Drew wiped his hand over his mouth, wanting to catch his sudden alarm. The attorney general had released a statement to the press about the charges against Drew. On the same day the district attorney had insinuated in a press conference that Drew was guilty. Cory Vinson, the current district attorney, had lied. Now, suddenly the attorney general’s office was looking into Sophie’s nonprofit. Drew never subscribed to coincidence. “Why were you asked to step down Sophie?”
She refused to look at him. A quiver worked across her chin before she buried her face in the kitten’s fur.
Apprehension bit into his skin, spreading more and more with every moment of Sophie’s silence. “You were asked to step down because of me, weren’t you?”
Sophie simply cuddled the kitten closer and imitated the animal’s soft purr.
“Sophie,” Drew pressed.
Finally she nodded.
That dread sank through Drew’s chest. He was being unjustly accused of witness tampering on a murder trial he had led and won two years prior, his paralegal who’d been with him from his first day at the district attorney’s office had been randomly reassigned within the department and now this.
He switched off the laser beam pointer, faced Sophie and did his best to bury his frustration. “But I’m not associated with the Paw and Bark foundation. Other than attending its fundraising gala, I’m not connected.”
“We’re associated.” Sophie flicked her wrist between them.
“We’re family.” His family was supposed to be off-limits. In fact, they should have been protected. The charges against him should not have impacted them. But his enemies seemed to be playing according to their own rules. All of this was because of him.
It was worse than he’d suspected.
He no longer wondered if he was being framed. He knew it and he had to find the evidence to prove it before it wasn’t only his potential downfall on the line. He inhaled once. Slow and steady. Then again. Outbursts and temper flares solved nothing. No one had ever won in a courtroom that way.
One more inhale and he tested his voice, pushing resolve into each word. “I’m going to fix this, Sophie. Get you back as the chair of your foundation.”
She reached over and grabbed his hand. “You’re going to concentrate on your case and forget my foundation.”
“I can’t do that.” He wasn’t guilty. Neither was Sophie. Yet he’d started to fear that might not matter. Still, Sophie didn’t deserve this.
“You have to.” She squeezed his hand until his gaze met hers. “And you have to let us help you. Let Brad help you. He’s your brother. You guys would do anything for each other.”
The brothers never had to ask each other for help. It had always been freely given. Drew hesitated, then nodded. The same way he had as a kid after Brad had described one of his latest stunt-inspired ideas. Somehow Drew had always ended up involved in Brad’s ploys no matter the ploy.
He acknowledged Sophie’s words. Yet he refused to entangle his brother or his family any further. “You guys have enough to worry about. The twins are going to be here any day.”
“That doesn’t mean we can’t be there for you too,” Sophie challenged.
“If I told you that I had outside help, would that make you feel better?” Would it make him feel better? He twisted the cap back on the coffee thermos. The Irish cream suddenly curdling in his stomach.
“Is this good help?” she countered.
“She’s one of the best attorneys in the state,” Drew admitted.
She was also the one Drew had refused as his counsel, insisting he wanted to protect her reputation and livelihood. Still, Molly had been convinced she could defend him. But he hadn’t told Molly what he suspected was really going on. Would Molly even want to help him once she understood the real risks to her own career? Having his back in a professor’s office was a far cry from going into court against an enemy like the current district attorney.
He glanced at Sophie and saw the tears she refused to release. Anger and anguish twisted around his spine. He had no choice. He had to try before more of his family suffered.
“Why am I sensing a but coming?” Sophie’s smile was fragile. A flicker of hope flashed in her tear-soaked eyes. “She’s one of the best attorneys in the state, but...”
Drew scrubbed his hand over his face. “But I might have already dismissed her as my legal counsel.” Turned away her intelligence and experience. And hurt her feelings.
“Might have.” Sophie frowned. One of her eyebrows arched up. “Or did.”
No, that hadn’t happened. It wasn’t my fault. That was what he wanted to say to Sophie. It was Molly McKinney after all. Molly had gone through law school with an unyielding composure. One she hadn’t lost. But he’d seen Molly flinch on the balcony the other evening. The smallest of tells, there and gone on her face. But even in the shadows of the night sky, he’d noticed his refusal had gotten to her. Guilt knocked through him.
“I need to make this right,” Drew vowed. For his family. “I need to apologize to Molly too.”
He gathered the tuxedo kitten twins and slipped the pair back inside the oversized kennel. Scooped up the tabby and calico, easing the pair into the same kennel. All the kittens returned to their temporary home, the toys returned to the toy bin and the cat room returned to normal, Drew faced Sophie.
Now he had to return their lives to normal.
“Apologies always go better with gifts.” Sophie held out her hands and let Drew pull her to her feet. “And not just any generic gift either. Make it thoughtful.”
“How hard can that be.” Drew hugged his sister-in-law, silently vowing all would be fine. He would make sure of it.
One hour and a wardrobe change later, Drew strode through the lobby of the Fog City hotel, a shopping bag from Peapod Toy Parade in his right hand. A bag from Bouquets by Baylee in the other. With luck, he had captured thoughtful. But would his gifts and apology be enough?
To find out, he just needed Molly to open her hotel room door.
CHAPTER SIX
THE KNOCK ON the hotel room door interrupted Molly’s latest attempt to sooth an unhappy Hazel. Molly opened the door, eyed Drew and tried not to be too envious of his wrinkle-free, no-spit-up-embellished attire. Across the hall, another suite door opened, and the older woman in the doorway aimed a put-upon grimace in Molly’s direction before stuffing earplugs back in her ears.
Molly shifted a crying Hazel to her other hip and scowled at the older woman. She focused again on Drew. “This is definitely not a good time. I’m trying to get Hazel to sleep.”
“I only need five minutes.” His shopping bags transferred to one hand, he lifted his arm and spread out his fingers. “Just five minutes.”
That was enough time to drop off takeout. Or, in Drew’s case, give Molly an apology for firing her the other night. But she suspected he wasn’t there to give her the job back. Molly stroked Hazel’s flushed cheek and her daughter grabbed a hold of her finger. She opened her mouth to speak.
But a foursome of twentysomethings spilled out of the elevator, each one struggling to prove their mastery of the luggage cart. Loud voices and laughter bounced along the hallway. The clunking of ice from the machine into a bucket and the knocking of the luggage cart into the wall startled Hazel back into her tears and the start of a full-blown wail.
Drew lunged forward, set the two shopping bags he carried on the floor inside Molly’s hotel room and reached for Hazel. The little girl dropped into his arms willingly and eagerly. Molly welcomed Drew as if he were her personal baby whisperer. Turning him away was no longer an option.
She pushed him inside and quickly shut the hotel room door. He plucked one of the folded clean burp clothes from the side table, draped it over his shoulder and adjusted Hazel in his arms. Hazel buried her tear-stained face in his shoulder and quieted.
Molly ad
ded a silent thank-you. Without the piercing stab of Hazel’s cries, she could finally hear her own thoughts again. For one brief, impractical breath, Molly considered asking Drew to stay longer than five minutes. His baby-whisperer ways aside, she remembered he’d let her go. That had to matter.
“You know my friends, Dan and Brooke Sawyer, with the in-law apartment.” Drew moved around the suite, his body swaying from side to side, his hand rubbing Hazel’s back. “It’s available now.”
“That’s convenient.” She mimicked his tone from their rooftop conversation at the gala.
Slowly, with each step-sway, Hazel calmed. As for Drew, he remained in constant motion as if afraid to stop and possibly recharge Hazel’s crankiness.
“I need to apologize. I will apologize properly and sincerely for not keeping you as my counsel.” Drew’s voice lowered into a soothing murmur. Hazel sighed and pressed her cheek against his shoulder. “But please consider the apartment. It gets you out of this hotel room. Gives you some space.”
She needed space from Drew and his amazing baby-whispering ways. He wasn’t doing anything she hadn’t already done with Hazel. The same sway. Similar circles over Hazel’s back. He even added the occasional encouragement of, “Shhh. It’s all right.” And a, “There. There. I got you.”
Even Molly’s tension eased out of her. But Molly was used to doing everything for herself. She’d approached the role of single motherhood with the identical strategy and determination. She’d assumed only she could settle her daughter. Here Drew was, proving her wrong. And she felt...not anger, but relief.
And it scared her. Drew was not her partner. He wasn’t there to hold her and promise her everything would be okay. That Molly wanted to set her head on his shoulder had her retreating, one step, then two. “You could have texted to tell me that your friends’ perfect apartment is suddenly available.”
“But then I couldn’t have given you the teddy bear and amethyst air plant.” Drew pointed toward the bags at the door.
“An amethyst air plant.” Molly’s mouth dropped open.
“Baylee at the flower shop told me amethyst brings positive energy and balance.” He paused and cleared his throat as if reconsidering his explanation. “And the air plant needs very little care like those cactus plants you had all around your apartment at school.”
Her frustration dimmed as if she’d pressed mute. He remembered her apartment from college. Remembered she liked cactus plants. Hadn’t wanted to put her reputation at risk by letting her represent him. He was considerate and protective like a good friend should be.
But who was protecting Drew?
Molly stepped closer to Drew and peered at Hazel. Her blue eyes were open. No more tears dampened her former red cheeks. Finally. The poor thing had been crying since Molly had picked Hazel up from the Tiny Sweet Giggles Day Care. Not even their daily cable car ride had improved Hazel’s bad mood.
Nothing had worked until Drew had arrived.
A deep sigh escaped from Hazel. Molly picked up Hazel’s favorite llama blanket and arranged it around her daughter. Hazel was completely content. Drew’s manner had always reassured and bolstered Molly. If she stepped into his arms, would she discover her own kind of contentment too?
Wait. Contentment had never been a goal. The collapse of Molly’s relationship with her ex had taught her the consequences of complacency. Not a mistake she’d ever make twice. Molly retreated. “What’s really going on? You just show up unannounced with gifts and an apartment for no reason as if you’ve become Santa.”
“You make Santa sound bad.” The tease in his voice tipped one corner of his mouth up.
“You haven’t believed in Santa ever.” The same as Molly. She sorted the small pile of Hazel’s clothes she’d washed earlier at the laundromat, rather than lose herself in Drew’s half smile. The one that used to hook inside her and urge her closer and closer to him. Back then, she’d been a silly college student with a crush. “Remember that Thanksgiving we spent together on campus in undergrad when we shared our holiday horror stories growing up.” She sat in front of the coffee table and finished folding Hazel’s tops.
Drew’s grin expanded in stages as if the memory was coming back to him in pieces. “Your mom never signed any Christmas presents from Santa and she forbid you from taking a picture on Santa’s lap as a child.”
Molly’s smile widened from the inside out as more of their shared memory surfaced. “We went to the mall that Saturday after Thanksgiving. We stood in line with all those little kids for over an hour and took our own picture with Santa.”
Drew’s shoulders shook, but his laughter remained muffled. “My parents had decided to spend Thanksgiving on the open seas that year. A cruise without port stops.”
“And you told them you had to work over the holiday anyway” Molly added. “And had to miss the cruise.”
“Best decision ever and I did take on extra shifts.” More silent laughter escaped.
“You took on those extra shifts at the student center because of your guilt,” Molly said. “You never could lie well.”
“It was lucky for me, not so lucky for my family, remember?” Drew shifted Hazel carefully in his arms. “My parents ended up with some kind of food poisoning. I ended up with overtime pay, free meals from work and Santa pictures. And I haven’t been to a mall since.”
Last Christmas, Molly had patiently stood in line with Hazel at the shopping mall for the first time since her own Santa photo with Drew. Several weeks ago, Hazel had taken a picture with the Easter bunny too. Hazel would have a collection of these fun photos from her childhood to look back on. And her daughter could believe in Santa, the tooth fairy and the Easter bunny for as long as she wanted. Molly was desperate that Hazel should be a kid and not grow up too fast. That meant having a house to decorate and celebrate in every holiday from Easter to Christmas to New Years. Giving Hazel a home mattered.
Concentrating on memories and revisiting her onetime attraction to Drew put her no closer to her goals. After all, Molly was a single mom now, not a single-minded college student. “Are you going to tell me what this is all about?”
Drew rearranged Hazel’s blanket as if he needed a moment to arrange his own thoughts. “I’ll take you to see the apartment if you’ll reconsider representing me.”
We’ve exhausted all your options. That had been her real-estate agent’s text to Molly on her way back from the laundromat this afternoon. Her realtor had canceled tomorrow morning’s meet-up unless Molly was willing to put in an offer on a place they’d already visited. Those places were overpriced in not-so-good neighborhoods. She wanted the perfect home and refused to settle. Now Drew had an available apartment. But at what cost?
She dropped Hazel’s flower power onesie on the table. “Why have you reconsidered hiring me? At the gala, you claimed you didn’t need more time. Your decision was final.” What was she doing? She should be shouting, I accept!
“There are things about this case I haven’t told anyone.” He continued his slow side-to-side sway, yet his gaze remained fixed on Molly.
“But you’ve decided to tell me.” She failed to keep the sarcasm from her words.
“I don’t trust anyone outside my own family and friends.” He stilled for a beat and stared at her. “I can’t trust anyone else. I also can’t do this alone either.”
The fear in his voice made Molly pull back and really consider him. Not the excuses he’d given her earlier. But the man before her. The one unable to mask the distress thinning his mouth or the unease reflected in his gaze. “Are you guilty?”
“I will enter a plea of not guilty, Counselor.” His voice was firm. Certain. “I also know I wasn’t the initial person working on the Van Solis murder case.”
The Van Solis murder trial was the very one that had instigated the charges against Drew. After the key witness in the murder trial recanted his testimo
ny two weeks ago. “Who was the first one working on the trial?”
“Cory Vinson.” He watched her as if waiting for her recognition to flare and ignite the room.
Molly frowned, nothing more. Despite the quick race of her pulse and her whirling mind. “You’re talking about Cory Vinson, the city’s current district attorney.”
Drew nodded. “The same one who is up for reelection this fall.”
Molly stood, clasped her hands behind her back and paced around the suite. She’d trained herself to remain neutral, unaffected no matter what her clients disclosed to her. She leaned into that side of herself now. For her sake and for Drew’s. “Then you’re suggesting Cory Vinson is setting you up as the fall guy.”
He never hesitated. Never disputed her claim. Never retreated. “I just can’t prove it. I haven’t found the evidence yet.”
“Why are you telling me this?” She set her hands on her hips, fighting to remain impassive.
“If you’re going to be my counsel, you need to know everything.”
“I never agreed to be your lawyer.” She watched him. “More importantly, we haven’t signed an attorney–client contract.” Which meant whatever Drew said to her before that could be used against him later, if she ever chose to reveal it.
“You also haven’t kicked me out and it’s been way more than five minutes.” A small grin lifted the corners of his mouth. Drew tucked Hazel’s tiny hand under the blanket, then tipped his head at Molly. “You always were fearless. I don’t believe you’ve lost that,” he whispered.
Ten years had passed since she’d last seen him. Yet he looked at her as if he knew her even better now. Impossible.
Still, she felt compelled to prove herself. Taking on Drew as a client would allow her to do just that. She asked, “Are you still cautious and overprotective?”
“Whoever wants to ruin my career has pivoted to include hurting my family.” His voice was grim. “You’re going to be in their line of sight too, if you represent me. You need to understand that.”
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