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“Right. We’re meeting at nine to discuss that,” I say.
It hits me then, how invisible I’d felt at that last client meeting. How well he and Courtney had jived. How happy she was to have him—and only him—in her corner, making her coffee, telling her everything was going to be okay. I’ve always prided myself in being a doer, an advocate. I’m not a hand holder. I’m a no-nonsense shoulder to lean on. I’ve always intended for my demeanor to empower women, not coddle them.
With Courtney, I’d done everything right, gone above and beyond, and yet that morning I was reduced to an invisible and useless third wheel.
Courtney Perry has both our business cards, but if she needed her attorney, there’s no doubt who she’d call first.
“Wait.” I jump up. “What situation are you talking about?”
He stops. Turns. And puts on this confused act, “You haven’t heard?”
“Obviously not. What’s going on?”
“I spoke with Courtney yesterday evening,” he says. “She called me in a state. Needed to talk.”
Of course she considers him her shoulder to cry on. Not me. He’s the cute one, the charming one, the one who was acting like her lap dog, fetching her coffee and snacks. And being tall, dark-haired, with an athletic shape—he’s not all that different from her soon-to-be ex, James Perry. If she’s looking for a replacement, she’s found him. A mix of unexpected jealousy and rage bubbles in my veins, but I inhale deeply, trying to keep it from unleashing. “And what did she say?”
“She found out that before they got married, James transferred all of his property and assets into his mother’s name, making it look like he owns nothing.”
“Okay, but the two of them built Periwinkle—”
“Yeah. But he bought it all before. It’s in his mom’s name. The whole business is.”
I gape. Somehow, all this non-stop research I’ve been doing didn’t reveal that nugget. It’s not like me to miss something so huge. I blame the stress of the promotion and the excitement of my online stranger.
“Damn it.” I exhale, massaging my temples.”
He nods. “She could get royally fucked in this.”
Over my dead body will I let another manipulative man rake his partner over the coals and walk away a winner. I grit my teeth and point to him and then my desk.
“In. Now. Close the door,” I say. “Malicious intent. We’ve got to prove malicious intent. That’s going to be key here.”
“I knew you’d be pissed.” He sits down and draws the chair closer to my desk. “I was as well.”
Wow. First time we’ve ever agreed on anything.
“You could’ve called me. You have my number,” I say.
“I thought I’d let you enjoy the rest of your weekend.”
I snort. “I never enjoy my weekends. Remember?”
“Right. I forgot,” he says, and to my surprise, he motions to the file, ready to get down to business. “The only thing she has as a bargaining chip in this deal is custody of her kids and she’s not going to give that up for anything. She wants full, sole custody. She told me that, over and over. I don’t know if that’s realistic, and I told her that, but she’s beside herself. If she wasn’t in battle mode before, she is now.”
I look up at him. I can’t blame Courtney for feeling that way, but what gets me is Brooks’s delivery. He sounds not just like her attorney, but like her friend, someone personally invested. “She told you all that?”
He exhales and nods. “She’s losing it, T.”
That pulls me right out of the case. “Did you just call me T? Like the letter?”
He frowns, as if he’s having trouble thinking back to the last thing he said. “What’s wrong with that?”
I could say I don’t like it. I’ve never had anyone use a nickname on me. Even to my friends, I’ve always been Tenley. But oddly, I kind of like it, though I’m not sure why.
I let it go.
“We’ve got to take this guy down,” I say. “It’s the kids who are going to suffer here, being used like pawns. Cases like these, it’s never about custody. It’s about not having to pay alimony and child support. It’s about having the upper hand. My dad did the same thing to my mom. He left her, she refused to give him the full custody he was demanding, so he checked out completely. It was never about me or the custody. Anyway, after that I was raised having absolutely nothing. It was the worst. I don’t want that to happen to Courtney’s kids.”
Brooks tilts his head.
“Yeah, agree. I know what that’s like though I wish I didn’t.” He points to the file. “You ever get that police report for the DUI in?”
I stare at him, dumbfounded. He was raised by a single mother with absolutely nothing too?
And here I’ve been loathing how easy everything comes to him.
