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1
Bobbie Ludington shifted her truck into park and cut the engine. It was a chilly Wednesday morning in her tiny town of Cupid Ridge, Nevada, but she wouldn’t bother with a coat. No, that would get in the way of making a big first impression when she walked through that door.
After looking around the tiny parking lot next to the diner, she pushed open her truck door and climbed out. She almost shut the door before grabbing her purse. Almost. But she remembered the non-prescription glasses she’d ordered online for this very thing. Her vision was perfect, but glasses made her look smart.
Today, she needed to look smart.
Bobbie’s footsteps were confident, her head held high as she marched straight toward the Cupid Ridge Diner. There were several trucks in the lot, including the gigantic black one that belonged to Augustus Knott. She’d know that truck anywhere. Everyone in town knew that truck.
“Arrogant so-and-so,” Bobbie grumbled to herself, shaking her head as she rounded the corner of the building toward the diner’s front door.
Her husband could’ve handled Augustus Knott with ease. He’d have wiped the floor with the guy and that self-satisfied smirk of his. But her son, Brendon, was on the way, and as long as she had one of her boys here, she’d be perfectly fine.
Once she reached the door, though, she stopped short. Through the window, she saw two lawyers, along with Augustus, known as “Gus,” and Gus’s son Phoenix. Augustus hadn’t just shown up. He’d brought his oldest son and loudest proponent. Yeah, she’d definitely have to bring her A-game today.
The air whooshed around the door as she tried to push it open. Not an easy feat. Luckily, by the time everyone at the table turned to look at her, the door had slammed behind her.
They didn’t just look at her. They stared. Gawked, really. She’d spent plenty of time around the two attorneys. They shouldn’t be all that surprised to see her confidently walking toward the table. There was only one explanation she could think of for the way they were staring at her.
The glasses. It had to be the glasses.
“Good morning!” she said, holding her head high and her shoulders straight. She stared directly at Gus. “Nice to see you again, Augustus.”
“Nice to see you, Roberta.”
She almost winced at his use of her full name. Nobody called her Roberta. Nobody. But very few people called him Augustus, so she supposed what was fair was fair.
A long silence fell over the room, hanging heavy between them. Bobbie was more than willing to take charge of this meeting if nobody else did. In fact, that might be a great way to show Gus and his son that they weren’t going to push her and her son around.
“Let’s all have a seat,” Clayton said.
Clayton was Gus’s lawyer, and that lawyer had begun dating Bobbie’s daughter, Georgia. Clayton was representing the Knott family in their legal complaint against Bobbie and Georgia’s family. It was all just…a mess.
Gus headed straight for the seat at the end of the table farthest from the door. No surprise. That was his way of showing he was in charge.
But Bobbie had an antidote for that. She held her head high and walked the few remaining steps to the chair at the opposite end of the table. She then slid onto that chair, looping her purse on the back.
Only once she was settled did Bobbie scan the people seated around the table. Marnie, the attorney who’d taken her family’s case, was seated next to her. Gus, Phoenix, and Clayton seemed almost intimidating compared to the two of them.
“I’ve met with my clients,” Clayton said, opening the folder that he’d set on the table in front of him. “We’ve outlined the terms of the settlement in more detail. I sent you the file, but I have a copy here…”
“I have copies.”
Marnie leaned to her right, toward the laptop bag she’d set next to her. Meanwhile, Bobbie’s favorite server, a young woman who was taking college classes online, bounced up to the table…and straight to where Gus and Phoenix were seated with Clayton.
“May I take your order?”
That request was directed at Phoenix, who stared down at his menu without answering for far too long. The whole thing made Bobbie aware that she hadn’t even glanced at her menu.
Whoosh!
The door behind her opened, bringing a fresh swath of extra chilly air with it. The chill spun Marnie around in her chair, which confused Bobbie a little. There was something about how jumpy her attorney was. Bobbie didn’t know about anyone else, but she didn’t like her lawyers jumpy.
But then Bobbie turned and saw who’d just walked through the door. If anyone else noticed the smile on her face, they’d assume it was because she was looking at her son, who’d just arrived. And yeah, she was always happy to see Brendon. But no, this was different. This was a mother’s happiness at watching the way her son looked at Marnie Chapman.
Yes, there was a reason Marnie was so jumpy. Apparently, Marnie and Brendon had a little something going on.
Forcing her eyes to skip right over Marnie, Bobbie turned back around in her seat. Her son gave his greetings and walked around to sit across from Marnie, setting his cowboy hat on the chair next to him.
