ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝟜𝟟 #2
By the time I got into my car, I was practically vibrating.
I shut the door, dropped my bag onto the passenger seat, and sat there for a second with both hands resting on the steering wheel.
I stared straight ahead. Then I smiled a huge, ridiculous smile I couldn't stop it.
"Holy shit." I laughed under my breath.
I actually did it.
Well, Judge Johnson and I did it. But still.
I had spent months buried in those files. Months reading witness statements, comparing timelines, digging through emails, questioning everything everyone else had already accepted as fact.
And now we had something. Something real.
Justin Deyes had a chance!
I started the engine and pulled out of the parking lot. The second I reached the main road, my brain started moving faster than the car.
What was I going to tell Ted? That thought alone made me smile.
I could already picture his face. Maybe I'd walk into his office and place the file on his desk, with a little smug smirk on my face.
I could already hear myself saying: Remember when you thought Georgia could handle this better than me?
I laughed again.
This was exactly what I needed. This was my way back in.
I wanted my office back, my work back. I wanted the position I'd earned. Now I had just the perfect thing I could show him.
I glanced at my phone mounted near the dashboard.
Cameron!
I should tell Cameron.
The thought came naturally. Before everything between us became complicated, he would've been the first person I'd call.
He always celebrated my wins, even the tiniest little ones. Sometimes he'd exaggerate them just to make me laugh.
My smile grew wider as I tapped his name.
The phone rang three times, and went through voicemail. My smile faltered slightly.
Perhaps he was busy. Well, of course he was busy. Molly was still missing, and he probably had a dozen things going on.
I put the phone down. I shouldn't bother him for right now.
I drove another few minutes, then picked the phone back up.
I really wanted to tell him. I wanted to hear him get excited for me. When everyone else believed I couldn't do it, he always did.
I called again. Thankfully, this time, he answered.
"Hey."
My face immediately brightened. "Cam!"
He paused for a second.
"What's up?"
His voice sounded tired, but I didn't care- I was too happy.
"You are not going to believe what happened."
"What?"
"We finally figured it out."
"Figured what out, exactly?"
"Justin!"
His silence lasted a second longer. "Dixie, I'm kind of-"
"No, listen," I laughed. "I promise this is good."
He didn't say anything, so naturally, I continued.
"Judge Johnson and I finally put everything together. The timeline, statements, and records. Everything. We found enough evidence to establish that Justin didn't start the fire."
I could hear the faint sound of something in the background.
"He didn't start it. James Weller- his landlord did." I grinned.
Cameron didn't reply, but I kept going anyway.
"We're pretty sure he had the motive, and there's enough evidence to challenge the original conviction. Justin's still going to have to go through the second trial, obviously, but this is huge, Cam!"
"Yeah."
I waited for him to say something else, but he stopped there.
I laughed nervously. "That's it?"
"What do you want me to say?"
"I don't know." My smile weakened.
I tightened my grip around the steering wheel. "Maybe... I don't know. Be happy for me?"
"I am happy for you." But his tone said otherwise. It was flat.
My eyes remained on the road. "You don't sound too happy."
"Dixie," he sighed.
"What?"
"I'm glad you got a breakthrough."
"Okay..."
He exhaled. "I've just got other things on my mind."
I knew exactly what he meant.
Molly. Of course.
I stared through the windshield. "Yeah, I know."
"I just wanted to tell my husband something good that happened to me."
"I didn't say you couldn't."
"You're acting like it."
"That's not fair at all."
I laughed once, but there wasn't anything funny about it.
"I guess not."
"Dixie, my sister is still missing."
"Yes, I know that, Cameron."
"I'm still trying to find her."
"I get that too."
"...Then maybe you should understand why I'm not exactly jumping up and down right now."
My chest tightened. That wasn't at all what I was implying.
I swallowed. "I wasn't asking you to jump up and down, I wanted you to be excited for me."
"I am."
I became silent. I hated the silence. I hated how quickly the happiness had disappeared.
Ten minutes ago, I'd been imagining getting my job back, now I was sitting in my car wondering whether I was selfish for wanting my husband to celebrate something good with me.
That wasn't too much to ask for, right?
"I just thought maybe for once, something good could happen without feeling wrong." I looked out the windshield.
His voice softened slightly. "I never said it was wrong."
"But it feels so wrong, apparently."
"That's because you're making it about you."
I went silent.
Cameron seemed to realize what he'd said. "Dixie I-"
"No..." I shook my head, though he couldn't physically see me. "It's fine."
"It wasn't what I meant."
"That's okay."
"Dix."
"I said it's okay." My voice sounded colder now.
I didn't want to fight after everything.
I took a slow breath. "Listen, I know Molly is missing, and I know you're hurting."
"What are you getting at here?"
"But that doesn't mean nothing good is allowed to happen to me."
He didn't respond to that. I continued before I could stop myself.
"I can't spend every day feeling guilty because something good happened in my life while something terrible is happening in yours."
"I never asked you to feel guilty."
"No, but that's how it feels."
I glanced at the clock. "I'll be home soon."
"Okay."
"I'll see you there."
"Yeah."
Neither of us said goodbye. The call ended shortly after.
I lowered the phone slowly. The road blurred slightly in front of me.
I somehow felt guilty about being angry and frustrated.
How did everything become so complicated?
I had done something good. Something that was genuinely good. A man who had been sitting in prison for months might finally have a chance at freedom.
I should have been happy.
I was happy.
But why did I suddenly feel like I'd done something wrong by being excited about it?
Molly is missing.
I knew that- I knew it every second of every day. I knew Cameron was scared, I knew he wasn't sleeping properly, and I knew he loved his sister.
I would never ask him to stop looking.
Never, ever. I wasn't that type of person.
But did that mean I wasn't allowed to have a good day? Did it mean my wins had to become smaller because his life was falling apart?
I sighed. "That's not fair."
I stared at the road ahead
I wanted so badly to be there for him. I wanted to help him find Molly, to be a good wife.
But I also wanted to be Dixie.
The woman who had worked her way through impossible evidence- the lawyer who had finally found something everyone else had missed.
The woman who might actually get her career back.
I wanted someone to look at me and say, You did something incredible.
I wanted Cameron to be that person. That was the part that hurt the most.
Home was only a few minutes away.
Whatever happened when I walked through that door, I'd deal with it.
Like I always did.
For now, though, I let myself smile.
Justin had a chance.
I wanted to let myself be happy about that.
~
The moment I pulled into the driveway, I felt myself take a deep breath.
Home. At last.
I turned the engine off and sat there for a few seconds, staring through the windshield.
I needed to calm down. I wasn't going to walk through that door angry, and I wasn't going to let one phone call ruin the entire day.
Justin had a chance- that was what mattered. I grabbed my bag from the passenger seat and stepped out of the car.
The front door closed behind me with a soft click. "Cameron?"
Silence. I slipped my shoes off and set my bag down near the entryway.
"Caaaam?"
I frowned.
I guess he was upstairs. I walked farther into the house, then stopped dead in my tracks when I heard voices.
Two male voices. My eyebrows pulled together.
Who the hell is he talking to?
I followed the sound toward the living room. When I stepped around the corner, I stopped. There were two men sitting across from Cameron.
Neither of them looked familiar.
One looked to be in his late forties, maybe early fifties. Dark blue jacket with eatly trimmed beard. A leather folder rested on his lap.
The other was younger, probably early thirties. He had a laptop open in front of him and several papers spread across the coffee table.
Cameron was sitting across from them.
He looked serious like he'd been in the middle of a meeting. My confusion immediately doubled.
I hoped these weren't hitmen and Cameron had been planning to kill me.
Not like he could, but still.
Cameron's head lifted, and his eyes landed on me. For a second, something flickered across his face.
Surprise. Then it disappeared.
"Oh, Dixie."
I stared at him. "Cameron."
The two men turned toward me. The older one stood first.
"Mrs. West?"
I blinked, furrowing my brows. "Yes? Can I help you?"
He smiled politely and extended his hand. "Logan Barks."
I looked at his hand, then up at him, then my eyes landed back to Cameron.
Who is Logan Barks?
I slowly shook his hand. "Hi."
The younger man stood too. "David Brooks."
"Hi."
I smiled politely. At least, I hoped it looked polite. It probably looked more like I had just been introduced to two strangers at a funeral.
I looked at Cameron again. He wasn't saying anything.
My eyes narrowed. "What's going on?"
"I was going to tell you." Cameron leaned back slightly.
"When?"
He didn't answer immediately. That was not encouraging whatsoever.
Logan cleared his throat. "We were just going over some information with Mr. West."
"Okay." I nodded slowly.