He smiles, but this one is dark and devious and leaves me standing there and squirming much as I did yesterday when he looked like he wanted to strangle Freddy in my front yard. “Oh, this is not just for free—it’ll be for funsies. Kelly and those boys have already been through so much. I’m going to make that man my hobby until he coughs up what he owes her.”
Thisis the man I fell in love with. I lean in and kiss him. “Thank you. I promise I won’t make you give free legal aid to everyone in Maudlin Falls, but if you’d seen her the other day—”
“Hey,” he gently says. “You don’t need to justify yourself. I said I’d do anything you asked, and I meant it. It just so happens it’ll be my absolute pleasure to go after this guy and bury him in litigation.”
“Thanks. Keep me posted.”
“Will do.” I watch him drive off and as I’m standing there, Kurt strolls over.
“This mean he’s back for good?”
I slowly nod. “Yep. We’re moving him back next weekend.” I smile. “And I don’t think I could be happier about that if I tried. He’s ready to spend the rest of his life with me.”
I head for my truck, knowing darn well that word of this development will race around town before I even make it back to the store, courtesy of Maudlin Falls’ gossip network.
Which is exactly what I want to happen. The more people who know he’s back, the less people will interrogate me about it when they see us out and together. It’ll speed up the acceptance process for my friends.
Hopefully, I won’t regret that, either.
Chapter Sixteen
Desi
I know I should be looking at this as an opportunity to do a good deed for someone whose luck has been sorely lacking, but I can’t help simultaneously and eagerly embracing this as a chance to suck up to Tomas and more fully cement winning him back.
Goodness knows I need all the help I can get in that department.
No, he doesn’t fully trust me yet, and I understand why and don’t blame him.
I left him. He has no reason yet to believe I won’t leave again. Freddy showing up really threw a monkey wrench into my plans and triggered Tom.
Thanks, Mom.
The more I can do to show Tom how vested I am in us and this town, the easier it’ll be to fully win him back and ease his heart and soul.
If stupid Freddy hadn’t shown up yesterday, this current mission would only be good-deed territory.
Instead of going to Keith Barnes’ place, I backtrack home, park in our driveway, and walk down to Kelly’s house.
I knock on the front door and when she opens it, I don’t miss the shock there. “Desi? You’re back?” She offers me a hug.
“Yeah. Hey, you have a few minutes to talk?”
“Sure. I just got back from taking the boys to school. Come in.”
She leads me into the living room and I waste no time on pleasantries. “I need to see everything you have about your custody case and the judgments regarding alimony and child support. I also need all the information you have on your ex-husband.”
“What? Why?”
“Because I’m your new attorney. For free,” I quickly add when I can see she’s about to object. “Please, let me do this for you.”
She brings me a banker’s box full of paperwork and I quickly sift through it, taking pictures of key things I’ll need immediately to begin my own preparations.
“My attorney said it can sometimes take years to nail someone down.”
“It can, if someone doesn’t have the resources to bury the creep.”
“What are you going to go?”
