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Her sister’s desk had neat stacks of files and notes for the next morning. She’d texted Jayna that she was heading to pick up the girls and would be back tomorrow. It was a good thing Sienna had left since that meant she didn’t have to witness what was about to happen.
The door to Quaid’s office was closed. She thought about looking for the password to Sienna’s computer. Quaid had given her one earlier and told her to memorize it, but it would take Sienna a while to do that, so she’d almost certainly written the sucker somewhere. She could find it, get her hands on the file she needed, and then plot how to take the whole evil scheme down.
That would get her sister in trouble and make her every bit the unethical attorney she was accused of being. Shecouldn’t look through his files. She would just make sure whatever plot Quaid had failed.
She would go straight to the source. She opened his door.
His head rose from staring at his laptop screen and his eyes lit up. “Hey, how was court?”
She’d spent the afternoon dealing with the criminal system, and it hadn’t helped her mood. She’d helped an eighteen-year-old plead no contest to a misdemeanor possession charge in hopes that the judge would be lenient. The other defendant had pleaded not guilty to assault when he’d been clearly guilty. He’d told her he was sure his wife would drop the charges when she’d had time to think about it.
Sometimes it was hard to be a lawyer.
“Tell me you’re not tearing down the only library in town.”
He stared at her for a moment as though he had to flip through the files in his head to find the right answer. “I’m not personally tearing it down, no.”
“But you’re representing the asshole who’s selling the land out from under the library.”
“It’s a complex situation, but a clear one. The Hillyard family owns the land. They’ve leased it to the city for one dollar a year for the last fifty years.” Quaid pushed back from his desk. “The agreement with the mayor at the time was when Grant Hillyard passed, he would leave the land to the city for as long as the library stood. However, he never wrote that into the will and the agreement was never written down. So now Hillyard’s daughter inherited everything and she’s selling the land to an investment firm.”
“It was an oral agreement. It counts.”
“If you can prove it, it counts. Hillyard’s written will was simple but clear. Everything went to his only heir, Peggy Hillyard. She wants to sell the land. I’m not sure what you expect me to do about that.”
She should have known that would be his defense. He was doing his job. Nothing more. Simply representing his client to the best of his ability. It didn’t matter that the client was taking away something precious.
The day had started so well, but now everything seemed to be crashing in again, and she wasn’t sure she could handle it.
“Jayna, what happened?” He moved toward her, his eyes narrowing. “This can’t be about the library closing. Sylvie’s already looking into a new site.”
She was sure the mayor was. Sylvie Darois cared about her community, but the wheels of bureaucracy turned slowly. “That’s years away. What happens to the kids who need that library now?”
He stopped in front of her, his hands going to her arms and holding her. “What happened?”
She moved away. She couldn’t think when his hands were on her. “I found out you’re closing the library.”
“I’m not closing the library,” Quaid insisted. “I wrote the will. I’m enacting the last wishes of my client. Besides, the city’s not fighting it. The librarian is retiring next year, and they can’t find a replacement. That’s one of the things they’ll do as they’re working to build a new one. Now tell me what’s wrong.”
Closing the library was wrong. The email she’d gotten was wrong. The text from one of her only friends back in New Orleans was wrong. Her life was wrong, and it wasn’t his job to fix it.
She shook her head. “It’s not your problem. I think I’m going to skip dinner tonight. I’m going to take Luna for a run, and then I’ll head to bed early. Is she upstairs?”
“I think you need to tell me what happened today.”
“It’s none of your business.” She turned to walk away but his hand came out, gripping her elbow.
“Baby, tell me what’s got you in this state. Jayna, calm down. This is not you.”
Did he think he knew her? She’d been careful around him. He hadn’t even started to see her crazy side. “You have no idea who I am. None. You think you know me because you’ve spent a couple of days with me? Because you’ve kissed me and thought about hopping into bed with me? This is exactly who I am. I’m the woman who gets mad. Do you know how many times I’ve been told to calm down?”
“That was wrong of me. I shouldn’t have said that, but I’m worried about you.”
She didn’t want to hear his apologies. She wanted to fight with him, wanted a knock-down, drag-out fight, but he didn’t deserve that from her. “I won’t be here long enough for you to worry about, Quaid. I’m leaving this place as soon as possible.”
“You going to leave your sister after you promised to help her get through school? You going to leave after you took on clients here in town who no one else will serve? Maybe the things I’ve heard about you are right.”
“Maybe they are. Maybe I’m exactly what my mother told me I was. An arrogant social climber who didn’t appreciate anything I was given. Maybe I was bound to fail and end up right back in the dirt I came from.”
