“Not at all, doll face.”
I unlocked my phone and clicked into the missed calls list. “Don’t ever call me that again.”
“Kitten?”
I scrolled through two calls from Cassie and one from Rhett. “Nope,” I answered without looking up.
“Sexy stuff?”
“Definitely not.”
“Sweetheart?”
“I have a name. Use it.”
“Okay, Emmster.”
I shot him a death glare, and he responded with a big grin. I shook my head and turned my attention back to my phone, checking my messages. Landon’s was one word “Lunch?” the other two were from Freddie, letting me know she’d be home late.
I typed a message to Cassie to let her know I would be coming into the office a bit later.
Me:Lawyer’s all done. Out for lunch. Back soon.
She responded immediately.
Cassie:Better make it quick, want to know what lawyers said!!!
I put my phone away, ignoring all the other messages.
“Ready to tell me all your deep, dark secrets?”
A snort escaped and I shook my head. “No dark secrets. Just too much money that’s causing problems and a loon for a mom. But otherwise everything is peachy.”
He sensed I didn’t really want to talk about my mom anymore and like the good friend he turned out to be, moved the conversation along.
“Are you secretly a millionaire?”
I looked anywhere but at Landon and he slapped the table. “No way. I was joking. How? Last time I talked to you, the only thing that actually belonged to you was your piece of shit car.”
“Turns out Josie came with a trust fund.”
“Your niece, right?”
I nodded. “Her dad had life insurance and the money is now sitting in an account, making my life miserable.”
“Now, if that’s not a perfect example of a first world problem, I don’t know what is.”
“Shut up. It’s not that simple.”
“Then talk to me, baby girl.”
I ignored the pet name and decided to confide in him. He was a great guy, and it wasn’t like I was giving him the pin number to my bank card. “My mom is a selfish cow who would do anything to make my life miserable. So now she’s trying to get custody of my niece. Even though she hates kids.”
“I’m sorry, honey. Can the lawyer help you?”
“I doubt he would. He wanted to get rid of me from the moment I set foot in his office. The McAllisters don’t have the best reputation in Butler. I’m sure he didn’t want to get involved in our drama.”
“So, you just find another lawyer.”
