Fight to the Finish (First to Fight #3)(59)

“So it has to be done precisely in a way that won’t have any blowback on them.”

“Before or after we leave?” Greg wondered, shifting slightly on his mat.

“After.” Maybe. “I asked them to come watch us. I was going to fly them down to Texas to watch. That’s how this whole thing came out. She had to explain why they wouldn’t be able to come.”

“She still could, couldn’t she?” Greg sat up a little on his elbows. “Oh. Right. The kid. Can’t leave him home alone. Well, damn.”

“Go to sleep,” Brad grumbled. “In less than two days, we’ll be on the way to Texas. You can chitchat and gossip all you want on the way there.”

“It’s like he doesn’t even know us,” Greg said on an exaggerated sigh. “Nighty night, fellas.”

Graham smiled in the dark, thankful he had two friends who got where he was coming from, and who didn’t judge him—okay, only a little—for knowing his own mind and his heart where Kara and Zach were concerned.

Now to figure out the rest of the puzzle.





CHAPTER


17

Kara twisted her fingers together, then forced her palms to smooth out over the conference table. Nerves fluttered in her belly, and she knew they were only more so because every fifteen minutes she sat in this room, she was paying through the nose.

“Kara, hi.” Tasha Williams, dressed as always in a sharply tailored suit in ivory with a silk maroon blouse under that made her dark skin look gorgeous, walked into the conference room. All of her outfits made her curves look equally alluring and dangerous, like the femme fatale of the courtroom. She closed the door behind her and extended her hand, as always, while she pulled out a chair to sit down. “Sorry to keep you waiting. Let’s get started.” Pen in hand, she opened the folder with Kara’s past records. “Based on our history with Zach’s father, we—”

“I need to get out of this,” Kara blurted out, then closed her eyes. Yup, that was definitely the mature way to handle that.

Tasha set her pen down and settled back in her chair. Her dark eyes were kind, even understanding, as she motioned for Kara to continue.

“I met a man. And . . .” Biting her lip, she forced herself to go on. “He’s just . . . amazing. He makes me realize I could have more. And even if we didn’t work out, he makes me want more than just a single life with Zach. I . . . I deserve more.”

“Finally.” Leaning forward, Tasha took both hands and grabbed Kara’s shoulders, shaking gently. “Finally, girl. You’ve been playing defense for way too long. You’ve seen the light! Let’s get on the offense. But first, this man wouldn’t happen to be the same one you had me add to my list of approved contacts, would it? One . . .” She checked her file. “Graham Sweeney?”

Kara felt the flush move up to the roots of her hair. “Maybe.”

“Girl, bump that ‘maybe’ up to a ‘yes, ma’am.’” Tasha’s tight, dark curls bounced as she shook her head in appreciation. “He was something to look at.”

That took her back a step. “What? He was in here?”

Tasha nodded and picked her pen back up. “You bet. This morning, in fact. We had a quick chat so I could catch him up on the situation, gave him my honest opinion, answered a few of his questions, gave him some counsel, and that was that.”

“How did he . . . I mean, what did he ask?”

Her attorney looked regretful at that. “Unfortunately, I can’t say. Captain Sweeney was here officially as a client.”

“But . . . it’s my case.”

“Mmm, yes and no.” Looking caught between a rock and a hard place, Tasha shrugged. “He was more consulting with me on a matter related to, but not directly in line with your specific custody battle. He paid for my services. He’s sharp, that one. He’s got the client-attorney privilege. If you want to know more, you’ll have to ask him. Sorry.”

She blew out a breath and nodded once. “Fine. I’d like to find a way to get my son into my full custody. If I want to move to another state, or if I want to marry a man and have Zach take his name . . . or if I want to take him to freaking Disney World, I want that option, without the threat of his support being ‘forgotten’ for a month. It will be tight. I have to start budgeting my life around only my salary. But I’ll make it work.” It had to work. She was so tired of letting a negligent, careless, pitiful excuse for a man dictate what she could and could not do with herself.

“Let’s see what we can do here.” Tasha clicked her pen back on and grinned. “Time to get to work.”


*

GRAHAM checked the address once more, then got out of his car. This wasn’t what he expected when he’d taken the contact information for Henry Theodore James . . . but then again, he had no clue what else he could have expected. The home was a simple, well-maintained single family dwelling in a lower middle-class neighborhood. Not the best area, but a decent part of Jacksonville.

Maybe in his mind, he’d seen something rundown, bordering on a hovel. A home to match the kind of man that neglected his son and that son’s mother for a decade.

Or maybe that’s just what he wished Henry James lived in.

No car in the driveway, though it could have been pulled into the single-car garage. The odds were he was at work. But Graham walked up the narrow walkway, lined by well-groomed shrubs, and knocked on the door anyway. He took another step back when the inside door opened.