Cassidy's Courtship - Cassidy's Courtship Part 13
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Cassidy's Courtship Part 13

interests.

"I can't." Brenna shook her head. "I'm working all day Sunday. My latest cleaning job is a small office

complex. After I get into the routine, it should only take me a half day. But, I'm giving myself the whole day the first couple of times."

"You're a glutton for punishment," Nancy said. "There's a new Tom Cruise flick."

"Sounds tempting," Brenna said. The long days were a means to an end-an end that was in sight. She

touched Nancy's arm, unable to keep her anticipation to herself. "If this works out like it should, I'll be able to move into my own apartment again within the next two months."

"That's great," Nancy responded with a grin.

Teddy skipped across the reading area toward them and pulled on Brenna's hand. "Come help me," he commanded. "I'm looking for a book about ducks that I found the other day. Now I can't find it."

"What did it look like?" Brenna asked as he led her to the book-stack. She knelt beside him.

"It was red." He gave one red-covered book a glance, then put it back. "I'll never find it."

"Sure you will." She peered more closely at the titles. He might. She surely never would. Gnawing at her lip, she pulled a red book off the shelf. She flipped open the book, and elephants figured prominently in the illustrations. She returned the book to the shelf and pulled out another one.

Her annoyance with herself increased as she peered at the words of the title. Duck began with the letter d, she thought, mentally sounding out the word as she had been taught a lifetime ago. Identifying one letter from one word surely wasn't that hard. The words of the title were blocks of indecipherable symbols, and she wanted to scream her frustration. She ought to be able to read enough to find the title of a book for a four-year-old. She was just ready to return the book to the shelf when Teddy pulled it from her grasp and opened it up with a quiet sigh of delight.

"This is it!" He set the open book on her lap. "See.Baby Mallard Takes a Trip ." He turned one page, then the next, his smile growing wider. "I'm going to get Dad to read it to me."

I'm going to get Dad to read it to me.Just once she'd love Teddy to say that to her.Auntie Brennie, please read to me . Except that he'd already figured out her stories weren't read. They were told. For reading, he needed someone else.

"Do you have the library card, Auntie Brennie?"

She stood up and handed Teddy the card, who skipped off to check out his book on ducks.

Unexpectedly, Cole's words rang through her head.Ideas I'd never thought of. Teddy, like Cole and her brother, was discovering he could explore almost any world he wanted through books. New things. Worlds that she'd miss entirely if she didn't learn how to read. Soon.

The last time she had tried had been a humiliating disaster. She didn't want to face stories geared for a five-year-old, and she wouldn't face another teacher who treated her like a five-year-old.

"Dream it, then be it," she whispered.

This time, somehow, she would find a way.

Cole gave his notes on the Zach MacKenzie case one last thorough scan before asking Myra to show him in. Dozens of details about the case bothered Cole and simultaneously challenged him. This was exactly the kind of case he'd wanted to represent when he left Jones, Markham and Simmons. And he stayed there, he would never have had the chance.

That Zach MacKenzie was so perfect a suspect for the drunk-driving charges against him had been one of the things that drew Cole to take the case. Zach was athletically good-looking, single, drove a sports car, liked to have a good time, had a history of drinking and driving. One night last May, he had been at the wrong intersection at the wrong time.

Cole trusted his instincts. Zach MacKenzie was telling the truth. And they already had been through Cole's standard talk. "You can lie to your mother. You can lie to the world. But you sure as hell better not lie to me. I guarantee you, we'll both look stupid if you do, and if there's one thing I won't tolerate, it's a client making me look stupid."

Cole buzzed Myra on the intercom. "Show Zach in, please."

"Sure thing, boss," came her prompt response.

He grinned. He'd asked her a dozen times since she'd followed him from Jones, Markham and Simmons

to please call him by his first name. She did so only when she was worried. So long as she referred to

him as "boss," everything was fine. He got up from his desk and opened the door to admit Zach, clasping his hand as he came through the door. Cole motioned Zach to sit down, noting that his eyes were filled with worry. And to be honest, the man had cause.

"I finally got discovery from the D.A.'s office," Cole said.

"It took long enough," Zach responded, sitting down. "Maybe it's a sign they don't have much of a case."

"Don't bet on it." Cole leaned against the edge of the desk next to Zach.

Zach glanced down at his hands a moment, then asked, "What do they have?"

"Some good points, and some not so good." Cole picked up the folder and opened it. "In our favor, they

didn't administer the breath analysis test until more than an hour after the accident. The D.A. will probably try to disallow their own evidence since they didn't handle it well."

"And that's good, right?"

Cole nodded. "That's good. Not in our favor, the arresting officer swears he smelled liquor on you at the scene."

"He's lying," Zach said.

"Or maybe he's confused. There was an open bottle in the other car, which may have made the crime scene reek." Cole searched through the papers in the folder, and handed one to Zach.

"What's this?"

"The statement from the accident reconstruction team. According to the report, you both entered the

intersection within a split second of each another." Cole paused, waiting for Zach to look at him before he continued. "You both were speeding. If there's anything in our favor here, it's that you hit your brakes sooner."

Cole took another sheet out of the folder and handed it to Zach, who read the top line of the report, then said, "They can use this?" Cole nodded. "Your prior arrest record is the strongest evidence the D.A. has in the case." "I thought a trial had to focus on only the facts directly involved with the case." Zach glanced at Cole.

"You hear about that all the time."

"Maybe, but your drunk driving record is public, and the D.A. will use it," Cole said. "Right off the bat, it gives us a credibility problem." "But I went through rehab last year," Zach said. "Doesn't that count?" "It all depends," Cole answered. "If we go into court asserting that you haven't had a drink since then, we'd be lying." "I haven't been drunk," Zach insisted. "But you have a record of driving drunk prior to that," Cole said, holding up a finger, then adding a second. "And your buddy Theo at Score admitted that you have a couple of beers pretty regularly-" "Never more than two. And I switch to ginger ale before I drive, and I always give myself at least an hour." Cole nodded. "I know that, too. I don't want any surprises. No storekeepers saying that you buy a case of vodka a month. No acquaintances who've seen you drive under the influence. No family members with tales of public ... or private ... drunkenness." "No one will say any of those things, because none of it is true," Zach said. "I've made mistakes. Plenty of them. But this accident wasn't one of them." "But you did have a couple of beers in the bar earlier." Cole folded his arms across his chest. Zach stood up, his gaze unwavering. "I did. Why the hell are we covering this ground again?" "I'm just making sure."

That night, when Cole went to pick up Brenna after she got off work, he went inside to wait for her. She smiled at him from across the room, and he ordered a beer from one of the other waitresses. Cole looked critically around the bar, thinking of the damaging points the prosecution could make about the place. His biggest challenge would be convincing a jury that Zach MacKenzie was more than the prosecution would make him out to be.

"Are you worried about something?" Brenna asked a few minutes later as they left the bar.

"Just thinking about the MacKenzie case." Cole took her hand and pulled her close to him as they strolled toward his car.

"Are there problems?"

"No more than the usual," he said. "I'm just trying to figure out what surprises the prosecution will have for us." "I thought they had to share all their evidence with you ahead of time." "They do," he agreed. "That doesn't mean there won't be a surprise or two, though." "You don't like surprises?" she teased. "Only nice ones. By definition, that excludes anything that comes up in court." "Would you like to come to dinner on Sunday?" she asked.

Cole laughed at the sudden change of subject. "A surprise?" "I hope not. My cooking isn'tthat bad," she said. "It's Michael and Jane's anniversary. I'm watchingTeddy while they go out."

"A date with you and Teddy," he said.

"Not a date," she hedged. "I'm baby-sitting."

"And this-us right now, going to have pie-"

"That's not a date, either."

"Dating isn't such an awful thing, Brenna."

"It implies a whole bunch of stuff I'm not ready to get into," she responded. "Boyfriend, commitment,

plans for the future-"

"Whoa." He held up his hands. "I don't want to be your boyfriend."

She stopped walking and faced him. "No?"

"No. I'd rather be your friend."

"That sounds nice." A smile lurked at the corner of her mouth, and she resumed walking, slower this

time.

"I don't want any commitments from you. I'm not asking for anything from you."

"That would be a first," she murmured.

This time Cole stopped walking, pulling on her hand. "Maybe, but get this straight, fair lady. You don't

want the pressure of commitment, and hell, I couldn't give you one if I wanted to. My life is a mess."

"So, I'm safe."

He gave her a quick kiss. "You sure are," he drawled. "As long as friends can kiss friends." He squeezed

her hand. "As long as they can bring wine for a dinner that's not a date." Brenna ought to have been reassured that she could be friends with Cole without getting hurt. The man had just given her everything she had asked for. No commitment. But friendship. And kissing. No dating. But time spent together. Contradictions, every one. Just like the man.

Charm that hid steely determination. An easygoing manner that masked his intensity. Gentleness that almost hid his protective streak.

Having him for dinner wasn't that big a deal, but she worried off and on about it over the next several days.

She took Teddy shopping with her the morning of their no-date dinner for the groceries they needed. She had taken shopping for granted for years, but she had a sudden anxiety attack. What if she confused baking soda with corn starch-never mind she didn't intend to purchase either one. She wished she could afford scallops and hated the idea of serving anything as mundane as chicken.

"Jeez, Auntie Brennie," Teddy complained after they had been in the grocery store for half an hour. "It's only dinner. How 'bout pizza?"

"No pizza," she said, his statement echoing her own internal scolding.It's only dinner.

In deference to keeping the apartment cool, she decided on cold boiled shrimp with an assortment of vegetables. Her choice pleased her even more when she slid the platter into the refrigerator.

"What's an anniversary?" Teddy asked, following Brenna into her bedroom where she went to change her clothes.

"Like a birthday," she told him, sitting down at the dressing table. "Except it counts the number of years since your wedding."

"When will Mommy and Daddy be back?"

"Later tonight. Probably not until after you've gone to bed."

She opened a jar of face cream and smoothed it over her cheeks and forehead while Teddy leaned against the table and watched her.

"Are you gonna get married?"

"I hope so. Someday, anyway." She replaced the lid on the jar of cream and reached for the eye shadow.

The doorbell rang and Teddy scampered down the hall. "I bet that's Cole!"