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Skylar contacted his mother through the computer. On average they talked three to four times a week. She’d sent him a text last night saying she needed to talk to him first thing in the morning. Unfortunately, he’d been tied up for a few hours. She appeared on his screen, a cup of hot tea in her hand. He caught her blowing on the liquid before taking a quick sip.
“I think I screwed up, Mom.”
She raised an eyebrow and asked in a weary voice, “What did you do now?”
“I tried to save Anna from getting hurt, and she kicked me for it. Then she slammed out of my office. I think she might even quit the firm.”
Joann held a hand up. “Back up. Tell me exactly what you did tosaveher.”
“She’s been working on this case where a fifteen-year-old boy is accused of killing his Foster parents. The evidence is circumstantial, but it all points to him. Anna wants to believe he’s innocent because she was a Foster kid.”
“I had no idea. That poor girl.” His mother nodded and raised a finger, ready to make a point. “I thought I detected sadness deep in her eyes, the same sadness I see in you. It’s no wonder the two of you have gravitated to each other.”
Skylar sighed. “Can we return to the immediate problem, please?”
“Who’s stopping you?”
He started to have second thoughts about turning to his mother for advice. Sometimes she could be as stubborn and irritating as Anna. Focusing on the situation, he explained, “I interviewed the kid, and I think he did it. Anna is determined to believe in him no matter what. I just don’t want to see her make a mistake that she has to live with for the rest of her life. Her judgment is cloudy right now.”
His mother sipped her tea as she appeared to contemplate his dilemma.
She set the cup on his father’s desk before asking, “Are you sure you aren’t the one with the cloudy judgment?”
“Meaning?” He tapped his foot beneath his desk, and his jaw tightened.
“I know how you feel about putting criminals back on the street, honey. Anna isn’t the only one letting the past color how she feels.” Joann stopped talking long enough to let her words register. It was her signature parenting move. “You are in a difficult position right now. You’re her boss, so you have to walk a fine line. If you wouldn’t remove another lawyer from the case, you shouldn’t remove her.”
Skylar groaned and let his head drop forward a few inches. His mother was right. Even though he and Anna weren’t actually engaged, he did have feelings for her. He wanted to date the woman. He felt suddenly protective of her. “What do I do?” he asked.
“First, you apologize. Second, you give her the case back and allow her to do her job. Third, you bring her back here for Christmas. We can’t wait to spend the holidays with the two of you.”
He wasn’t sure how Anna would feel about another visit with his family.
Pushing that from his mind, he returned to their current problem. “What if I’m right and he’s guilty? If she helps him get off and he kills people, she’ll have to live with that forever. I don’t want her to experience that kind of pain.”
Then his mother asked him a question that made him start thinking in a new direction. “Is she good at her job? Is she a competent attorney?”
An easy smile came to his mouth. “She is brilliant. I looked back through all of her cases, and she won some I doubt anyone else could have won and that’s including me. You can ask Dad or Pierce or Hyde. They chose to make her a junior partner before her thirtieth birthday. That’s quite a feat.”
His admiration for the young woman seemed to grow with each passing day. The way Anna fit in with his family warmed his heart. She was a sweet, generous soul.
His mother beamed at him.
Then she snapped her fingers. “I almost forgot why I wanted to talk to you.”
Joann made a request. She wanted him to do something that might make things worse between Anna and him. If they were engaged, it would be fine, but they weren’t. His mother was operating under false information. He was hoping to fix things with Anna, not make her angrier. Unfortunately, he couldn’t tell his mother the truth, not at this point. He would just have to do what she asked and pray for the best.
♥♥♥
For the second time in one day, Anna was summoned to Skylar’s office. Tempted to ignore him, she continued to work for several minutes. Her secretary returned twice to remind her thatthe bosswas waiting. She set her work aside and ambled down the hallway, no hurry. Skylar probably wanted to know if she was resigning. She wasn’t sure yet.
Before her promotion to junior partner she’d loved her job and wouldn’t dream of giving it up. But since then, things had gotten progressively worse. Skylar was partly to blame for that. His ridiculous plan to fake an engagement grew more obstacles and consequences by the day. How much longer could she keep up the pretense?
She burst into Skylar’s office without bothering to knock, then realized her mistake after it was too late. He wasn’t alone. Caruthers sat in one of the chairs across from Skylar’s desk. Grim expression, he slowly stood. On his way out he gave her a dirty look as if she’d done something wrong.
The door snapped shut behind him.
“What was that about?” she asked Skylar.
