His head went back and forth. “Yes and no. I could never shake that others might have blamed me. Gale, I’m sitting on the dock eating a sub and texting my friends stupid meaningless shit while a worm is drowning on a line next to me. Why didn’t I feel something was wrong?” He leaned closer. “I can see her in my dreams as vividly as I can see you sitting across from me, but I didn’t know she was in trouble? Why does that happen?”
Her hand reached for his on the table. “One of those mysteries for the world.”
“And you wanted to talk about you and here I am, talking about me. Why law?”
She patted his hand. “It’s going to go back to you. Or back to the case.”
“Cooper?” he asked.
“Parts of it. I didn’t like the injustice done to him. I wanted to fight for the little guy. Maybe that has always been my nature anyway. I like control and money. So you know, I needed to find a career for that. Being my own boss gives me the control. The money is still coming and will, but those things take time.”
“You could have gone to any other bigger area, why not?”
“I still service other areas, even have clients in Albany, but this is where my heart is. It’s where I need to be, so I have to make the best of what is available.”
“Gale.”
They both turned their heads when her name was called.
“Kane,” she said, her eyes on his. Few had that name in this area and it looked to him like he was going to meet one owner of the company that kept popping up in his research.
“It’s so nice to see you out to dinner. You remember my wife, Ashleigh, right?”
“I don’t know if we’ve formally met before,” she said, putting her hand out. “It’s nice to meet you. This is Rory.”
He shook hands with the guy who was blatantly staring at his date in front of his wife. What a dickhead.
Kane turned his attention to Rory, their hands still shaking. He could see the guy was processing. “Not sure we’ve met before. I hadn’t realized Gale was seeing anyone, or is this business?”
Gale laughed. “You should know better than to ask that, Kane. I like to keep people guessing.”
Kane was assessing the situation. Rory knew damn well the guy was aware of who he was. It was as clear and blinding as the diamonds dripping off of Ashleigh.
“You always were that way. I’ll let you get back to your dinner. Ashleigh and I had an early date night while my mother has the kids.”
“It’s always nice to get out,” she said.
The minute the McGregors were out of sight, Rory asked, “Why didn’t you give my last name?”
“Because he knows who you are. I like people to think they’ve got the upper hand. It’s better to see what cracks and crawls out.”
“That’s where you and I are different. I’m not afraid to shake some trees if I need to.”
“I know. But be careful,” Gale said. “He came over to the table for a reason. I noticed his wife halfway out the door before he pulled her over.”
“Oh, so it wasn’t only me that picked up on her annoyance that Kane was checking you out?”
She leaned in closer. “Some men can’t help themselves with me, but anyone who cheats, lies, steals, or pisses me off, they better take cover.”
“Guess that’s something else that is good to know.”
14
CROSS TOO MANY LINES
“When is Rory getting here?” her mother asked on Sunday afternoon. “I thought you would have come together.”
“I’m going to pick him up in a few minutes. I wanted to stop over and talk to you both first.”
