AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Thank you. That’s what I thought,” the woman concluded.
Finally, the two of them realized that I was standing there with my mouth open, wondering what was going on. The pregnant woman with all the questions offered me her hand for an extremely assertive shake.
“Holly Zeigler,” she said. “You must be Zoe.”
Dr. Castigan sentme on my lunch break early, and I took Holly to the cafeteria where she explained to me exactly what was happening. I felt more hopeful than I had in weeks. Despite the rather invasive questions, I liked Holly. She was ferocious. She had a plan. And she was exactly what I needed to protect myself from Desmond.
“Usually, my job involves taking children from dangerous or unfit homes, not keeping them in one,” she said. “You’re making my job a hell of a lot easier.”
“I should hope so. This is so frustrating. I just want things to stay the way that they are.” I sighed. She nodded and encouraged me to take a deep breath. “If Desmond and I couldn’t make it as a couple, I want our son to have equal time with both of us. I want him to know that he’s wanted and loved by both of us.”
“That’s beautiful, Zoe. And far more gracious than your ex-husband deserves.”
“Thank you.”
“This sounds like a run of the mill intimidation tactic,” she said, bluntly. “I’ll have the lawyer I usually work with arrange a little sit-down between our team and his. And I’ll be there the entire time to make sure this goes as planned. Once he sees that we’re serious and not backing down, he’ll drop this little tantrum and keep everybody out of court.”
“I’d love that. Though part of me would love to have a judge put Desmond in his place.”
“That would be satisfying, I’m sure,” she agreed. “But the less we have to involve Rex in all this mess, the better. Am I right?”
“Yes. Of course.”
“Good answer.” Holly looked through her papers and notes once more before placing them in a manila folder, nodding affirmatively. “Looks like we’re good to go here.”
“Great.”
“Just one final thing.Isthere anything that Desmond can really use against you?” she asked, concerned. “Like, do you drink excessively or have wild, crazy friends over? Do keg stands in the middle of the living room? Maybe have a boyfriend coming over that might give Desmond some pause?”
I drew in a breath, knowing this would come up eventually.
“I mean… I’ve done a keg stand or two when I was younger,” I admitted. “Desmond and I met when I was in college and he knows I was kind of a party girl. I mean, I could tell you stories that would—”
“But that’s in the past, right? Your partying days are behind you? I mean, no one gives a shit about a glass of wine with the girls every now and again. But if you’re still getting trashed and closing down bars, we have a problem.”
I laughed. “The only reminder of Party Zoe is a misspelled tattoo on my hip. And I can have it covered up if you think that might help my case.”
“I think we’re going to be okay.”
My breath caught again. There was one more issue.
“Holly, I don’t have a boyfriend per se, but—”
“I knew it,” she said. “There’s something going on between you and Carter Kane.”
I didn’t say anything. Which said everything.
“I knew it the second he mentioned you. There was something in his voice. It was… I don’t know. It was more serious. And he’s just not a serious kind of guy,” she concluded. “But you knew that.”
“Yeah,” I said, unsure of where she was going with this.
“So whatisgoing on?” she asked. “I mean, you don’t have to go into all the gory details. Just general idea.”
“We… hooked up. We promised it was just one time to get it out of our systems. But it turned into… one more time.”
“So you’re dating?”
“No. It was casual.”
