Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 108531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 543(@200wpm)___ 434(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 543(@200wpm)___ 434(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
Quaid grinned. “I’m not. He’s flying Mom out to spend a couple of weeks with him to celebrate. He wants us to look over the contracts, but it’s basically a done deal. And he wants to talk to me about possibly producing the Armand Landry stories.”
“That’s amazing.” She’d grown to genuinely enjoy the time she spent with Paul. His success would be hard-earned. “What do you think?”
“I think I would still like to try to get them published first, but we’ll see what happens. I’m open to all possibilities.” He let his hands find her hips. “Especially the possibility of getting you alone. We’re not far from the office.”
She missed the little apartment now that she’d moved into Havery House. Every now and then they spent the night even when they weren’t working late. They kept a bed and some food for Luna and locked themselves away from the world. “I might be able to slip away for a while.”
“There she is. That’s my aunt, and she will fix it. She won’t let them hurt him,” a quavering voice announced.
Jayna whirled around, and there was Ivy with some of her friends. She had tears in her eyes. “Honey, what’s wrong?”
“Where’s your momma?” Quaid started looking around the fair grounds for Sienna.
Ivy shook her head. “Momma can’t help, but Aunt Jayna can. We want to hire her. We have nine dollars and eleven cents.”
“Oh no. What happened?” Quaid asked.
Ivy’s eyes went wide. “They caught Brian, and they’re going to take him somewhere like a farm. That’s what the animal control guy said. He said Brian would be happy on a farm, but I know what a farm means. Everyone knows what a farm means.”
Animal Control Services needed to update their protocols on how to talk to children. Somehow she couldn’t actually see Zep Guidry destroying a raccoon who didn’t have rabies even if said raccoon was a menace to society. Still. The possibilities swirled in her head.
She could be a legal legend.
Or at least have a little fun. It had been a while since she’d indulged in Papillon shenanigans. She held out her hand and then two because that nine dollars wasn’t merely in paper money. There were two ones, a five, and a bunch of coins. Those kids had pooled their resources and bought themselves a damn fine attorney. This would be a lesson in both civics and economics for the kiddos. “Done. I’ll contact the court and file a stay. Brian is going nowhere. His arrest was likely illegal. I want to see the warrant.”
Quaid’s brows rose, the sides of his mouth tugging up in a way that let her know he thought she was slightly crazy and entirely amusing. “Uhm, I don’t think they need a warrant to take a raccoon into custody, baby.”
“That is for the court to decide, my love.” She shoved the kids’ retainer in her pocket. “Ivy, you’re going to need to take care of Luna for me. She’s with your mom and Kelly. Tell the mayor I had an emergency and I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Her niece nodded and ran off to find her mom and Sylvie.
Quaid took her hand and started to walk.
Jayna glanced up at him, matching his stride. “I’m going down to Animal Services and then likely to the courthouse.”
Quaid squeezed her hand. “And I will take the parish’s position.”
She grinned. “You are going to be the bad guy to every child in the parish.”
He winked. “Yeah, but it’s going to be fun, Counselor. You and me and a crazy court case. It’s everything I ever wanted.”
“Then let the games begin, baby.”
Quaid would be at her side. Or across the table. It didn’t matter as long as they were together.
She was ready for another round.