Chapter Twenty-One #2
“Cook out?” Daisy’s eyes widened further. “Like, hot dogs?”
He grinned.
“A Monday tradition for McClintock and the Disclaimers.” He waggled his brow at the both of them.
And that spark in her eye, at mention of his band, glimmered. Yeah, her dream was still there, just buried with that trust Jason had so thoroughly trampled.
“Your band’ll be here? Won’t we be imposing?”
“Every Monday night. Rehearsals. And God no, you wouldn’t be imposing. What do I gotta do to twist your arm into throwing us a lifesaver so we can enter the Homegrown Awards? Kids can run amok. Jack brings his boys. It’d be fun.”
He could see the want in her eyes. Time to sweeten the deal.
“Jason’s a ticking bomb, Charlie.” He lowered his voice, palm sifting up her nape, holding her there, and he noticed, she wore his undershirt beneath her open work shirt.
“What if he raises his hand to you again? Daisy don’t need to hear you recount what happened yesterday when I’m sayin’ she can be here safe and sound and it’ll be no trouble—”
“You are nothing but trouble,” she deflected, poking his chest.
“Damn straight, so you oughta listen to me.” He grinned, raising his voice again and drifting away from Charlie.
“You’d be doin’ me a favor loaning me my wing girl ’cause ain’t no way I can build a coop by myself, I need her muscle.
” He squeezed Daisy’s bicep as she flexed and giggled. “’cause those two-by-fours are heavy—”
“Okay,” she blurted out.
“What?”
She smiled at him.
Patted his heart again, nodding and swallowing. “Okay, you can come get her. I … trust you.”
Warmth filled him as Daisy cheered. Charlie trusted him. Quickly followed by a rancid taste he ignored. Because he still hadn’t told her about the one condition she’d put on them—
“Two thirty?” she asked, waiting so expectantly with those wide green eyes.
He nodded, grinning. “And you’ll bring your banjo?”
That trusting smile warmed his favorite mouth again. “Okay … let’s give it a shot, see if I can hang with you guys during your Friday night gig.”
He grabbed her face and kissed her hard, chuckling softly and grinning at her giggle as Seth rolled his eyes in his periphery and texted his dad again.
“Thank God, woman, you just saved my ass. Jack and Bo’ve been on my case about you for two weeks.”
She gave some documents to Tyler. Spoke something to him about Heart, but T.R.
’s heart was thumping hard. As she stepped off the porch to leave, calling Daisy away from Seth and watching her daughter get in the back seat, he caught her wrist and relished that she not only didn’t flinch, but gazed expectantly at him.
“Quick question, baby,” he muttered under his breath. “What’s that judge’s first name? The one who keeps giving Jason a pass?”
Her brow furrowed, her smile falling an inch. “Calvin. Calvin Mitchell … why?”
The edge of happiness cooled.
That was what he’d been afraid of. “Just wondering.”
He watched her Rover rumble down the gravel drive.
Daisy waved out the window. “Bye, T. Rex!”
Charlie’s face in the sideview, gazing back at him, and he swore he saw … her smirk? He notched up his chin in question, but she only started laughing. What was she so proud of?
He hopped back down from the porch, sweeping up his gelding’s reins and leading him back to the stable. Ty wanted to meet with him about something at three but that was gonna have to wait. He finished untacking Beau, stabling him, and grabbed those old documents from his cabin.
As he pushed into the nineteenth-century farmhouse foyer he’d once scampered through as a boy with his sisters and cousins, lined with a century’s worth of family photographs, Charlie’s answer was burning through his thoughts.
Tyler, distracted, rustling around in his office, once a formal dining room where the family had gathered for Grams’s Sunday suppers, looked up from some papers he was slipping into a satchel. “Hey, T.R. You’re early. C’mon in, lemme find the paperwork—”
“Look I don’t know if you’re firing me all formal like, but I gotta ask, what do you know about a Judge Calvin Mitchell?
” He slapped down his manilla folder he’d dug up the night before.
“Because if that bastard hurts Charlie or Daisy…” He shook his head, that sense of urgency burning in him to hurry up to the police station and get that little girl here.
Tyler paused, the folder he was taking out of his satchel hanging in midair as he took in T.R’s documents.
Tyler slid the folder back in. “Who’d hurt her?”
“You remember I mentioned her ex being a bastard? Turns out, he showed up after I took her Rover back. Near beat down her door cussin’ her out, and … fuck, but the way they both turned white as sheets,” he gnashed out, shaking his head. “He done put his hands on her before.”
“And the little girl?” Tyler’s voice dropped softer and lower than the baritone it already was.
“Not yet but you know it’s only a matter of time.”
“This why I had to get the vitamins yesterday?” And at T.R.’s nod, Tyler took off his Stetson and slapped it down, scouring his face with his palm.
“I’ve heard you grumble about ‘Tyler havin’ to swoop in and flash his law degree around’ to fix everyone’s shit, so I won’t ask for much, but I gotta know about Mitchell.”
“Shut up about that, man.” Tyler waved him off, dropping into his office chair among his leather-bound volumes and woke up his computer. Began clicking around until he’d opened a couple files. Tyler eyed him, still standing, arms folded.
“And for God’s sake, sit down. I ain’t firing you.”
T.R. eased into the chair beside the desk, knee bouncing to get to the police station, and pulled out his phone to check the time while Tyler scanned some information. “Calvin Mitchell. Civil proceedings. Family court. I’ve been before him thirteen times, looks like.”
He turned the computer screen toward T.R., and T.R. fished his glasses out of his shirt pocket when … his fingers met with a wad of cash.
He shook his head wryly. The money. She’d given it back.
No wonder her smirk, thinking she’d pulled one over on him.
What had started out as Charlie not wanting to be beholden to a man was quickly turning into a game of cat and mouse.
Cute she thought she’d get away with it.
Yet, his heart knotted tight. To be cared about so hard was a weird thing…
“What about weekend bail hearings?” T.R. asked. “Mitchell do those?”
Tyler snorted. “A man of his prestige? Naw.”
“He did one today.”
Tyler paused, thinking. “It’s all public record. You just gotta go down to the courthouse and ask to see the dockets. See if he’s done this before. Your girl have a lawyer?”
“Yeah, but doesn’t sound like he’s all that good at what he does. She don’t trust easy. We’re barely a thing, so I don’t want to press her too much yet. Barely got her to take a chance on me.”
Tyler frowned. “If you like her, you oughta make it your business.”
Yeah, his gut wasn’t wrong. He looked at his phone again.
Ty’s eyes dipped to T.R.’s phone this time, then back up to him. “What else, Thaddeus? Boxing gloves?” Ty arched a brow. “Man, you wear your BS on your sleeve for everyone to see. May as well explain why.”
Talk is what he meant. “Charlie’s supposed to go to the precinct at two thirty to request an emergency restraining order until her lawyer can get in front of a judge. I told her I’d come get Daisy.”
Realization dawned and his cousin’s posture relaxed. “You ain’t meeting me today is what you’re saying. Your sister’s thing really worked a number on you, didn’t it?”
T.R. ripped loose his Stetson and raked his hand through his hair.
Shoved back to his feet and paced across the creaking floorboards.
He’d never get the image of sweet Charity out of his mind for the rest of his life.
Or the feeling of that bone crunching in her now-ex’s jaw when he’d sunk his knuckles into it.
“Go get the girl,” Ty said, nodding. “I’m going out west to get Heart back but give Charlie this.”
Already halfway to the door, T.R. glanced back to see Tyler flipping open his wallet to pull something out.
He flicked one of his business cards into T.R.
’s hand. “And one more thing, if you want to know more about Judge Mitchell’s rulings,” Tyler continued.
“Seeing the dockets usually takes an appointment so they can pull the relevant files, which can take weeks sometimes to schedule. Ask for Cindy in records. Tell her Tyler Dixon sent you, and she’ll hook you up quick. ”