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“I don’t have a thousand dollars, much less a hundred thousand,” Abbot said, a faint whine in his voice.
It took all Quaid had not to roll his eyes. The city slicker was in town, and she thought she could roll over all the bumpkins. She was arrogant, and yet he still wanted to get to know her.
But first she needed to understand he wasn’t someone she could steamroll with her gorgeous looks and obvious intelligence. He pulled out his ace in the hole. “Your Honor, before Jimmy Abbot took down the tree, he informed Geraldine he was going to do it. Here is a copy of the letter my client sent along with an explanation and the proof that while the tree is partially on Geraldine’s property, the majority of the roots of the tree are on his. I measured it. The trunk and visible roots measure twelve feet around, and nine of those are clearly on the gas station property.”
“The tree was partially hers and shouldn’t have been taken down.” Jayna frowned his way before turning to the judge. “And if Mr. Abbot sent a letter, my client doesn’t remember. She’s elderly, and he’s taking advantage of her.”
“I bring her lunch every day,” Abbot argued. “I treat her like she’s my grandma. Those roots were starting to crack the pavement of the parking lot. Can’t she close the curtains?”
“She doesn’t have blackout drapes,” Jayna replied. “Andhonestly, she shouldn’t need them because she didn’t agree to the tree being taken down.”
“She doesn’t have to agree. This is decided law, Your Honor. As perHollister v. Klein, whoever owns the majority of the base of the tree makes the final decisions about the tree,” Quaid explained. “You yourself made that judgment in 1995.”
The judge nodded solemnly. “Yes, I did, and it led to a feud that lasted twenty years.”
Abbot stood. “Geraldine don’t have twenty years left in her, and I won’t feud with any of her kin. I will pay for her blackout curtains. I’ll even take her to the Walmart and let her pick them out herself.”
“Ooo, can I get some new pillows, too?” Geraldine had magically awakened at this opportune moment. “And I need a few other things for around the house.”
Abbot sighed, a deeply relieved sound. “Of course. Miss Geraldine, you didn’t need to hire a lawyer. I would have worked this all out with you. I was shocked when I got served with that lawsuit.”
Geraldine stood, stretching and then patting down her helmet of steel gray hair. “Well, this young lady here seemed to need some work. I don’t know. She talked real fast, Jimmy, and I get lonely at times. But that light is terrible. It’s so very bright at all hours of the night.”
“Excellent. Then my judgment is for the defense.” The judge struck his gavel and stood. “Now, I’m going to hide, and we’ll say this took far longer than it did.”
Britney was right on top of that. “PawPaw, I can’t let you do that. I’m supposed to take you down to Lila’s. I’m way more afraid of MawMaw than I am you.”
The Brewer family started arguing while Geraldine made her way to Jimmy Abbot, already talking about what a magical place the Houma Walmart was. Jayna Cardet simplystared as though trying to process how her life had taken this turn.
“Hey, why don’t we go over to the café? I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you, but if you’re going to practice here in Papillon, we should probably talk.”
“I didn’t even get to argue my case.” She took the thick file in front of her and shoved it into her Prada bag. “And I’m pretty sure my client intends to pay me in gumbo.”
That sounded about right. “There’s not a lot of money here, but it can be fun.”
She frowned at him. It seemed to be a theme with her. “You seem to be doing fine, Mr. Havery.”
“Only because I’m the only lawyer in town and I represent the largest businesses in the area. I’ve got more work than I can handle,” he offered. “Why don’t you tell me about yourself and maybe I can hand some of that work over to you.”
“I don’t need charity.” She slung her oversized bag over her shoulder. “I can find my own clients. In fact, I think you’ll discover we’ll be right back here in no time, and I won’t lose again. Good day, Mr. Havery.”
“It’s Quaid,” he called out as she walked away.
He was deeply looking forward to their next encounter.
chapter two
He hadn’t even remembered her name.
Jayna sat on the lawn chair on her mom’s porch as the sun began to go down. It was a ratty piece of furniture that would likely collapse within the next thirty minutes, but her mother never replaced a thing until it died. She was pretty sure these chairs had been around when she was a child.
Something soft rubbed against her leg and when she glanced down Luna was looking up at her with worshipful eyes. She was pretty sure Luna was the only creature in the world who would ever give her that look again.
She’d paid through the nose to keep custody of that white fluffball. If she’d pressed the issue, she might have gotten half the house, but she’d lost so damn much already, she couldn’t lose Luna, too.
The door to the trailer across the way opened and there came another reminder of her childhood here. Her sister stepped out, a trash bag in her hand. From inside she could hear the sounds of giggling children and cartoons playing.
Sienna still wore her Dixie’s Café T-shirt from her earlier shift and her hair was up in a high ponytail, her blond tressesbouncing as she crossed the space between her single-wide and their mom’s.
