“He would’ve needed some capital to rent the gym space and buy his equipment.”
He’d walked away from the house his mother had owned and everything in it. “His mother had just died. It’s possible she left him some money that didn’t make it to his bank account.” They knew from Detective Bentley that he’d withdrawn everything from his own account, but there hadn’t been enough to open a new business.
Johnny nodded, but said nothing. She’d have felt better if he’d expressed his agreement verbally.
“Alistair saw him pick up Jason,” Johnny said, and it irritated her that he didn’t use Jackson’s real name. Or it scared her. One of the two.
“And?”
“He said the little boy ran up to him with a grin, handed him a piece of paper, presumably something he’d made that day, and held out his arms to be picked up.”
Tears sprang to her eyes and spilled over. She couldn’t help it. Couldn’t find the emotional boundary that allowed her to function at work, to tend to the members of a family who’d just lost a baby. Or to help with a procedure that caused terrible pain to a small child. She cried each and every time. But she could always hold it until she was alone.
Focus on others. She reminded herself of the coping skills she’d learned in nursing school. Taking the focus off oneself also took the focus off one’s own feelings.
Johnny’s hand covered hers. Wanting to turn hers over, to interlock her fingers with his, she just sat there, afraid to move. Afraid he’d take his touch away.
Before she could have another thought, Mallory Harris was there, pulling out the stool on the other side and looking at Tabitha and Johnny’s hands. Slipping her fingers from beneath his, Tabitha swiped quickly under her lashes and ignored how bereft she felt.
* * *
Braden Harris was Mallory’s ex-husband—and the owner of the building that housed Mallory’s daycare. Johnny hadn’t seen that one coming. The two of them had somehow made the situation work even after their marriage disintegrated.
Not his business. Or concern. Didn’t stop him from being mildly curious, but they had more important things to deal with at the moment.
“Since you didn’t say how your business involves my daycare, I felt Braden should be here. If it’s a structural problem, or I’m going to be hit with a lawsuit—”
“No!” Tabitha blurted before Johnny could give his prepared speech. “I’m so sorry... I would’ve said more on the phone, but when you hear the purpose of our visit, I think you’ll understand. I hope so, anyway.”
As if in tandem, Mallory and her ex-husband turned to Johnny. Good thing he was used to being Johnny on the spot.
Pulling out a couple of his official, non-food-truck business cards, he handed them over to the couple. Both Harrises took the time to read them over.
“Lead corporate attorney?” Braden was frowning now. “So your interest is in my building? Surely you don’t want to take over my wife’s... Mallory’s space, I mean. Because we can end this real quick. She has a twenty-five-year lease and neither of us is interested in breaking that agreement.”
He might have looked to Mallory to confirm that, but didn’t. She was nodding anyway, giving Johnny the impression that these two were closer divorced than he’d ever been in any relationship. He glanced at Tabitha and had a flash of being that close to her.
But the idea wasn’t feasible.
“Wait,” Braden said. “Mal told me the two of you ran a food truck business.” He looked pointedly at the uniform shirts they both wore. “And now you say you’re not only a lawyer, but lead corporate attorney for Alex Brubaker? One of California’s most lucrative private investors?”
So Braden had recognized his father’s name. Some people did. Some didn’t.
“I’m technically on sabbatical for a year.” The more truth they told, the better their chances of being believed. “I’m running the food truck this year as a...favor...to someone. Tabitha helps me on her days off.”
It was really quite simple when you laid it out there. Minus his sudden need to jump the bones of the woman sitting next to him. It was harder and harder to resist touching her. And not just sexually.
Something he’d think about later.
“I’m here tonight as an observer,” he said, getting himself and the meeting on track. “To make sure that anything that happens between now and...later will be within the boundaries of the law to protect all parties.”
“You’re here to protect us?” Braden spoke again. The man, tall, dark haired and still in a suit, was someone Johnny might meet on a normal business day. He seemed likeable enough if you took away the edge of mistrust. Not that Johnny blamed him.
He understood his need to protect Mallory. Kind of like him and Tabitha.
Except...no. Not at all. The only similarity—and this was a key point to remember—was that neither women “belonged” to either of the two men sitting at that table.
“Protect us from what?” Mallory asked.