For the Children

“You’ve told him that, I presume?”

“When he asked me.”

The boys were almost upon them.

“I can see you aren’t convinced and, for Brian’s sake, I’d like the chance to convince you before you haul him out of here and don’t let him come back,” Chandler was saying, speaking faster than she’d ever heard him. “Can we meet someplace later this evening? Just long enough to discuss this.”

Before the boys could get within hearing distance, she quickly agreed to see him at a coffee shop not far from the school at nine that evening. But only because it mattered so much. And because he was right about one thing—the way she was feeling, she couldn’t bear to allow Brian to come back here, where he’d done his best and still not been good enough. And yet, pulling the boys out now, when basketball was all they talked about, when Blake was diligently applying himself and Brian hadn’t lost any weight in over a week… She couldn’t do that, either.

CHAPTER SIX

“I WASN’T SURE you’d be here.”

Kirk Chandler met Valerie in the parking lot of The Coffee House at nine o’clock that night. It was a place he came often, later in the evening, when the quiet at home got too loud.

“I said I would.”

“I expected you to use not wanting to leave the boys alone as an excuse.”

She shook her head. “They’re almost teenagers, old enough to baby-sit, as they informed me last summer. I don’t ever go far when they’re alone. And we have an alarm system. Plus I always carry my cell phone.”

But he could tell leaving them on their own was still hard on her.

“It was getting a little ridiculous dragging them both to the grocery store every time I went,” she continued as they headed toward a table on the patio. “And it’s not like I could call a sitter because we ran out of milk.”

She’d changed clothes. And looked amazingly good in the faded designer jeans, figure-hugging black turtleneck sweater and black suede boots.

“Do you always wear such high heels?”

“Always.”

She’d come, but obviously wasn’t happy to be there. He planned to change that.

Convincing people was what he did best.

“Why?”

“So my judicial robe doesn’t trail on the ground.”

Okay. She wasn’t interested in small talk. Kirk asked her preference and went inside to order their drinks. No coffee for her. This late at night it was hot chocolate or nothing.

He bought her a large—with extra whipped cream.

“I realize you have no reason to trust me,” he said, setting their cups—her chocolate, his espresso—on the small table she’d chosen. In Phoenix, the first week of November could pass for summer. The air was balmy, perfect. “But I want you to know I have only the kids’ best interests at heart. I have nothing personal to gain here, no ladders to climb.”

Surprisingly, she nodded. “I think I knew that. Which is why I find myself going against my own better judgment and allowing Brian to continue.”

Kirk dropped into the seat across from her. “It’s the right thing to do.”

“I’m not so sure about that. I just don’t have a better alternative.”

“I’m watching him closely.”

Her blue eyes were fixed on him, and Kirk felt sorry for the delinquents who had to face that uncompromising expression in the courtroom. “I’m counting on it, Mr. Chandler. My son’s life could very well be at stake.”

For one second, Kirk doubted himself. He was Kirk Chandler. The best in the business. But not the kid business. What did he think he was doing? Saving himself at the expense of a twelve-year-old boy?

Except that he made his decisions with his heart now, not his head. The predatory instincts had been permanently retired. In their place lay a humility that was guiding him in his new life of service.