Читать книгу Single Mama's Got More Drama - Kayla Perrin, Kayla Perrin - Страница 10

I put Chaz out of my mind and concentrated on work. It was the only way. Actually, it was the best way. Focusing on work made me forget about the grief I was feeling in my heart.

At least temporarily.

There was still no call from my sister, but I took her lack of contact as good news. Trust me, if she had been planning to see a divorce lawyer, she would have called and made me join her.

Thank God she hadn’t. I didn’t need her drama on top of my own. Already, I’d missed out on taking Rayna to the zoo because of Nikki.

I glanced at the wall clock. It was almost three-thirty. I would try to leave a little early today, head home, get Rayna, then take her to the lake so we could feed the ducks. There was a spot in Coconut Grove we’d been a few times, and it was always a fun experience.

My daughter needed fun right now. We both did.

And she needed to know that even if the man she’d known as her father wasn’t coming back, I would always be there for her.

I got up, stretched my body, then strolled to the window. As was typical every day during the summer months in South Florida, we’d have an afternoon downpour. I welcomed the short showers as they cooled things down. The sun always returned after the rain, and right now, it was shining brightly on downtown Miami.

My phone rang. I turned around and took three long strides back to my desk and snatched up the receiver before the phone could ring a third time.

“Vanessa Cain.”

“Ms. Cain. Hello.”

I swallowed.

“This is Bradley Harris.”

The man didn’t have to identify himself for me to know that it was the lawyer I’d come to dread hearing from. “Yes. I recognized your voice.”

“I called this morning, but I haven’t heard back from you.”

“Really?” I asked, feigning surprise as I rolled my eyes. “You know, we have a temp receptionist right now. She must have forgotten to give me the message.”

“That must be it,” Bradley said, but I could tell by his tone that he didn’t believe me.

“How can I help you?” I asked brightly.

“I’m calling to see if we can arrange a meeting to discuss the transfer of the condo to my client.”

The condo. Not “your condo.” As if I had no ownership of it whatsoever.

“You want a meeting,” I repeated.

“Yes.”

“You know, I’ve got a very busy schedule. Maybe we can arrange something in a few months.”

“Ms. Cain, I know what you’re doing.” The lawyer sounded a little exasperated. “You think that if you put this meeting off, the problem will simply go away. I assure you, it will not.”

I said nothing.

“There are two ways to do this. The easy way—and the hard way.”

I rolled my eyes again. Now the lawyer sounded like a character out of a bad movie. “You don’t have to threaten me.”

“I’m not threatening you. But you do need to know that this is a serious legal matter, one that won’t be resolved with stall tactics. And trust me, you don’t want this going to court.”

I frowned, thinking. I wasn’t too sure that Bradley was right. In fact, I figured he was trying to scare me. However, I knew that going to court would cost money. Money I didn’t have.

I didn’t have even the slightest interest in meeting with attorney Bradley Harris and the woman who had been a thorn in my side. But despite the fact that I’d been avoiding Tassie’s lawyer, I knew he was right. I couldn’t avoid Bradley and Tassie forever. At some point, this situation would have to be resolved.

Fine—if Tassie wanted a meeting, we’d have a meeting. However, she would soon learn that I wasn’t planning to hand over anything to her.

She was in for a fight.

“Ms. Cain?”

“When?” I asked. I knew I sounded testy, but I didn’t care. “When were you and Tassie thinking of having this meeting?”

“Early next week would be good for my client. We can meet in Miami, as I know that will be more convenient for you.”

“Very thoughtful,” I muttered softly, not meaning my words. But the lawyer was right. I would have to meet with him and Tassie Johnson sooner or later.

It would just have to be sooner.

“Will that work for you?” Bradley asked.

“Yes. How about Tuesday? The afternoon will be better for me.”

“Let me verify my schedule and speak with Tassie, then I’ll get back to you.”

“You do that.”

I hung up the phone, emitting a groan as I did. Then I forced myself to draw in a few steady breaths.

I was looking forward to this meeting as much as a person looks forward to root canal. But on one hand, I was glad that the lawyer had forced this meeting. Because with a date set, I would have to take action myself.

The last time I’d spoken with Bradley Harris, I’d been determined to fight back. Determined to keep my home from the hands of a greedy, conniving bitch. I’d called a reporter from the Miami Herald who’d followed the story of Eli’s death and asked for her help. But as the days passed and I hadn’t heard from her, I’d put the whole matter out of my mind, wrongly hoping that Tassie would simply go away.

I needed to call Cynthia Martin back, see what the reporter had discovered. Perhaps she’d forgotten my request or had been too busy to do any digging. If that was the case, my call would prompt her into action.

And if she’d been unable to find any dirt on Tassie, then I’d have to hire a private investigator. Because I knew the dirt was there.

I felt certain that Tassie was involved with the man who’d been at her side at Eli’s funeral. There was no law against that, especially since she and Eli had been separated for years. But it mattered in terms of the way Tassie had portrayed herself in the media—like the doting, grieving widow who’d never stepped out on her man, even though he’d had his own indiscretions. And she had painted me out to be a gold digger who had relentlessly pursued her pro-athlete husband for his cash.

Given her lies, I knew that for Tassie perception was everything. A woman like her would hate to have the truth about her own adulterous relationship exposed for the world to see.

And if she hoped to persuade a judge that she deserved my home because she and her husband had been very much together at the time of his death and that I was simply a woman on the side, she also needed to keep up her grieving widow charade.

With Cynthia’s help, I was about to blow that plan up in Tassie’s pathetic face.

Well, I hoped I was. Even if I believed that Tassie had been living her own life and had been romantically involved with at least one man in the past seven years, I still needed proof. Proof was the only thing that would persuade her to leave me the heck alone.

My temples throbbed. Talking to Bradley Harris and thinking about my predicament had brought on a headache.

I withdrew a bottle of ibuprofen from my desk and downed two capsules with the dregs of my cold coffee. As I was swallowing, my phone rang again.

I hesitated—and then was angry that I even had to be wary of answering my office phone. Damn Tassie Johnson.

I picked up the receiver and placed it at my ear. “Vanessa Cain.”

“Baby,” came the smooth, sexy voice.

My stomach tensed slightly at the sound of Lewis’s voice. It shouldn’t have, of course, considering he was my fiancé.

Then again, he wasn’t really my fiancé—well, not in the true sense of the word. He’d proposed marriage, and had assumed that I’d accepted. I’ll admit, I didn’t do much to let him think I hadn’t accepted his proposal, but I hadn’t really had a choice. He was the way out of a problem—the problem being the woman who wanted to take my home from me and my daughter. Lewis could easily give me the money to pay off Tassie Johnson.

The simple fact was that I couldn’t afford to turn down Lewis’s proposal. Not when I knew that it was part and parcel of his offer of financial help.

But I’d loved him once. I could love him again.

“Vanessa?” Lewis said, reminding me that I hadn’t greeted him. “You there?”

“Hey, Lewis.”

“What’s wrong, baby?” he asked.

“Nothing.”

“Then why do you sound stressed out?”

“I do?”

“Uh-huh.”

“It’s been a long day,” I said. “I’m getting a bit of a headache, that’s all.”

“Maybe I need to come by and give you a nice back rub.”

I smiled and said, “Nice try, Lewis. But I’ll be fine.”

“It would just be a back rub. Right in your office. With the door open if you want. So everyone will know there’s no monkey business going on.”

After realizing that I couldn’t exactly turn Lewis’s proposal down, I’d told him two things: that I wanted a long engagement, and that I wanted to wait until we were married to have sex.

Total stall tactic. I admit it.

“I’ll pass on that, thank you.”

“Damn,” Lewis muttered. “You’re being tough on a brother. But I get it, so I’m not complaining.”

“Thank you for understanding.”

“Any word from Tassie Johnson’s lawyer?” he suddenly asked.

“As a matter of fact, yes,” I said. “I got off the phone with him a few minutes ago.”

“And?”

“And he’s proposing a meeting. Next week.”

“Good.”

I drew in a shuddery breath. “Yeah, I guess it is.”

“You’ve got to do this sooner or later, babe.”

“I know.”

“Did you tell the lawyer that you definitely have the cash and offer to buy out Tassie’s share again?”

Lewis had advised me to do that, but I hadn’t. “I didn’t bother to call him back, because it’s clear Tassie is playing games. I kinda hoped they’d just go away.”

“Now you know he’s not going away, so the meeting’s a good thing. I’ll go with you, we’ll bring a check. Tassie’s gonna be there?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll make it a cashier’s check. When Tassie sees it, I bet she’ll happily accept it and disappear.”

I found myself smiling. Lewis was definitely being super-supportive, and I was extremely grateful for that. The idea of him being with me at the meeting set my mind at ease. Perhaps with Lewis by my side and a fat check in his hands, Tassie would give up on her latest plan. After all, I knew she was a greedy little witch, using her lawyer to push me around. The bitch was probably laughing her head off in her Atlanta mansion right now.

But she’d see who would have the last laugh.

“Not that you should buy her out,” Lewis went on. “Now that we’re engaged, we’re gonna find our own place to live.”

“You know why this is important to me.”

“On principle, yes, I get it. It’s just kind of a shame, since you’re going to sell the place anyway.”

“Not really, since we’re going to have a long engagement,” I pointed out. “As we discussed.”

“I know. But that doesn’t mean we can’t live together.”

“Yes, it does, because living together will compromise the no-sex rule,” I said sweetly.

“Baby, I hear you. And I get it.” Lewis paused. “When I was with you, I messed up. Big-time. That’s why I’m willing to do anything I have to to prove to you that you’re the only woman for me. I know you love me. But you can’t trust me. And I’m going to change that.”

Lewis was saying all the right things. I had loved him. Loved that he made me feel sexy and desirable with just one look. Loved that he made me laugh. I could have married Lewis and lived happily ever after if he hadn’t been such a player.

But lately, my outlook on love had changed. I wanted the fantasy…but it had eluded me. Maybe I was far better off marrying someone I liked a lot and got along with as a friend—and that was definitely Lewis. Even after he’d cheated on me, we’d remained friends. Maybe that was a sign that we’d be able to have a successful marriage.

“Mostly, I’m thinking about Rayna,” I said, which wasn’t a lie. “Her little heart’s been broken over Eli, and now Chaz is suddenly gone…She’s the reason I want to make sure I keep our home, so there’s some sense of stability for her.”

“I think it’ll help if she starts seeing me again. We should do some fun things together—”

“No,” I said, cutting Lewis off. “I’m not ready for that.”

I’d trusted Eli, and he’d hurt me. Now Rayna was without the father she’d known. She hadn’t known Chaz long, but she’d taken to him immediately. Until I was certain that I’d be marrying Lewis, I didn’t want my daughter forming an attachment to him, because the last thing I wanted to do was put her little heart at risk again.

“It’ll happen,” I quickly said, not wanting to offend Lewis. “Just…give it some time.”

“What about dinner tonight?” Lewis suggested. “We can go over strategy regarding your meeting with Tassie and her lawyer.”

I was about to say no, but stopped myself. Lewis was going to give me the cash I needed to take care of my Tassie problem. And I was engaged to him—officially, if not wholeheartedly. I couldn’t avoid him.

“Actually, that’s a good idea.” I could take Rayna to feed the ducks after dinner with Lewis. “Why don’t I call my babysitter, and if it’s okay with her, you can meet me on Ocean Drive and we can have an early dinner? That way I won’t be out too late, and I can spend some quality time with Rayna before she goes to bed.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“I’ll call you back to confirm.”

“All right, sweetheart.”

Sweetheart.

I swallowed at the term of endearment as I hung up the phone. If only when Lewis said that, I felt warm and fuzzy inside.

But I didn’t, and I wasn’t sure I ever would again.