It wasn’t just his dark, lively good looks. She couldn’t remember when any man had had such a powerful, immediate effect on her senses, or on her emotions. But she knew it wasn’t the wine bringing this color to her face. She’d resorted to a glass of wine over dinner in an attempt to stay cool and focused as they discussed Amy’s illness. Restless, she downed the last inch of her mineral water and wandered into the bathroom to wash hands that felt clammy with tension, then caught sight of her flushed face in the mirror. Financial gain, self-preservation, easy sex…Was it just her lawyer’s instinct to fear that Adam Callahan might be one of them? Yes, there were people out there who deliberately, brazenly, believably lied, and for a dozen different reasons. Just last month, she’d saved some clients from handing over every penny they’d put away to a man who was trying to sell them a house he didn’t even own. Was it a lawyer’s instinct? A lawyer’s caution? Those things had been drummed into her constantly through three years of law school and she put them into practice daily in her legal work now.Įven a simple real estate closing could turn into a minefield of problems. She didn’t know why the issue of trusting him was building such conflict inside her. Not until she’d satisfied herself that this whole thing wasn’t just some sick scam, and that Adam Callahan was really the man he said he was. She wasn’t going to frighten Dad or Patty with the specter of Amy’s leukemia. She managed to deflect another five minutes of questions and finally put down the phone, exhausted by the effort of holding back what she knew. “But we can win it, right? Her own grandparents? Financially secure, with me giving up work as soon as she’s with us, so I can care for her full-time? And after everything Cherie said about him? Oh, I’m just aching for that poor little girl, and what she must have to endure!” “And he’s not going to give Amy up easily. “Of course he’s a good liar! Men like that are!” “He’s not a ‘man like that,’ Patty,” she had to say. “His mother? Men like that don’t have mothers! Not ones you can safely leave a baby with, anyway.” She was staying with his mother overnight.” Is this Callahan man a total low-life, or not? Did you see Amy?”Īnswer the easy one first. Your dad’s asking all the wrong questions. There was a clatter in her ear and the sound of Patty’s warm voice. “It’ll be a few days before I can really be clear about what’s happening.” There’s…more going on than we realized.” A lot more. “Because I want to be cautious about this, Dad. “You’re calling from your office? He can’t still be with you…” I can’t go into any details yet.” She took a big gulp of the mineral water and her parched mouth felt better. She went into the galley-style kitchen of her one bedroom apartment with the cordless phone pressed between her shoulder and her ear and got some sparkling mineral water from the fridge.
She had the answers prepared, but her throat suddenly felt dry all the same. The two impossible questions she had known he would ask. Did it go well? Was he what we were expecting?” Her father had picked up on the first ring. I know you’ve been waiting for me to call,” Meg said into the phone, just moments after she arrived home that night.
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