by Jen Talty
“You’re little pre-meeting pep talk is what freaked me out.” He took in a deep breath through his nose, letting it out slowly through his mouth. He did this five times, hoping it calmed his pulse as well. He’d spent twenty-two years in the military and fifteen of them in Special Forces. He was an expert marksman, an intelligence officer, and he’d been on some seriously dangerous missions, but nothing could have prepared him for having to fight to see a one-year-old little girl named Coralie who had stolen his heart.
“I wanted you prepared. Besides, I know Jackie. She’s worked a few custody cases with me and thought it might be good for me to make the proper introductions.”
“But you won’t be doing the interview with me.”
Carol shook her head. “And please remember that Jackie really works for your daughter. She doesn’t care about you or Kari. She only cares about how both of you can provide a loving and safe environment for Coralie. And whatever you do, don’t bad-mouth Kari. I know you’ve got a lot of anger—I would too if I were you—but you’ve got to be the bigger person and only say nice things about Kari.”
“How is that possible when she’s not a nice person?” Alston mumbled.
“I’m telling you that if you keep talking like that in a place like this, you’re going to lose your case before we even get off the ground.”
“All right.” Keeping his mouth closed wasn’t something he was very good at, but for his daughter; he’d make it happen.
He had to.
The door to Doctor Jackie Monroe’s office opened.
“So sorry to have kept you waiting.” A familiar tall woman with dark hair pulled back into a long ponytail at the nape of her neck stood in the entryway.
“Jackie. It’s good to see you again.” Carol stood. “This is my client, Alston Walsh.”
“It’s nice to meet you.” He stretched out his hand, hoping it didn’t tremble, wondering why this woman looked so familiar. He’d only been living in Newport Beach for a couple of weeks, so he didn’t really know anyone, but he was sure he’d met her somewhere. No one forgot a woman as naturally beautiful as the doctor, but he wasn’t here to admire her good looks. Nope. The fate of his relationship with his daughter was in her hands.
“You as well, Mr. Walsh,” she said.
“Please call me Alston,” he said.
“And you can call me Jackie. Why don’t you take a seat wherever you’re comfortable, and we’ll get started,” she said. “Carol, it was good to see you again.”
“You as well. If you need me for anything, you know how to reach me,” Carol said. “Alston, I’ll see you this afternoon.”
“Thanks.” He let out a puff of air as he sat on the sofa. He tossed his arm over the back of the couch and lifted his leg, resting his ankle on his knee. She did use the word comfortable.
The good doctor closed the door. “May I get you a cup of coffee? Some tea? Or maybe some water?”
“No, thank you.” He dropped his foot to the ground and tugged at his jeans. This was going to be the longest hour of his fucking life.
She sat across from him in a wingback chair. She held a pad of paper on her lap and twiddled a pen.
He focused on the pen.
“Let me start by thanking you for your service.”
“You’re welcome.”
“I read you’re still in the reserves. How will that work with your daughter?”
Wow. The good doctor jumped right in. Let the games begin. “I’m hoping that Kari and I can work out a schedule that will accommodate the one weekend a month I will be on base. If for some reason that doesn’t work out, I’m willing to retire altogether.”
“And when is your contract up?”
“Four years,” he said.
“I imagine it was hard for you to leave your full-time post with the Army when you found out you were a father.” She sat very still. Too still. So still it made him want to jump from his seat and pace.
But he didn’t.
Instead, he recrossed his legs and dropped his hands to his lap. “To be frank, I never gave leaving active duty a second thought once I knew about Coralie. It was a no brainer. What I’m struggling with is why I don’t know what her medical issues are and why I can’t see her.”
Jackie set her pad of paper and pen on the small table next to her chair. “For the last couple of days, I’ve been making myself familiar with this case. I’ve been reading about you, Kari, and your daughter. I’ve also had the pleasure of meeting Coralie.”
He stiffened his spine. “When? I haven’t seen her since I landed in California two weeks ago. How is she? Is she over this flu-bug thing she had?”
“She seems to be,” Jackie said. “I met her yesterday for the first time, and while she was shy, which is to be expected considering the circumstances, she didn’t appear to be sick at all anymore.”
He let out a sigh of relief. “Kari told me she was too sick for me to see her, just in case I was carrying some weird germs from overseas.”
“That might be a little overboard, but I can understand her concern.”
Overboard? That was an understatement, but he kept that thought to himself. “I suppose I can too. However, I’ve only met Coralie twice, and I really want to get to know my daughter. She’s the entire reason I moved my life to Newport Beach.”
“I read that you’re originally from Boulder, Colorado. Do you still have family there?”
He nodded. “My parents and both my brother and sister live there.”
“Any chance you’d want to relocate there? I see you don’t have a job yet.”
He bit down on the inside of his mouth and counted to five. Carol had told him to make sure he watched his temper, which was seconds from showing its ugly head. “I have no intention of uprooting my daughter. I’m still employed by the Army, and I’m going to be starting my own security protection business. I’ve got two buddies that live in the area that are also retired, so we’re going to be doing it together.”
“I didn’t mean to imply that you planned on leaving,” Jackie said. “I realize that my job tends to put people on the defensive, but trust me when I say I’m not the enemy. I have one role and that’s to help navigate what’s best for Coralie.”
“May I ask you a question?”
“Of course.”
Carol had warned him to play nice in the sandbox and to let Jackie lead the discussion. Well, that wasn’t working for him anymore.
“After this session is over, will I be able to spend time with Coralie?”
“Yes.”
“When and for how long?”
“How about I try to arrange a supervised visit for tomorrow. Will that work for you?” Jackie asked.
“You could make that happen?”
She nodded.
“I’d like that very much.”
“Now, back to a few more things I’d like to know before you leave today, starting with what upset you so much at the coffee shop the other day that you had to slam your paper cup on the counter and burn your hand.” She pointed to his arm.
He rubbed the tender skin that was still sore to the touch. Now he knew why she looked so familiar. “This is embarrassing.”
“We all get angry, but not everyone slams a hot beverage on a counter where it could cause harm to themselves or others.”
He gripped the armrest of the sofa. If he didn’t hate shrinks before, he hated them now. “I was frustrated, but it’s no excuse for how I behaved.”
“Why were you frustrated?”
Shit. This woman was going to back him into a corner and piss him off, and that wouldn’t help his case. Not one single bit. “Kari had said she was going to bring Coralie to meet me for breakfast. It never happened. And that had been the third time she did that to me.” He held up his hands. “Again, no excuse for how I behaved that morning, and I apologize if I hurt you somehow.”
“You didn’t, but I appreciate the apology.” She stood and gracefully glided across the room to a min
i fridge and took out a water bottle. She held one up.
What the hell. He nodded.
“I would be pretty upset too, but you’re a smart man, and you know where I’m going with this.”
He took the water and let out a short laugh. “Depends on how much you’ve been able to find out about my career in the military, or my childhood.”
“You were adopted when you were seventeen. That’s a unique situation.”
“I bounced in and out of foster care for years. I hit the streets when I was fifteen and got busted when I was sixteen for possession. You shouldn’t be able to find that record since my folks had it buried so I could join the military.”
“Well, it’s there, it’s just sealed, and I’m sure the Army knows all about it.”
“Probably,” he said with a chuckle. “After the arrest, I ended up in a juvie group home where my dad worked. He and I clicked, and three months later he gave me a home and a family. The rest is history.”
“That’s a pretty special story to have bonded with a family like that as an older troubled teenager. And then to have turned your life around.” She leaned against her desk and brought the plastic bottle to her plump lips. “That said, I’ve been told you’re a bit of a hothead, that you struggle with authority and have a temper.”
“The latter you got to witness firsthand.” Well, fuck. This wasn’t going well at all. But what did he honestly expect? The moment he set this thing in motion, he knew his life would be turned upside down and inside out.
“Are public outbursts a regular thing? Or is it just general mouthing off to your superiors and not listening to orders.”
“You’ve gotten a lot of information in a short time.”
“It’s my job, but truthfully, that doesn’t tell me anything about you.”
He arched a brow. “You practically have my entire life history. You know more about me than my ex-wife.”
“I didn’t know you married.”
He cracked a smile. Not many people did. “I was twenty. It lasted six months when she sent me a Dear John letter, and she had the marriage annulled. I don’t think I’ve ever even called her my ex-wife before.”
“You enjoyed that, didn’t you?” She waggled her finger.
“Just a little.” He so wanted to hate this chick, but it was impossible. “It’s a bit weird to have someone know so much about me and my past. And then to use that to make judgments about my ability to parent, which frankly, I don’t have a clue as to how to be a father because I never wanted to be one in the first place.”
“If that’s true, why are we here?”
“Are you kidding me?”
She shook her head. “I know that Kari has given you a hall pass. That you can walk away, never give her a dime, and never be a—”
“I’m a lot of things, but I don’t run from my responsibilities.”
“Being a parent is more than a responsibility.”
“No shit.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Look. I might have only known about Coralie for a few months, and I’ve only seen her twice, but I love that little girl like nothing I’ve ever loved before. I didn’t even know a human could feel that kind of love for someone else. So, this isn’t some obligation for me. If that were the case, I wouldn’t have left the only career I’ve ever known. I’d simply write a check and visit between missions.”
“Fair enough.” She moved back to her chair and picked up the pad and pen. “Now that you are a father, how does that make you feel?”
“Utterly terrified and at the same time, exhilarated. The only way I can describe the sensation is by comparing it to the first time I jumped from a perfectly good airplane with a hundred-pound parachute on my back.” His pulse picked up as he rubbed his hands up and down his thighs. There was so much about his career in the military that he was going to miss, but as long as he got to be with his daughter, it would be worth it.
“I’ve always wanted to do that.”
“What? Be a father or jump out of a plane?”
“Cute.” She took a strand of her waist-length hair and twirled it around her finger. “Can you tell me about your visit with Coralie the other day? What did you do? Where did you go? What happened? How did you get along?”
“When Kari picked her up, she didn’t have any bruises. No diaper rash, but she did have diarrhea.”
Jackie dropped her hand to her lap. “Why did you jump to that instead of telling me about your visit?”
“Because that’s what you want to know.”
“Actually, no, it’s not,” she said.
“I don’t understand. Kari’s accusations and her not letting me see Coralie is what started all this.”
“I just want to know about how the visit went from your point of view,” Jackie said. “And please, be detailed.”
He shrugged. “I met Kari and Coralie at the park at around ten in the morning. I had only an hour, so we just stayed at the park and played with her ball. It’s amazing she can walk at only a year.”
“That’s actually pretty typical.”
“Do you have kids?”
“I have a niece, but she’s only a few months old,” she said. “How long were you at the park?”
“An hour.”
Jackie jotted something down on her notepad. “And you never left?”
“Nope.”
“So, how did you know Coralie had diarrhea?”
“That was a nightmare.” He twisted the cap off his water and took a huge swig. “Kari didn’t leave me with any diapers or anything since it was such a short visit. Poor girl had it running down her leg, and one of the other moms at the park took pity on me.”
“Where did you change her?”
“The back of my pickup.” He wanted to ask where she was going with all these questions but thought better of it.
“Was Coralie upset?”
“When Kari left, she cried for a good ten minutes. I almost called Kari to come back, but after that, Coralie settled down, and we had a good time.” He couldn’t stop himself from smiling. “I’ve never spent much time with kids before, but that kid will melt anyone’s heart. She’s the best.”
“Spoken like a true father.” Jackie set her notebook on the table and stood. “Our time today is done. I will do my best to make a supervised visit happen tomorrow, and from there we’ll schedule more outside of my office. This is a long process, and you’re going to get real sick of seeing my face, especially when I start showing up unannounced.”
“I don’t think anyone could get tired of seeing you.”
She smiled. “Very kind of you to say.”
“And highly inappropriate,” he said. “I apologize.” He stood and stretched out his hand.
“I look forward to seeing you with your daughter.”
3
All Jackie wanted to do was tell her sister Rose about the sexy stranger that showed up in her office.
But she couldn’t.
He might not be her client, but his kid was, and Jackie couldn’t break that confidence.
“You look way too deep in thought to be out having a good time,” Rose said.
“Agreed.” Ethel, her youngest sister, raised her cocktail. “Leave work at work.”
Jackie mindlessly picked at the chips and guacamole. Ever since Alston Walsh waltzed into her office, she’d been off-kilter. If she had to make a decision based on what she’d read, she’d only recommend that Alston have supervised visitation for six months and reevaluate then because his temper was an issue as were those bruises, which she’d finally gotten pictures of.
Disturbing to say the least.
However, if he never left the park, it might have been difficult for him to hurt his little girl. She blinked. Her mind just couldn’t go there.
Not with Alston.
But it was her job.
“I was handed a tough case today,” she admitted. “It got the better of me.”
“Well, there is nothing you can do…holy shit,” Ros
e said, pointing toward the front door of Lenora’s, their favorite little tapas restaurant right on the water in Newport Beach. “It’s the guy from the coffee shop. You know. The one from earlier this week who spilled his drink everywhere.”
“What?” Jackie dropped her guac-filled chip on her lap. Her heart picked up speed. Her gaze darted everywhere but on Alston. She didn’t want him to see her. And she certainly didn’t want her sister Rose to start her matchmaking obnoxiousness or have Ethel join in on that fun. Her sisters meant well, but just because she’d once thought all she wanted was a husband and a bunch of little kids, that didn’t mean she wanted them now.
“Why don’t you go introduce yourself,” Rose said. “I think the fates are in your corner on this one.”
“Why the hell would I do that?” Jackie quickly cleaned up the mess in her lap.
“Because he’s so damn cute.” All Rose ever cared about when meeting eligible bachelors was how good-looking they were. Of course, after a month or so, she’d often find out that not all handsome men had hearts of gold.
That was something Jackie had a lot of experience with. “I am not going to go talk to some random man who happened to spill his coffee in anger in front of an entire room of strangers.” Of course Jackie left out the fact that she had an hour-long conversation with the same man earlier in the day that was work-related. Nor would she mention that she found him incredibly intoxicating and intellectually intriguing.
“Okay, I will go talk to him,” Ethel said.
“You will do nothing of the sort.” Jackie took a sip of her whiskey sour as she lifted her gaze and glanced across the room. Unfortunately, she made eye contact with Alston because he paused midstep as a hostess showed him and another older gentleman to their table.
Alston nodded, acknowledging that he noticed her but then continued with his deep conversation with the other man.
It was the first time she randomly ran into a parent of a child she was evaluating their living situation. She was sure it wouldn’t be her last. But she sure as hell didn’t want to engage with this one. Not yet. Not until she had a better feel for the man.