Avoiding Temptation (Avoiding #3)(51)

Ramsey took an unexpected turn, and Lexi raised her eyebrows.

“Where are we going?”

“Just the long way home,” he said with a smirk that suggested he wasn’t telling the truth.

“Oh, really?” she asked. “This seems like really far out of the way.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The way his eyes gleamed told her otherwise, but she decided to let it go and wait to see where he was taking her.

About fifteen minutes later, they pulled up in front of Morelli’s, and Lexi laughed.

“Ice cream?” she asked.

“You looked like you needed some,” he responded before getting out of his car.

Morelli’s was a local Atlanta ice cream shop that had opened relatively recently and won the hearts of everyone around. With an old-school style walk-up menu and over thirty flavors that changed daily, Morelli’s was the best place in town, and it had been rated best ice cream in Atlanta almost since its inception.

Even in the chilly October weather, the place was still packed, and they filed into line. Once they reached the front, Ramsey ordered a scoop of the butter pecan with a cone, and Lexi chose the coffee fudge almond.

Cones in hand, they walked over to a bench and sat down.

“So…what do you think?” Ramsey asked after a minute.

“I like her,” she admitted.

“You do?” He didn’t seem convinced.

She took a deep breath and stared down at her ice cream. Seriously, it was heavenly. “She seems nice and put-together. She knows what she’s doing, and she I think she’s genuinely interested in what I want…what we want. You’re very comfortable with her, and that means a lot, too.”

“I am. She’s very professional.”

“I know. I can tell. I was very worried that she would expect me to be Bekah, but she didn’t treat me that way at all. I won’t have time for everything she mentioned, and I don’t know two things about putting a wedding together,” she told him, finally looking up at him. “Plus, I don’t really want to sit through another one of those meetings again.”

Ramsey burst out laughing. “That’s my Alexa right there,” he said, leaning forward and kissing her lips. “I love you so much.”

“I love you, too,” she murmured softly.

“And you’re sure you want to hire her? I only want what’s best for you.”

“Yes,” she said, nodding slowly. “Let’s do it.”

Lexi yanked the door open to the courthouse and strode through the double doors. She had just gotten out of work, so she fit the lawyer profile that afternoon in a gray pencil skirt suit and cream blouse. She had left her jacket in the car, but her dark brown leather messenger bag was slung over her shoulder. The only thing that would identify her as out of sorts was she had pulled most of her dark brown hair into a messy bun at the back of her head earlier that day, and it had fallen out with loose tendrils framing her face.

She didn’t think anyone would recognize her where she was headed anyway. Her office worked on corporate matters, not family law.

Jack had frantically called the day of her meeting with the wedding planner to let her know that a temporary hearing had been set up to decide immediate circumstances before an official court date could be held. The court had expedited the case to be heard only three days from then. Lexi had been shocked that they had moved it up so quickly. That typically only happened in extreme cases when children or money were involved.

Lexi wondered if Bekah had bought off the judge. If that had happened already, this really wasn’t going to go well.

Jack had spoken to the attorney she had gotten for him, but Jack hadn’t called Lexi for advice. She had given him everything that she had on that front and then some. But the way he had spoken to her…the need in his voice…it had pierced her heart.

“I wasn’t lying when I said that I didn’t have anyone else. I’m living with Seth right now, but I can’t talk to him about this. What would he understand about a broken marriage? He and Sandy are the picture-perfect couple,” Jack had said.

“I’m just trying to stay out of it, Jack,” Lexi had tried to tell him.

She hadn’t told him that she was keeping a promise to Ramsey. Sure, she had never actually told Ramsey that she would stay out of it, but she had felt obligated to do so. It had been an unspoken agreement of sorts.

“I know. It’s just that this is the hardest thing I’ve ever gone through, and it feels like I have a transmittable disease or something. None of my friends want to get caught up in this, and I still have to go into work every day at Bridges. I don’t know why I thought you would understand that, Lex. You’ve just always understood me,” he had said softly.

“Jack,” she had groaned, “it’s not that I don’t understand.”

He had sighed heavily on the other end. “Forget I asked, all right? I know you have your own life. I doubt Ramsey wants you involved in this. If I know him, I’d bet he asked you to stay out of it.”

Lexi had remained silent.

“I see. And here I thought, we were past all of that.” He had sounded defeated…like he had hit rock bottom.

“Jack,” she had whispered. She had hated the desperation in his voice.