Page 38 of Save Me
She kept telling herself that he was only there temporarily. That he had a job in Miami to return to. A life. One that didn’t include her and Emma.
Falling into a pattern of being around Brock was easy. They stole moments here and there during their day to kiss or please one another. After the pool, they lounged on the chairs in the sun. When Emma woke, they all sat down and colored while she waited for the laundry to finish.
Her daughter had grown so attached to Chester that she knew she would have to get a cat of their own when Brock left. She didn’t want to think about him leaving, so she pushed that to the back of her mind.
Everything was just… normally perfect. She could almost forget there was someone after her. Almost forget the crazy world outside of their little paradise.
They had just finished dinner when there was a knock on the front door of the pool house. She never used that door. It was technically the front door, but she always thought of that part of the house as the back side, even though it faced a smaller street that was the legal address of the pool house.
“Are you expecting someone?” Brock asked her.
“No,” she said, feeling her heart jump. “No one goes to that door.” She walked over and laid a hand on Emma, who was sitting at the counter, playing with her toys.
“Stay put.” Brock disappeared down the hallway. When he came back, she noticed the gun held by his side. “Take Emma upstairs,” he said. Crissy had already snatched up her daughter and was halfway up the stairs.
She listened to Brock ask who it was through the door, as she held her daughter tight to her chest.
“Delivery for… Crissy Talbot,” she heard clearly.
“Just leave it there,” Brock replied.
“I’m sorry, sir, I can’t. She’s being served legal papers,” the voice called back clearly.
“Hold up your badge,” Brock replied as he looked through the peephole. Then she heard Brock open the front door and greet the person. “Hell, Randy. I didn’t know that was you.”
“Brock?” the other voice said sounding surprised. “What are you doing here?”
“This is my folk’s place,” Brock said, then he called up to them, “We’re clear. Come on down.”
“Mama, you’re squeezing me too tight?” Emma said, her voice sounding scared.
“Sorry, baby.” Crissy relaxed her hold. “Shall we go downstairs and see who it is?”
There was a middle-aged man in a full police uniform standing in her living room and talking with Brock when they came downstairs.
“Crissy, this is Randy O’Hare. Randy, Crissy Talbot. And her daughter, Emma.”
“Ma’am.” Randy nodded. “Sorry to do this, but…” He handed her a thick envelope.
“Thanks,” she said and frowned down at it. She half-listened to Brock and Randy catch up. Thankfully, less than five minutes after the man had walked into her home, he left.
“Well?” Brock said, turning to her after locking the front door. He nodded to the envelope.
She sat it down on the counter and picked up Emma. “Later,” she said with a smile. “Time for bed.”
Emma groaned, but then turned to Brock. “Story?”
“Sure, princess,” Brock said. “Give me a minute,” he told Emma, then he disappeared back down the hallway. When he returned, she knew that his weapon was put somewhere safe once again. Then he took Emma from her hands and disappeared upstairs, leaving her time to sit down and open the papers.
When Brock returned downstairs less than half an hour later, he sat next to her and took a sip of her wine.
“So?” he asked, pulling her into his arms.
“Carl is suing me for custody and alimony,” she said dryly.
He sighed. “Yeah, I thought it might be something like that. I can have my dad send you his lawyers’ info?”
She shifted closer to him. “Thanks. I just can’t think about this right now.”
