Unbreakable (City Lights, #2)(58)

“When is the hearing?”

“Two days. Friday, ten a.m. Superior Court. I’m worried he’s going to lose big. He’ll have to move to Sitka and he’ll never get his GC license.”

I sat back in my chair, biting my lip. No, no, no. This is the exact opposite of what I need right now. “What’s a GC license? General Contractor?”

“Yeah, and he’s got the brains for it. And if Cory could get his license, we’d all jump ship to work for him like that.” He snapped his fingers. “He just needs the chance.”

“I’m not the kind of lawyer he needs,” I said slowly. “There’s a family law attorney in my firm. Maybe I can call him and get some advice.”

Vic’s jaw clenched. “Would that guy work for free? Because on top of everything else, Cory’s got about $250K in hospital bills. He’s royally f*cked, is what I’m trying to tell you, and he doesn’t need some guy who’s only doing you a favor. Cory needs the best to help him. That’s you. Isn’t it?”

The truth of the situation cut through the knots and tangles in my heart like a sharp knife. “Yes,” I whispered. Then louder, “Yes, I’ll help him. Jesus, he saved my life. Whatever he needs. Whatever I can do.”

Vic’s friendly face broke out into a relieved smile. “Gracias. I mean it, thank you. Thank you.”

I nodded, slipping easily into my killer sharkskin. “Georgia’s not taking Callie anywhere.”

#

Back home, I paced, gnawing at my lip now, deep in thought. My bluster with Vic ebbed when it became abundantly clear that I had no idea how to go about doing what I’d promised.

Hal Bennett was the family law attorney at Lawson & Dooney, but I couldn’t recall a time in which I hadn’t seen Hal chugging Maalox and chewing Tums like they were candy. He was perpetually swamped and the chances of him being able to look at Cory’s case and be free in two days to attend the hearing and do the whole thing pro bono—because I refused to let Cory wrack up a bunch of attorney fees on top of everything else—were slim to none.

“I have to do it myself,” I muttered, wandering my bungalow as twilight fell outside the windows in coppery hues. I wasn’t well-versed in family law. Could Georgia just take Callie out of state? I seemed to recall from my law school studies that it wasn’t easy, especially when the father wasn’t abusive or a criminal. But with no immediate place to live, I wasn’t so sure about Cory’s chances.

And that hospital bill. That was the real bitch. I could advise Cory to declare bankruptcy and then nearly laughed out loud at the thought. I knew he’d rather walk through fire than surrender his debts. It would destroy his credit for years.

I thought about asking my father to help and rejected that as well. It would hurt Cory just as much as it would help him if one person just swooped in and took all that off his hands. His pride and sense of integrity would never recover and I couldn’t do that to him. There had to be another way.

A slow smile spread over my face. “He wouldn’t let any one person help him,” I murmured. An idea unspooled and its perfection nearly made me shout for joy.

I fished my cell phone out of my bag but before I could make my call, it rang with a number I didn’t recognize.

“Hello?”

“Alexandra Gardener?”

“Yes.”

“Hi, I’m Nicole, one of Cory Bishop’s nurses. You left a hat here and he wanted me to let you know we had it.”

“A hat…?” I had to think for a minute before remembering I’d worn one of Drew’s old hats the first time I visited Cory in the hospital. “Oh right.”

“I don’t normally call patients’ friends over such a silly thing, but you two just seemed so darn cute together. Attached, last I saw…” I could hear her smile knowingly.

I cleared my throat. “Listen, Nicole, you’re actually just the person I need to talk to.”

“Oh yeah? Shoot, honey.”

I told Nicole a few details of the plan, and she was on board before I’d even had finished.

“This is wonderful,” she cried. “The girls and I had started one of those…what’s it called? Kickstarters? But we’ve been too busy to really get the word out. This should do the trick…”

“It’s perfect.”

“You got that right!”

We ironed out a few more details and I hung up, highly satisfied. I next tracked down Carol, Gil, and Tanya. Talking to them was more difficult than I had anticipated. The sounds of their voices alone tried to suck me back into the bank. But I powered through and told them the situation. It warmed my heart to hear they were all more than willing to do whatever it took.

“We’re not going to let him down,” Carol promised.

After, I called Vic and gave him a much more black and white version of the plan.

“He’ll hate that,” Vic said, though I could hear the relieved smile in his voice. “He might hate us.”

“Let him,” I said, smiling too. “It’s not like he doesn’t deserve it.”

I got off the phone with Vic after the man promised to give me a progress report the next day. It was a long shot, but I felt optimistic for our chances.

“One down, one to go…”