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.He nodded reluctantly and took herelbow to guide her down a long hallway.At one of the many doors, he paused andlet them inside.A woman with a plasticsmile greeted them, and ushered themdirectly into the judge s office.Thebalding man behind the desk barelyglanced up from the folder of papers infront of him. Have a seat, please.I m justreading over the motion. He looked upat Quinn. Your client is aware of thedanger of removing the PO, correct? She is, Your Honor.Shrewd eyes peered at her over thetops of his glasses and the judgefrowned. Was your jaw broken, Ms.Norton? No, sir. But you did receive a concussion,right?She gave a tight nod. So, why should I remove thisorder? Mr.Norton hurt you, and badly, Imust say. I know, Your Honor, but I believehe suffers from untreated PTSD.After aweek of mourning the loss of his friend, Ispooked him in the middle of the night.He lashed out.I just happened to bethere.I do not believe it was anythingpersonal.The judge tapped his pen on thedesktop and stared at her for a longmoment. I ve talked to your father and Iwould agree.I am hereby lifting theorder, effective immediately.Mr.Nortondoes have to complete a forty weekoutpatient PTSD program.Have nofurther violations for five years.Heowns a restaurant with a bar.Has heever had a drinking problem?Ember shook her head. No, never.He hardly drinks, actually. Make sure he doesn t.That will beall.Quinn hustled her out of the judge soffice and back out to the main foyer. That went better than I expected.Nodding, she stepped against thewall so that other people could get byher. So, Dad can get out of jail now andget back to his life, right?Quinn nodded. The charge hasbasically been dropped as long as hecompletes the counseling.If he falters,he ll have to go back and face thecriminal charges.Just don t let himfalter.She shook her head. I won t.Thankyou.She walked down the street to thecounty jail and left money for herfather s account.She wasn t sure exactlywhen he would be released, but at leasthe d have money for a cab when he didget out.Ember walked back to her car andslid behind the wheel, exhausted fromworrying about everything.Surely herdad must feel even worse.When he gothome there would be no one to meet him,no one to talk to.No little boy hugs.Her eyes welled with tears and shedashed them away.He would be outwithin a few hours, and they could gofrom there.She glanced at her cell phone,tempted to dial a number she d onlycalled once before yet had stillmemorized.It had been almost eighteenhours, and Zeke hadn t called.Maybe hedidn t feel the same way she did.Damn.Was she really counting hoursnow?*****Zeke looked down at the cell phone inhis hand and debated calling Ember.Tosee how she d settled into the apartment.To see how Drew liked his room.Towish her almost Merry Christmas.Tosee if she still needed him as much as heneeded her.He d had daydreams fromhell all night, taunting him with thingsthat would never be.His phone buzzed, scaring the shitout of him.Ember s name appeared onthe screen.Dad s getting out today.Panic clutched at his gut.So, hetyped, is that good?Yes, I think so.We ll see.Fury erupted in his chest and healmost smashed the phone against thedash.The guy that had damn near brokenher jaw and left her marked was going tobe near her again.And she was going tolet him.Adrenaline poured through hissystem and it was all he could do not toleap out of the truck and find some poorschmuck to pound on in the street.In the corner of his brain, the tiny,little rational part started to make itselfknown.He took a deep, rib-expandingbreath and battled back the negativeemotion.Grabbing the pen and post-itpad from the dash cubby, he scrawled anote to remind himself of the incidentnext time he spoke with the counselor.Then the worry for her safetyinvaded.When he needed to be worryingabout his own issues.Let me know when you meet withhim, so that I can check on youafterwards.Ok.I will.He kept refreshing the fading screen,hoping another message would pop up.But she must have left to do somethingelse.Starting the truck, he pulled out ofthe parking lot.Glancing at the seatbeside him, he called himself tendifferent kinds of fool.When he dunpacked a few boxes in the livingroom, he d discovered Ember s love forelephants.The little figurine he d boughtwasn t expensive, but it was cute, withthe baby elephant sitting splay-legged, asif he d been knocked down.He d alsogotten Drew a Spider-Man action figure,but he worried that it would be a littleold for him.Foolishness.He hadn t called her, sohe had no plans to see her, andChristmas was just a couple days away.She wouldn t want to spend it with himanyway.She had her son, and now herdad.By the time he did see her, theholiday would be past, and he d feel likea damn fool if he gave her the gifts then.He smacked his hand against thesteering wheel, frustrated [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]