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Then again, she did the opposite. Always thought the best was going to happen . . . and was constantly let down.
“But what about everyone else here? Do you pick all of them up?”
“Most of them drive.” Reaching over, he grabbed a piece of brownie. “Behave yourself.”
Behave herself? She always behaved herself. She frowned as she watched him walk out of the door.
And then it occurred to her that he said that most of them drove here. What about the ones that didn’t? Was Raul busy traveling all over the city, picking them up?
Somehow, she thought not. So why was she special?
14
Effie’s phone rang as she rushed into the office.
By the time she got to the desk, the phone had stopped, and so she set her stuff down before stretching her back.
It had been pretty good lately, but sometimes, it played up. Like right now.
She set down her treats for the day and pulled her phone out. Another unknown number.
What the heck?
She was damn sick of this.
That was the third time someone had called her and hung up in the last two weeks.
It rang again and anger filled her.
“Listen,” she said into the phone. “I am sick of this. If you keep calling me and hanging up, I am going to the cops.”
It was an empty threat. But the person on the other end didn’t know that. And she was done. Those phone calls where no one was on the other line . . . they scared her.
Effie had spent too much time being scared. Scared to let Joe know how she felt. Afraid to let go of him when he died. Terrified she’d mess Brooks up for life. Petrified she’d lose Brooks too.
Worried all the time. About everything.
So she really didn’t need some fucking asshole calling her and hanging up and making life harder for her.
However, the person on the other end didn’t hang up. Nope, they cleared their throat. That was new. They never usually made a noise before hanging up.
“Ms. Stephenson?”
“Who is this?” she demanded. “And why do you keep calling me then hanging up? That’s really rude.”
“Um, I don’t believe that I have done that.”
Okay, she was beginning to think that perhaps the man on the other end of the line wasn’t her prank caller.
“Oh, who’re you?”
“My name is Jonas Real. I’m a lawyer.”
“A lawyer?” she asked, frowning. Why would a lawyer be calling her?
“Yes, I represent Tanya Ford. I believe you currently have custody of her son, uh, Brooks Ford.”
“His name isn’t Brooks Ford.” Stupid name. Something Tanya had given him because she thought it was funny. “It’s Brooks Keaton.” That was Joe’s last name, and he’d made certain that Brooks had it after Tanya had gone nuts.
