“All of it?”
“You talking to Tressa, you mean?”
“That. And the not going behind each other’s backs part. I tell you everything Tressa says or does. You tell me before you make any calls you feel you need to make.”
“Yes. That works for me.”
“No matter what you think, or what, professionally, your instincts are telling you, you’ll let me know before you report any concerns.”
“Yes, as long as Levi isn’t in immediate danger. But you have to know, Jem, I will report concerns even if you don’t want me to.”
“Good.” His feet were back up on the rock. The goofy grin was gone, but something more substantial, and just as good, seemed to be taking its place. “Because rest assured, Lace, if you ever think my son is danger, I want you to move hell and high water to help him.”
She didn’t say anything. He wasn’t sure why.
“You called me ‘Lace.’”
He hadn’t realized. But...
“You’d rather I didn’t?”
“No, I kind of liked it. It’s just...only Kacey and my parents have ever called me that.”
“She says it all the time. I guess it just stuck with me.”
A ridiculous conversation, but he liked it, anyway.
Almost as much as he liked her.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
LACEY WAITED ALL day Monday to hear from Jem. He’d be working, for sure. And Tressa would be, too. Still, she was on edge. In a queer sort of way. Levi was perfectly safe for now. If Tressa was abusing him, in any way, Jem would keep the boy away from his mother even before the state could intervene. So Levi wasn’t the immediate concern.
Which left...Jem.
She was concerned about Jem contacting his ex-wife and getting into an emotional discussion with her.
Because she was jealous?
He’d asked her on a date. No more. She had no ownership over him in any way. No matter how much she was drawn to him.
Or how perfect he seemed to her.
And even if she did feel a little like she was sending a steak into a lion’s den, it was more than that. If Tressa had fooled Lacey so completely, then was it possible that she was doing a number on Jem, too? It wouldn’t be the first time she’d seen a woman be manipulative.
Not that Lacey knew Tressa at all. Jem knew her. Lacey had spent a couple of hours with the woman.
But after ten years of living her job, her instincts were usually spot-on.
Which would mean that Tressa wasn’t hurting her son. And yet, Levi’s story the day before had been true. She was sure of that.
And clearly it was significant enough to him that he was talking about it almost three months later.
She’d meant to tell Jem about Levi’s last comment, too. About being afraid that “she” would not let him live with his father.
Whether the “she” was Tressa, or Lacey, or someone else entirely in the little boy’s mind, Jem needed to know that his son was harboring the fear that he could lose his home with his father, at an age when the little boy needed security more than anything else. Security was the freedom that allowed kids to grow. To think they could do anything. Explore. Learn. Reach out and take life on...
Jem wasn’t going to be working on the house that night, or at all that week. He wanted the footer to cure for a week. And also had to have it inspected before he pulled out the metal frames, backfilled the holes and poured the cement that would become the floor of the room.