Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 160684 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 803(@200wpm)___ 643(@250wpm)___ 536(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 160684 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 803(@200wpm)___ 643(@250wpm)___ 536(@300wpm)
“I knows!” she crowed, clapping her hands. “Effie is a good girl. Effie deserves a treat! Jelly beans!”
“No jelly beans,” he told her.
She pouted. “Mean. Magic beans!”
“Isn’t that the same thing?” he asked.
“Nooo, silly Daddy. Magic beans are jelly beans that are . . . magic!” She moved her hands in a wide arc, flicking her fingers back and forth.
“Still no.”
“You’re such a party pooper sometimes, Daddy.”
“I am?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah, it’s a real problem. We should probably get that seen to. They likely have party pooper doctors.”
“Really?”
“Yep. We’ll get them to have the party pooperiness pulled out of you.”
“Good to know. I feel so relieved now,” he said dryly.
“Me too, Daddy. Me too.”
“Well, until that happens. I guess we’ll just have to make do with me being a party pooper. Which means you now get to eat some fruit and vegetables.”
“Noooo! It should be illegal!”
“Illegal?” he asked.
“Yep. Should be illegal to be made to eat vegetables when you have your period.” She wrinkled her nose.
“Well,” he said, tapping her nose. “I’ve never been one to care about following the law.”
She sighed as he grabbed the plate from where he’d set it on the coffee table and picked up a piece of carrot to feed her.
Should definitely be illegal.
46
No!
No, no, no!
She stared down at the piece of paper in her hand. She was back in her apartment. It was a week after Steele had taken care of her during her period. This past weekend, she’d spent Saturday night with them again. But this had mostly been about them looking after her and Little time.
She loved Little time with Daddy. The only thing that would make it better was if Grady would join them.
But she wasn’t going to push him into anything he didn’t want.
Now . . . all thoughts of Little time were pushed from her head.
She stared down at the letter in horror. A letter that stated someone was going for custody of Brooks. The first name of the person was unknown to her, but the last name wasn’t.
This person shared Brooks’ mom’s last name. So it had to be a relative of hers. Effie studied the lawyer’s name. There were contact details for him. The name was familiar, though.
Her mind went back to that phone call from a few months ago where that lawyer had wanted her to allow Tanya to call Brooks.
Did this have something to do with that? Should she have let her call him? Would this have been prevented?
Her breath came in sharp pants. She had to get it together. Brooks had already left for school and Grady was going to be here in ten minutes to pick her up.
Grady and Steele now picked her up for work when they could. Mostly, Grady, though.
And she loved those moments together. She needed to carve out more time for them, without abandoning Brooks. But they’d both been telling her that he could come and stay as well.
Now, that all seemed like nothing. Pointless to worry about when she had something so much worse to concern herself with.
With a shaking hand, she dialed the phone number on the letter. After getting through his assistant, she heard that same lawyer’s voice.
“Hello, Ms. Stephenson. How can I help?”
He sounded professional but smug.
Asshole.
“What is this?” she asked.
“I’m guessing you got the custody letter.”
“You cannot go for custody of Brooks. He’s mine.”
“Actually, he’s not. He has no blood or legal ties to you.”
“He’s lived with me for years!”
“Rather unfortunate.”
Rather unfortunate? Was he kidding her?
“Unfortunate?” she whispered.
“Yes, my client didn’t realize that his nephew was in the hands of a woman with no real familial ties to him. And now he wants to remedy that.”
Nephew?
Brooks had an uncle? Tanya’s brother?
“This won’t happen. Brooks is sixteen. The judge will give him a say.”
“And do you think the judge will be happy when he learns that Brooks is being cared for by a woman who is dating two men? At the same time? It doesn’t speak well to your character, Ms. Stephenson.”
“How . . . how do you know that?”
“You have a neighbor willing to attest to that fact. He’s not happy with you. Then there’s the fact that you work in a strip club, live in a terrible part of town . . . it’s not looking good for you, Ms. Stephenson.”
She ended the call, breathing heavily.
Do not throw up. Do not.
She took a few calming breaths. What was she going to do?
Tell Steele and Grady.
Right. Only . . . did she have to break up with them? She didn’t want to but this was Brooks.
They can help you.
The knock on the door made her jump, but she made herself move. She grabbed her coat and handbag and opened the door.
“Good morning,” she said brightly.
He eyed her. “What’s wrong?”
“I’ll tell you in the truck.”