‘I may be a mild-mannered country solicitor,’ he said with a twinkly smile as he saw them to the door, ‘but I’ve dealt with my fair share of blackguards over the years, and I’ve come up against the likes of your Rob before, believe me. But I’ve never yet seen one of them hoodwink a judge.’
Lou smiled, heartened. Maybe Declan was more clued up than she’d given him credit for.
‘So, what now?’ she said as they stood outside.
Aidan gave her a sympathetic look and put an arm around her. ‘Drink?’ he suggested.
‘Yeah, good idea.’
They went to the nearest pub and sat by a roaring fire. Lou sipped her wine in silence, unable to dredge up a smile or even summon the will to speak. She’d never felt so flat and hollow, so utterly defeated. Maybe it was because she’d been on such a high lately that the low she was experiencing now was so crushing. Just a couple of days ago she’d been so happy. Life was good and the future had looked bright and certain. Now suddenly the pieces of her life had been thrown up in the air and she had no idea where they were going to land.
‘Lou?’ Aidan’s voice shook her out of her daze. ‘Are you in there?’
‘Sorry.’ She looked up at him. ‘Thanks for arranging that. Declan’s really nice.’
‘Yeah.’
‘God, I hate this! I wish we could go to court tomorrow and get it over with, so I could know where I stand, for better or worse.’ She raked a hand through her hair in frustration. ‘Now I’ve got three weeks of living in limbo. And just when we were ready to start having sleepovers!’ She was dimly aware that she shouldn’t be thinking about sex at a time like this.
‘Oh God,’ Aidan groaned. ‘Do we have to postpone that?’
‘No point in getting everyone wound up about something that might never happen. I mean, if Rob gets guardianship, Jack and I probably won’t be living here much longer.’
‘I really don’t think he’ll win, Lou. But even if he does, that doesn’t have to be the end of us, does it?’
‘I don’t see how not.’
Aidan frowned. ‘This isn’t like you. Where’s the woman who offered to arm-wrestle me at a job interview?’
Lou smiled weakly. ‘She’s tired.’
‘Okay, here’s an idea. Rob’s only doing this for money, right? So why don’t we just pay him to drop it?’
‘What?’ Lou snapped, jerking upright from her slumped position. ‘You want to compensate him for trying to ruin my life? Jack’s life? No way!’
‘Well, it was just a sugges?—’
‘I’m not some bloody damsel in distress that you have to come riding up on your white horse to rescue!’
‘I know that, I just?—’
‘Rob isn’t getting a penny of Jack’s money, or yours either! You heard Declan – he doesn’t have a leg to stand on. I can beat him fair and square, so don’t even think about—’ She broke off, suddenly realising Aidan was grinning at her.
‘That’s the Lou I know and love. You had me scared there, for a minute.’
Lou narrowed her eyes at him, but she couldn’t suppress the smile that twitched at her lips. ‘Did you just say that to wind me up?’
‘Well, it worked, didn’t it? I thought you looked like you needed a jump-start.’
She laughed. ‘Okay, I admit I checked out there for a minute. But I’m back now – fighting fit.’
‘Glad to hear it.’
‘What are we going to do about our other problem, though?’ She bit her lip.
‘The sleepovers? We could always shelve that for a while. I mean, you probably have enough on your plate.’
‘Three weeks, though?’
‘We could sneak around. Might be fun?’
‘There is always the pantry…’
