Did I really get a good feeling about this guy at his office? My radar is busted. “I want that part about custody gone.”
“We’ll make it happen, Mrs. Maddox.”
I hang up. Why do I feel like my lawyer isn’t exactly working for me anymore?
Down in the drive, Adrian laughs at something Sal says. He sways back on his heels, his hands in his pockets. The sun glints on his thick, shiny hair. He doesn’t have a care in the world.
He’s about to.
I shove my phone in my jeans pocket. “Come on, Pearl. I need to go talk to Daddy.” It’s the only thing I could say that would make her okay with walking away from a table covered in shaving cream.
She holds up her soapy hands. “What about these?”
I grab her by the waist, carry her to the sink, hold her over the basin so she can stick her hands under the faucet, and aim her at the towel. She scrubs, dries, and turns off the water for me. We’re a well-oiled machine.
“Don’t forget Winnie, Mommy,” she reminds me.
“I wasn’t going to.” I slide the baby into her ring sling and my feet into the Crocs by the door. “Let’s go.”
I’m not sure exactly what I’m going to say—or what I evencansay in front of the girls—but he can’t just have his lawyer tell my lawyer to push me around while he yuks it up, talking cars with the gardener.
We startle Vera as we parade through the foyer. She’s fussing with this week’s roses. The florist has moved on from fall colors to the red and white he sends through the holidays.
“Oh, let me get the door for you, Mrs. Maddox,” Vera says, hurrying over.
“I’ve got it,” Pearl announces, and she mostly does. After she slips out the crack she makes, I open the door the rest of the way and trail after her down the steps to the U-shaped drive.
Adrian has the gall to catch my eye and smile.
“Where are you ladies going?” he asks.
“To visit you, Daddy.” Pearl reaches for him, and he swings her into his arms.
“How’d I get so lucky?”
“Mommy got a phone call in the bathroom and then she said, ‘I need to talk to Daddy.’”
My cheeks heat. I can’t be mad. By the time I was her age, I already knew not to rat my mom out to a man. Pearl doesn’t even have that concept and that’s a point of pride for me.
“Oh, did she?” Adrian’s eyes go sharkish. “Do you want to drive Daddy’s car while I listen to what Mommy has to say?”
“Yes!”
“Well, that’s my cue to run and hide,” Sal jokes. “Mrs. Maddox.” He nods.
“Sorry to interrupt, Sal.”
“Not at all.” He touches the brim of his ballcap and heads toward the garage.
Adrian is already helping Pearl into the Scorpion. “Point to the emergency brake,” he says.
She does.
“Do we ever touch that?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
