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The plane from Wyoming took off later than it should have because of a storm system, which meant we landed in Los Angeles two hours after we should have.
I’d hoped to take Mila directly to James’s house, but that wasn’t possible since Marcella was still there.
I felt better when father and daughter saw each other for the first time. There was no missing how affected James was by meeting Mila. He treated her with kid gloves, careful not to overwhelm her by being too emotional or affectionate. I saw what it cost him to hold back, but I also saw what it meant to Mila.
Seeing them together, I knew that once Mila was comfortable with him, they’d be close. She hadn’t had a good relationship with Franklin Brown, the man she’d believed was her biological father. Most people with parental issues weren’t given a do-over. I knew that once Mila got to know James, she’d love him the same way I did.
The one downside to Brecken finding Mila so quickly was that we had no plan in place. In order to make sure the bitch didn’t get one red cent, James needed a few days to set everything up with his attorneys before he showed Marcella the door. To that end, I would be working from his house the following day so that we could meet with the attorneys together.
Mila would be staying with me in the meantime, which was something I’d resigned myself to. However, due to what was going on over at Gage’s, the entire neighborhood was on high alert. That being the case, I didn’t feel comfortable putting Mila in the guesthouse. I couldn’t in good conscience have James’s daughter, a girl who had never been to LA before, out by the pool alone. If someone came onto the property, I’d need to protect her. I couldn’t do that to the best of my ability if she wasn’t in the main house.
I figured one of two things would happen. Option one would be that the lawyers could work shit out fast so that James could get Marcella’s ass out of the house. If that didn’t happen, the motherfucker who had vandalized Morgan’s car in Gage’s driveway—the same person who was presumably also sending threatening letters—could finally be caught.21Allie“Hey, Allie. Are you okay?”
I’d been staring off into space during an early afternoon meeting to discuss a few minor tweaks to the script, but Mason’s question snapped me out of my stupor. “Yeah, sorry. I’m fine. I guess I didn’t sleep all that great last night, so I’m a little out of it. What were you saying?”
Pasting a smile on my face, I forced myself to focus on the matter at hand instead of obsessing over whatever the heck was going on in Vaughn’s life at the moment. I hadn’t been super worried when he’d called on Monday to cancel his trip to see me this weekend, just disappointed. We both were, but sometimes plans get messed up by life, and you have to get over it. My concern for him had grown over the past few days, though.
One of the things I appreciated most about Vaughn was how he gave me his total focus whenever we were together. He never left me in doubt about being interested in what I had to say because he paid attention. Not so much lately. He seemed distracted when I called, and last night, he was quick to get off the phone after only a couple of minutes.
At first, I’d brushed it off as him just being tired. Or stressed about whatever was going on that’d messed up his schedule so badly he couldn’t get away to visit me. I really wished he’d talk to me about it, but whenever I tried to bring it up, he told me not to worry and changed the subject. I’d let it slide so far, but not anymore. There might not be a whole lot I could do to help from afar, but I could at least listen and be a sounding board for him dammit.
With the decision made to do everything I could to get Vaughn to open up to me tonight, I felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. My smile became more genuine as I threw myself into my work to help the day go by more quickly.
Nine hours later, we finally wrapped up for the night. On the hunt for the notebook I’d been using earlier in the day, I popped into the office where we’d had our afternoon meeting. Bending low to see if it was under the table, I heard the low murmur of a masculine voice when I found it beneath the chair where I’d been sitting. After grabbing the notebook and shoving it into my tote, I stood back up and headed for the door.
