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“I’m reliable,” Jarvis said with a smile and a wave. He jogged backward a few paces. “Tell Bella I’ll call.”
He circled around to the side door of the courthouse, wondering what in the hell he’d say if he ran into Regina. Nothing, obviously. Although he could recognize her from local publicity as Norton’s wife and the videos Mia had shared, Jarvis was a stranger to her. And what were the odds she was even here? From what Mia had shared, he supposed Regina was bold enough to ambush Mia directly, but he didn’t know.
His stomach knotted. In about a week he was going to walk into a party hosted by the very woman he was spying on tod
ay. Suddenly, this felt like the dumbest idea in the world. If she noticed him here and then recognized him at her party, it would be a short leap for her to guess Mia was hiding at the Triple R.
His bravado drained away, leaving him with a void that quickly filled with uncertainty. This wasn’t some lark. A woman’s life was on the line, and the future of her baby, too. But he was here and committed to the effort. He had to follow through.
He took the stairs to the second floor toward the courtroom specified in the email. There was no sign of Mia’s ex, or anyone else. The hallways were way too quiet for any court to be in session. The pervasive hush was worse than in a library. He turned a corner, following the only sound—a low, impatient voice. Her body was silhouetted against the light pouring through the window at the other end of the hall, making it impossible to verify that it was Regina.
Sitting on a bench near an open office door, Jarvis pulled out his phone, pretending to text while the woman fumed aloud in hushed tones as she paced the width of the hallway.
“Keep looking,” she said. “Yes, I’m sure that’s her car. I told you she is not up here.” She paused, rushed back to the window, her high heels clicking across the marble floor. “What do you mean, it’s not there? There’s a bracket thing. In the back seat.”
She’d snarled those last words and Jarvis knew he was watching and listening to Regina. As they’d thought, this custody hearing was a trap for Mia. He kept his head down, angling his hat to hide his face. Not that Regina would’ve registered anything outside of her current tantrum.
“She didn’t just disappear.”
Oh, but she had, he thought once the sound of her heels faded. He walked toward the window where Regina had been and looked down at the parking lot. He couldn’t see anyone showing too much interest in Mia’s car. But the rear tire was flat on the driver’s side. A hot spike of temper slammed through him. Regina was showing every sign of being too desperate. Spencer would call this “escalating.”
Pressing the panic button on Mia’s key fob, he was quickly rewarded as Regina’s glossy updo rushed into view. Following her movements, he identified the person who was most likely helping her by the car while Regina had been on the lookout up here.
Though Jarvis wasn’t eager to take another look at the indiscretion Mia had caught on video, he would have to so they could verify if the man down in the parking lot was the same man Regina had been with at the country house. In the meantime, he had to do something about Mia’s car. And he needed a lift back to the ranch, by way of the feedstore. Thankfully, he knew exactly where to find his sister and brother.
He hurried down the street to the diner, pleased to find Bella and Spencer still at lunch at a table near the window. He ordered a sandwich to go so he wouldn’t delay their meal and then sweet-talked his sister into driving him back out to the Triple R.
“Only if you’re buying,” Bella said, though she couldn’t suppress her smile.
“Deal,” Jarvis agreed.
“What happened to your truck?” Spencer asked.
“I was borrowing a friend’s car, but it has a flat. The garage is taking care of that and I’ll get a ride into town after work to pick it up.” He was sure one of his siblings would call him out on the fib, but Spencer was distracted by someone or something outside.
Bella and Jarvis exchanged a look. When Spencer was in cop mode it was hard to break through with normal conversation. While they waited for his sandwich, he dutifully admired her sparkling engagement ring and urged her to fill him in on her fiancé, Holden, and the initial wedding plans.
“It’s still weird to think of you getting married.” He raised his chin toward Spencer. “Both of you.”
Spencer continued to be preoccupied, but Bella wiggled her eyebrows. “Maybe we’ll rub off on you.”
Jarvis laughed. “Not a chance. Cowboys don’t get married, we just ride off into the sunset with the woman of the moment.”
Bella elbowed him, hard. “Have you seen Ainsley around the ranch?”
“Not much,” he said. “It’s a working ranch. I’m not there to plan a family reunion.”
Bella slumped in her seat, deflated, and he felt like a jerk. His sister had always longed to be closer to their Colton Oil cousins and had recently bonded with Marlowe over her newborn. Payne’s dismissive remarks about their parents and grandparents never seemed to faze her. Probably because she’d been saddled with two ornery brothers and a fractured home life. He could tell her the grass wasn’t really greener on the Colton Oil side of the family tree, but why wreck her fantasy of having cousins who’d always cared? “Marlowe, Ainsley and Asher are all right,” he said. “They’ve never treated me like a leech. Maybe you should reach out.”
“Are you well?” She pressed the back of her hand to his forehead and he swatted it away. “Sorry,” she said, though she clearly wasn’t. “You’re not sounding like you.”
Admittedly, Mia was rubbing off on him more than his siblings. Watching her cope with an unthinkable scenario on her own made him face uncomfortable facts. Bella and Spencer had partners and love now, and assuming all went well, they had someone to lean on in tough times. Despite all they’d been through, it would be natural and right for their spouses to come before him. It didn’t mean he wanted a wife and kids, just that he should probably cultivate friendships with people other than his sister and brother. Eventually. Today his plate was full enough.
On a low grumble, Spencer shoved out of the booth. “Excuse me a second.”
“And that’s lunch,” Bella said, shaking her head. “Remember to leave a good tip.” She patted Jarvis’s cheek and followed Spencer.
Jarvis took care of the bill, tipping well like his sister would do, and then grabbed his take-out bag. Bella had followed Spencer, standing a few paces away while he spoke with Micheline and her assistant, Leigh Dennings. The pair were finishing lunch at an outdoor table at the bistro across the street. Considering the phone call he’d overheard, he assumed spotting the women had diverted Spencer’s attention.
