Chapter 24
Twenty-Four
They flew to Los Angeles the next night. Kara, who’d inherited Bertha’s fear of flying, stared straight ahead for most of the six-hour flight.
Dan had a car service waiting at LAX to whisk them to his place in Malibu. Kara fell asleep on his shoulder and woke when the car came to a stop. She had no idea what time it was or whether she was coming or going.
“Are we there?”
“We’re there.”
Dan dealt with their bags and thanked the driver before leading her in through a gate that revealed the shadow of a large contemporary home. “I’ll give you the full tour after we get some sleep.”
Kara could barely keep her eyes open long enough to follow him upstairs to a bedroom with the largest bed she’d ever seen. She curled up on the bed and was asleep before her head hit the pillow.
The next time she opened her eyes, sunshine was streaming in through massive windows that overlooked the Pacific.
She sat up for a better look at the view. “Whoa.”
“You like?”
“Uh, yeah, I like.” She got up and walked over for a better view, blinking as the sun nearly blinded her. “Holy wow. When you said beach house, you weren’t kidding.”
“Would I kid you?”
“Apparently not. Is it warm enough to go to the beach?”
“Sure is, but you probably won’t want to swim. The Pacific is freezing year-round.”
“Can’t be worse than Maine in the heart of the summer.”
“That’s true.”
“Is there a bathroom attached to this humongous bedroom?”
Smiling, Dan pointed the way.
Kara walked into the largest bathroom she’d ever seen. “Holy shit.”
Hearing Dan laughing in the bedroom, she came to the door, mouth hanging open. “Are you kidding me right now?”
He was on his side, head propped on an upturned hand. “Um, nope.”
“This is your house?”
“This is our house.”
“Stop it.”
“You haven’t seen the rest.”
“I could live the rest of my life in perfect bliss in this bathroom.”
“It’s pretty cool, right?”
“Yes, Dan, it’s pretty cool.”
“You can look out on the Pacific from the bathtub.”
“I noticed that.”
“Want to give it a try?”
“Yes, I do.”
He crawled out of bed and strode toward her, naked as a jaybird. Inside, her heart did a happy dance because she got to spend today and every day with him. When he reached her, she could tell she surprised him when she put her arms around him and planted a kiss on his chest. “Morning.”
“Morning, love.”
“I’m glad I already loved you when I got a load of this place.”
“You wouldn’t have loved me if you knew about this?”
“I would’ve been more suspicious.”
“How could that be possible?”
She laughed—hard. “True.”
“You, my love, led me on the merriest of chases, and despite this house that I was lucky enough to get one hell of a deal on, I’m a rather simple guy.”
She snorted with laughter that she tried—and failed—to contain.
“What’s so funny?”
“You’re not simple. Well, sometimes you are, but it’s more in the mental department than in the lifestyle department.”
He feigned offense. “That’s very hurtful.”
“Truth hurts.”
All at once, the aroma of something cooking made her stomach growl. “What do I smell, and who is in your house?”
“I assume it’s breakfast.”
“Who’s cooking breakfast?”
“A friend.”
“What friend?”
A look of discomfort—or maybe it was vulnerability—crossed his handsome face. “Let’s take a bath, and I’ll tell you about it.”
“It’s not your wife, is it?”
The look he gave her was so priceless that she lost it laughing all over again.
“You’re such a brat. No, it’s not my wife.”
“Glad to hear it, ’cause that would’ve been awkward.”
“Indeed.” He huffed out a laugh and went to turn on the tub.
“Nice view,” she said from behind him as be bent over the tub.
He wiggled his ass, making everything else jiggle.
“Don’t quit your day job, Counselor.”
“I auditioned for Magic Mike.”
“You did not!”
“I did not.”
Kara laughed again. “You know what I love best about you?”
“My sexy ass and jiggling bits?”
“They’re not terrible, but what I love best is the nonstop laughter. All we do is laugh.”
“Nice way to live, right?”
“Very.”
“Get naked.”
She removed the clothes she’d had on the day before and dropped them into a pile on the tiled floor.
He extended a hand to help her into the tub and then followed her in, sitting behind her and wrapping his arms around her. “This is a lovely way to start the day.”
Kara relaxed against his chest. “The loveliest.”
He filled his hands with her breasts and ran his thumbs over her nipples. “It’s so fun to have you here at my place.”
“Your palace, you mean?”
“Place is a humbler term.”
“You told me you did well in corporate law before you founded the innocence project, but I never expected anything like this.”
“Grant told you my place was cool.”
“He downplayed it, and so did you. Now tell me about this friend who’s making us breakfast.”
“Her name is Lorraine, and she’s one of the people I got out of prison.”
“And now she cooks for you?”
“They can’t pay for what we do, so some of them insist on helping me with things. Lorraine is an amazing cook, so she likes to help me when I need it, and I like to let her because it makes her feel like she’s repaying me, if that makes sense.”
“That’s so sweet.”
“You know the guy who picked up the car from the hotel in Boston?”
“Yeah, what about him?”
“He’s another one. He lives in southern New Hampshire and came down to get the car so I wouldn’t have to keep it in a garage while we’re out here. He’ll bring it back when we need it.”
“So you have this whole network of grateful people who help you out as needed?”
“Something like that. I hope you know… I only let them do things for me because they want to, not because I expect it.”
“That’s amazing, Dan. Just when I think I know you, there’s more.”
“It’s not that big of a deal.”
“Would Lorraine agree?”
“She’d probably say it was a pretty big deal when I got her out of prison.”
“What was she in for?”
“Killing her abusive husband in self-defense.”
“How long was she in?”
“Seventeen years.”
“Oh my God.”
“I know. She was the third person we freed.”
“How does that happen? How does someone who fights back against an abuser do seventeen years in prison?”
“It’s a lot of things. Sometimes it’s the family of the person who was killed who raises such a stink that the state has no choice but to pursue prosecution.
Other times, maybe an overzealous prosecutor is thinking more about reelection than justice or a cop who needs to get his or her close rate up and comes up with ‘evidence’ that things didn’t happen the way the witness said they did.
Sometimes it’s racism. That’s what Lorraine believes, as a Black woman who killed her white husband. She says she didn’t stand a chance.”
“Wow.”
“Our justice system is so far from perfect, it’s not even funny, but it’s the best one we’ve got.”
“I’m so glad there’re lawyers like you and others working to right these terrible wrongs.”
“It’s satisfying work.”
“How many have you freed in total?”
“Forty-two, with twelve others in various stages that should eventually lead to exoneration. Nothing happens fast.”
“Charlie’s case did.”
“That was a rare exception in which the victim was able to attest that her original testimony was ignored, and we were able to prove that the presiding judge was experiencing the early stages of dementia during the trial. I wish I had circumstances like those to work with more often.”
Kara moved carefully to turn over without sloshing water all over the place. When she was facing him, she kissed him. “I’m so impressed and moved and just thankful.”
“For what, love?”
“That in this whole big world, we both ended up on Gansett Island at the same time.”
“And you were wearing Levi’s jeans.”
Her brows furrowed in confusion. “What?”
“The night we met. It was those jeans that did it for me.”
“All right. You’re going to have to explain that.”
“Every woman I’ve ever known wouldn’t be caught dead in plain old Levi’s, but there you were, not giving a rat’s ass about fancy jeans or any other pretentious shit.
You were—and are—a what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of girl, and I love that about you, even if you led me on the wildest chase of my life to convince you that I was perfect for you. ”
Kara rolled her eyes, as she did so often that it was a wonder she didn’t sprain them. “You had to go and ruin it.”
“I always take it one step too far.”
“One of your special gifts. And PS, I’m from Maine. I’ve worn Levi’s my whole life.”
“Love you. Love your jeans. Love what they do for your perfect ass. Love everything about you.”
“Same goes.”
He raised a rakish brow. “Everything?”
“Almost everything.”
“Wait. What don’t you love?”
“We need to keep a bit of mystery in this relationship.”
“No, we don’t. Tell me what you don’t love.”
Smiling, she shook her head.
“You can’t think of anything.”
“I’m hungry. Whatever Lorraine is making downstairs is making me drool.”
“I’m not going to drop this, Future Mrs. Torrington.”
She laughed as she got out of the tub and reached for a towel. “Maybe that might be the answer to the question, hmm?”
“Is that it? That I never let anything go and can talk a dog off a meat wagon?”
“You said it. Not me.”
“But that’s part of my charm.”
“Is it, though?”