Impact (Suncoast Society #32)(61)

Lor shook her head, amused. “You should have gone into PR, Lan. Seriously. She’s right—you are amazing.”

“I considered it, and law, and realized both were far too distasteful for my liking. No offense intended toward Ross or our dear friend, Ed. Or our attorney here in LA.”

“None taken,” Loren said. “Why do you think Ross practices IP law and not criminal or personal law? He didn’t want to deal with criminal or divorce cases.”

They stopped by the pediatrician’s office first for Katie’s appointment.

Dr. Rahling turned to Loren. “Are you the birth mom?”

She laughed, long and hard, until Tilly had to explain no, Loren was just her snarky best friend who’d flown out to help and give moral support.

“Ah, sorry about that,” he said to Loren. Then, to Tilly, “Any concerns?”

“No,” Tilly said. “Nothing beyond what we discussed last week.”

“Physically,” Loren said.

“Beg pardon?” Dr. Rahling asked.

“Sorry,” Loren said. “We got some bad news on Monday.”

“Oh?”

Tilly filled him in. She’d forgotten Sofia had still been free when she’d brought the baby in last week.

“I’m so sorry,” the doctor said, staring at the baby. “What are your plans for her now?”

“We’re going to formally adopt her,” Tilly said. “The mother’s family is trying to file a motion for custody, but Sofia specifically told the judge at the hearing that she didn’t want any of them to have custody. Our attorney is very hopeful that we should win this.”

He nodded. “Good. I’m glad she’s not going to be displaced again.”

Loren snorted. “Good luck trying to get that baby away from her.”

After the examination, Tilly wasn’t sure if she or the doctor was more pleased by the baby having gained over a pound while in their care.

“Keep it up,” he told her. “I’ll see you back in a week.”

“What did her blood work show?” Tilly asked.

“Good point.” He flipped through her chart and scanned the test results while Tilly’s imagination spun out a thousand horrific scenarios in the space of a breath.

“Looks normal,” he said as she breathed a sigh of relief. “And you’ll be happy to hear there’s no sign of drugs in her system, either.”

“Thank god.”

Loren was busy getting the baby dressed while the doctor went over a few last things with Tilly. “Next Thursday, then,” Dr. Rahling said. “I’m thinking after that, as long as she’s still gaining weight and there are no other problems, we’ll move to a monthly schedule until she’s six months old. I’ll have my nurse make you a copy of the height and weight chart so you can check her progress and note if there are any delays. After that, barring any illnesses, we’ll put her on a normal infant schedule.”

Tilly thought she’d cry and somehow managed to hold it back. “Thank you, doctor.” At least one damn thing had gone right.

They couldn’t use the decoy method this morning because of the doctor appointment. When they pulled into the parking lot at the office, there were six paparazzi across the street, and Tilly gave up trying to duck them. If they were going to take their pictures, they were going to take them.

By lunchtime, Tilly had composed her statement and read it to Loren and Leigh, who both approved of it. After sending it to Landry and Cris for them to sign off on, Tilly started e-mailing it out in response to the inquiries.

The first iteration of it appeared on a local news show for a network affiliate during their six o’clock broadcast.

Already at home, Tilly and Loren watched as the anchor read snippets of the statement after showing a segment of Loren’s video, followed by a lame-ass “can’t comment due to an ongoing investigation” statement from a jail official.

And some very uncomfortable questions were raised by the reporter as to why Sofia hadn’t been better protected while incarcerated.

Now the photographer was looking like a real shit when all the information was put together.

The officials in charge of the jail where Sofia had been housed were looking even worse, especially as the reporter led into a story about disturbing injury and death statistics from that particular facility.

Loren held her fist up, and Tilly bumped her.

“I hate to say it,” Tilly said, “but Lan was right. Spinning it like this not only seems to be working, but it’s taking the heat off us and putting it on the corrections system.”

“Yep.” Loren sighed. “Shame it took the death of someone related to someone who is in a relationship with someone who works for someone who’s famous to get that spotlight.”

Tilly cocked her head. “Is it strange that I totally understood that sentence?”

“Considering how brain-fried you are,” Loren said, “I’d say it’s fricking amazing.”

Dale Waters called Tilly shortly before Landry and Cris returned home. “Guess what? Your PR blitzkrieg worked. Archie Lounds’ attorney sent me an e-mail that they’re backing off, and would appreciate it if Loren wouldn’t mind speaking up on his behalf to get the child endangerment charges dropped.”