“Until you weren’t.”
“Something like that. I suppose it was probably inevitable. One night, he announced he’d gotten a grant to do research on elk migration patterns. In Alaska. And he wanted me to go with him.”
Gabe cocked one eyebrow. “To Alaska?”
“Yeah. Big shock. At which point, things got, um, real serious real fast. I did give it some thought, but in the cold light of morning, the whole idea seemed impossible. So I took him to the airport and kissed him goodbye, and six weeks later, I realized I was pregnant.”
“And what? He dumped you?”
“He doesn’t know,” Brooke said.
Gabe set his beer down carefully on the tabletop and gave her a quizzical look.
“I had my reasons for not telling him,” Brooke said. “But according to my mom, he has a right to know that he has a son.”
“And what do you think?”
“I’m… conflicted,” she admitted. “Things are complicated between Pete and me. And the more time that goes by, the harder it is for me to reach out and tell him. I don’t want anything from him. I don’t expect anything.”
“But maybe you’re afraid Pete will want to have some part in raising your son? Maybe even attempt to take him from you?” Gabe asked.
“There’s that. Henry’s all I have.”
“I think it suits you. Motherhood, I mean. Are you happy down here, Brooke?”
“Happy?” With her fingertip, she drew circles in the tabletop water rings.
“I guess that’s relative. St. Ann’s is a small town, and the lawyers here are a pretty clannish bunch. They didn’t actually throw me a welcoming parade. So I take whatever cases I can get. As for the rest of it, I’ve been lucky. I’ve got good childcare, including Farrah, who helps out in the office and babysits when I need her. And my mom comes down as often as she can. She’s here right now, watching Henry, and she’ll stay until after this weird meet and greet with Josephine on Friday.”
Now it was Brooke studying her old law partner and mentor. “Speaking of Josephine, are you going to tell me what that ‘confidential meeting’ was about?”
“Nope. Sorry, but she was insistent.”
“I really can’t figure her out. I mean, why hire me? I told her I have no experience with the legal work she needs done, but she’s adamant that I’m the only girl for the job.”
“She has her reasons,” Gabe said. He looked down at his watch and then around the room. “I’d better get going if I’m going to make it back to Savannah.”
As if on cue, Addie, their waitress, was back, with two towering slices of what looked like key lime pie. “From Myles,” she said.
They turned to look, and Myles waved again.
25
Brooke and Marie Trappnell stood outside the baggage claim door at the Jacksonville airport. It had rained earlier, and now steam rose from the still-damp sidewalk and road. Brooke’s cell phone dinged.
The automatic doors slid open, and a handful of passengers emerged: a young family with a baby in a stroller, a pair of suited businessmen, two college-aged girls dressed in tight white shorts and matching sorority jerseys, and the last, a tall, striking-looking woman with short, spiky, blue-streaked hair who had an animal crate tucked under one arm and was dragging a rolling suitcase.
“That’s gotta be Lizzie,” Brooke told her mother.
“And she brought a friend,” Marie added.
Brooke stepped forward. “Lizzie?”
“That’s me,” the woman said. “You must be Brooke. Here,” she said, thrusting the carrier at her. She gestured toward the Volvo parked at the curb. “I hope that’s yours. We’ve got to get Dweezil into some air-conditioning. She’s not used to this crazy humidity.”
As if on cue, the animal inside the crate yowled loudly, reached a paw through the crate’s metal bars, and raked Brooke’s arm with her claws.
“Dweezil! That wasn’t very nice,” Lizzie said, taking the crate back. Shelooked up at Brooke. “Let’s go. We’ve been up since midnight. I need a drink, and she needs a litter box.”
