switch in you. I don’t think it was that young man out there. But something else did.”
“Well, I met him before that because he bumped my car. But according to him we weren’t…together until I ran into him the next evening. The day after I filed.”
“We have options. You can fight this prenup and have it thrown out and we go from scratch. I won’t lie, he’ll fight hard and might draw this out for a long time. We could go with the prenup and fight the dates to say that you hadn’t cheated on him, he cheated on you, and stick with it. He might finally relent. Or you go to mediation and hope he’s a little more reasonable. Regardless, since you have a boyfriend, John’s not going to take this lying down. Especially not someone like John. And now that you’re pregnant, we need to do a paternity test to get this settled as quickly as possible.”
“I spoke with my doctor about that. I don’t want one that’s invasive. The other one, though, is quite expensive. I still don’t know any of my bank accounts or anything else. I have no idea where to even look for all of that.”
“Well, according to my notes, when we first spoke about your living arrangements, you sublet an apartment which was already pre-paid for you for six months.”
“What?”
“That’s what my notes say. I’m not sure who you sublet from, but you moved out two weeks before I filed your complaint requesting a divorce.”
I sat back and shook my head, taking in the new information. Who’d I sublet from? “It’s like every time I think I know what happened before this accident, there’s another surprise or wrench thrown in my way.”
“I keep thinking…and I know this will sound crazy, but I can’t get the accidents out of my head.” Mr. Hartley paused for a moment as he seemed to try to read my facial expressions. “I don’t think they were really accidents. Have you spoken with the detectives on the case? Do you have their numbers? I would like to follow up on the details and see if anything might be more than circumstance. The timing is…coincidental.”
I chewed on my lip for a moment before sitting up again. “What if…” I inhaled, unsure if I really wanted to believe it. “What if John was trying to kill me for some reason? Maybe because I hadn’t named Mallory yet, but would?”
“I’ll contact John’s attorney. I’ll need to find out his intentions, and I’ll ask for him to pay for the paternity test—the noninvasive one. I think that’s only fair if he wants to know if it’s his child or not since it does affect the way you both approach this.”
I nodded, still numb from all the new information.
“I need to keep in contact, and I’ll also need the detectives’ names and numbers.”
“Let me see if I can find it.” My voice seemed as distant as I felt as I picked up my purse.
“Andi.”
I looked up at him.
“It’ll be okay. If it’s not his child, he still owes you for all the years of support you gave him. You did redecorate his offices for him too.”
“Did I love him?” The tears welled up now, and I wasn’t sure why I’d even asked that.
“At one point, you two did have a good marriage. At least from what you stated.” He nodded and pressed his lips together. “The sooner I get the detectives’ numbers, the better.”
I dug through my purse and pulled out the card I’d been given at the hospital. After trying to call earlier, I already had one of the detectives’ numbers in my phone if I really needed it—not to mention all the notes I’d written in my journal.
He leaned forward with a small smile and tapped the card on his desk. “It’ll be all right. Whatever the outcome.”
Thirty
Cal
Andi and I stood outside the dilapidated building and stared at my truck. She had been quiet the whole time in the elevator, but I knew she needed to process whatever information he’d given her. I couldn’t help but think it was probably bad.
That’s when her phone rang out. I wasn’t sure why, but I assumed immediately it was John, and my fists tightened at the thought.
“Lana!” Relief spread through me, hearing the name.
“Yes, I’m with Cal.” Andi tucked her hair behind her ear and blushed, smiling up at me. “Yes, I was actually going to call you. I need to talk to the superintendent, do you have his number?" Andi rolled her eyes. “Because I need to get the locks changed on the door…Okay, that’d be great.” Andi looked at me, smiling, and then her eyes darted to the ground. “Oh, when’d he leave?” Andi nodded her head. “I’m not sure, but if I can meet with him today and get that fixed, I’ll probably be there.” Andi laughed then and mockingly rolled her eyes. “Okay. That sounds good. I’ll see you later.”
“She’s calling the super for me so I don’t have to deal with one more thing, but I should probably head over there so I can be there and ask him some questions I have.”
“Sounds good. We’ll head back to your place then.” And as we started walking back to my truck, my back pocket started vibrating.
Pulling out my phone, I looked at the screen and knew it couldn’t be a good thing. “Yeah, Derek?”
“I’m sorry, Boss, but we got another situation down here.”
I exhaled, knowing that it had to be pretty bad if he was calling me.
“What’s wrong?”
“There’s a problem with the main crane. It shifted on one of the slats and now it’s stuck on the trailer. We can’t get the thing on or off now.”
I rolled my eyes as Andi looked up at me, her brows pulled in as she wondered what was happening.
“All right. I’ll be right down.”
“Problem?” Andi asked the moment I hung up. We were at my truck by then, and I pulled open her door for her.
“Yeah, I’m going to need to get down there.”
As soon as I got in the driver’s seat, Andi said, “Can you drop me off at my place really quick? Or do you need to get right down there?”
“I don’t think it’s safe at your place, Andi. I’d feel better if you camped out in my office.”
“I think I’ll be fine. While you were on the phone, Lana texted me that the super will be by today to change the locks.” I gave her a questioning look, and she mocked me by holding up her phone. “I’ll have this on at all times. I’ll call you if I have any problems,” she insisted with a smirk. “And,” she added, “Lana is getting off work in an hour and
will be home if I need her.”
Reluctantly, I headed toward her place. I wasn’t happy about it at all, especially since John had been over there banging on her door.
The silence between us was deafening, and I was trying to think of the right questions to ask without being intrusive.
Andi broke the silence first. “My attorney is going to contact the detectives on the case and also set up a mediation.”
“Well, that’s good, right? Get the ball moving?”
She nodded but went quiet again. I couldn’t imagine what thoughts were going through her mind, but I didn’t want to push her to talk. While I wasn’t too happy about leaving her at her apartment alone, knowing Lana would be home soon was slightly comforting. Hopefully, Kyle was still in town too.
I pulled up in front of her place and walked around quickly to open the door for her. The moment she got out, she wrapped her arms around my neck and whispered, “I’ll be okay. I can see the worry in your eyes.” She pulled back smiling. Pressing my lips to hers, I knew she was so much stronger than the woman I had been reintroduced to less than two weeks before. There’d been so much going on that I still wanted to protect her.
“Promise,” she insisted.
I nodded and kissed her again. “I don’t know how long I’ll be, but I’ll try to check on you.” I looked up at her building and then around the area. I really didn’t want to leave her there, yet I had to get down to the site ASAP.
“I’ll be fine. Besides…” Andi let that hang in the air for a moment. “Lana wants some girl time.”
I laughed, realizing I was actually being kicked out. I guess it was fate that there was a problem I was called away for so the girls could catch up. “All right. I get it.” I kissed her lips. “Have your girl time and I’ll check in on you later.”
“Okay.” She smiled big as she turned to walk back to the apartment. I continued watching until she reached the entrance. Pulling it open, she turned around and waved. There was that nagging feeling that this might not be the best plan—that maybe I should bring her with me.
Accidents Happen (Forever Happens Book 1) Page 19
