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)
Her nose wrinkled. “I wouldn’t. I can’t imagine having his job. They’ll have to bring someone in or we’ll get a totally unqualified judge.”
“Mr. Havery.” Sienna stood behind her sister.
“It’s just Quaid, Sienna.” Mr. Havery was still his father to him. Only very young people called him mister. The ones who remembered his dad usually still treated him like he was a newbie trying to replace the old man.
“I got a call from the courthouse, and it looks like the public defender from Houma isn’t going to make it today. They’ve got two arraignments this afternoon,” Sienna explained. “I actually know what that is because so many of our cousins get arrested. Yeah, I probably shouldn’t mention that.”
He let his head fall back. He’d hoped to get some writing in this afternoon. He’d cleared his schedule and everything. But he couldn’t leave people sitting in jail. Usually it was for minor offenses, and if it took too long they would end up transferring the prisoner to a larger jail. It wouldn’t be the first time some kid who’d been caught smoking pot got lost in the system.
The weight of responsibility pressed down on him.
“I’ll take it.” Jayna slapped a hand on his desk. “It’ll be fun. I don’t have a lot to do since I’m perfectly ready for our Friday showdown. I’m going to win, by the way. And if I don’t get back in time to go grocery shopping, you need to buy those steaks. I’m not joking. Remember what I promised Paul? I can do the same thing to you.”
“I will have them ready or I will take you out tonight and buy you the biggest steak I can find.” He believed her. She could be mean. The last thing he needed was the town deciding it was time for him to settle down.
But wasn’t it? Was that what this restless feeling was deep inside? He’d had it for a couple of years now, this feeling that he was missing something in his life. Jayna had turned that whisper into a voice that threatened to scream.
She grabbed her briefcase. “Oh, that’s even better. That way I don’t have to cook. I want a place where I can get a decent martini. I’ve heard Guidry’s makes a good one. Oh, and I’m going to need . . .”
He tossed his keys her way. “Do not bang up my car, Jayna.”
She grinned, catching the keys. “I promise nothing. Be back in a bit.”
She turned and walked out.
“You gave her the keys to your Benz?” Sienna looked at him like he’d gone a little crazy.
He hadn’t even thought twice about it. “Is she a terrible driver?”
“Well, no. Although she drives pretty fast.” Sienna frowned as she thought about the situation. “But you don’t know her very well. She could run off with it.”
“I have her dog as collateral.” Luna was hanging out in the office, her big bed near the front door. The pup wasn’t a problem. She liked to nap and sniff things. She gave the office a homey feel. He sat back. Jayna had bought him a whole afternoon, and the evening was suddenly looking up. He seemed to remember Remy talking about how they were going to have live music tonight. He might be able to get Jayna on the dance floor. It was one way to get his hands on her. “Somehow I don’t think your sister is going to run off with my car.”
“Well, she wouldn’t, but some people think we would,” Sienna pointed out.
“We?” He wasn’t sure what she was trying to say. He didn’t know Sienna well enough to read her yet. It was funny because he could already tell Jayna’s moods from the set of her shoulders, the way her lips pursed.
“People like me and Jayna and my mom. Like my cousins. I’m worried, Quaid.”
“Worried about the classes? You know there is going to be plenty of time for you to study. We aren’t all that busy.”
“No, it’s not that,” she replied with a shake of her head. “I’m going to do my best. I promise you that. I appreciate this opportunity, and I know I’m going to make it work for me and my girls. I’m worried about the way my sister looks at you.”
“How does she look at me?” His walls crept back up. He wasn’t sure how he felt about Sienna warning him off her sister. He thought he could be good for Jayna. He knew she was starting to be good for him.
“The same way she did when she was seventeen.”
“I feel bad that I didn’t recognize her. In my defense, she’s changed quite a bit. I overlooked her in high school, but I also overlooked anything that wasn’t football and whatever cheerleader I was dating at the time. And beer. I drank a lot of beer in those days.” Those had been the last days of his freedom, but then that was pretty much the point of high school. When he’d gone to college, he’d had to buckle down and do the real work. He’d put football behind him and studied and worked with his father.