I had my hands full of freezer food when my phone rang, and I threw some tater tots in the freezer so I could pull it out of my pocket. Like an idiot, I put it to my ear without checking who was calling.
“Mr. Banks,” the voice on the other line said sternly as soon as I’d answered. “You’re a hard man to reach.”
Fuck.
“I’ve left you a few messages, and I was prepared to leave another one. As I said in my last voicemail, this is Lewis Concord. I’m an attorney with Concord and Ford. Is this a good time for you to speak?”
“Not really,” I replied, stuffing the rest of the frozen food into the freezer. “Why don’t I call you back—”
My words trailed off as Lou walked in the back door and set trays of food on the counter. She smiled at me and waved, lifting her eyebrows as she glanced at the phone.
“Mr. Banks, I represent Bernice Macintosh,” the lawyer said quickly, like he was afraid I would hang up.
Once, not long after the Aces had agreed to take me on as a prospect, I’d been working out with Titus’s oldest brother, Mick. We were taking turns working a punching bag, and he hit it at just the moment I wasn’t paying attention. It smacked my torso so hard that it knocked the air out of me, and I’d fallen to my knees in terror as I’d tried to drag oxygen back into my lungs.
The lawyer’s words had the same effect, but this time I was able to keep my legs under me.
“I have the privilege of taking care of Ms. Macintosh’s estate,” the lawyer continued. “Of which you are a beneficiary. If you’d like, I can detail that now or you could come to my office next week, and I can walk you through—”
“It’s not a good time,” I said, cutting him off. I could feel Lou’s eyes like lasers on the side of my face. “I’ll call back.”
“I won’t be available again until Monday,” he warned.
“Monday’s good. I’ll call then.” I hung up before he could say anything else.
“What’s wrong?” Lou asked, moving toward me. “You’re white as a ghost.”
“Nothin’,” I replied, shaking my head.
“Bullshit.” She scowled, her gaze roaming over my face.
“Really,” I said, reaching out to pull her into a hug. “Everything is fine.”
“Who was that on the phone?” she pressed, tipping her head back to look at me.
“Damn, woman, can I have any privacy?”
“Oh, you want privacy now, huh?” she argued as I let her go. “Mr. I’m-going-to-follow-you-at-a-distance-so-you-won’t-realize-I’m-watching-your-date.”
“That happened one fucking time two years ago,” I reminded her. “And you tore me a new one.”
“Which you deserved for acting like a psychopath,” she said simply as she helped me take the rest of the groceries out of the bags.
“I knew that guy was a creep. You’re lucky I was there.”
“The ends do not justify the means,” she said, shaking her head. “Which I also explained thoroughly back then.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
The banter was as easy as breathing, that’s what happened when you knew someone so well—but my mind was in a completely different city. In a differenttime.
“You sure everything is okay?” Lou asked, tipping her head to the side. “You can talk to me, you know?”
“Really?” I replied, a little mocking. “Because I wasn’t really sure if we werethereyet.”
Lou rolled her eyes. “Fine, but the offer is on the table.”
“Thanks, Lou.”
