Ben shrugged.
“Write a check to the boxer rescue group, and add the Uber app to your phone. We have half a dozen drivers in the area now. They’ll get you where you want to go PDQ as a rule. You won’t have to depend on Melissa or anyone else’s schedule.”
Harrumph. “My girl told me about Uber. Sounds expensive.”
“You can Uber for six months for what it would cost you to have me rewrite your will.”
“You’re just a thief in a fancy suit, aren’t you, McBride?”
Boone grinned and lifted his hands in a gesture of surrender.
Ben sneered at him, then sighed heavily, reached into his pocket, and pulled out his phone. “Since this is just a consultation, and you’re not billing me for the time, would you get me set up and show me how it’s done? This Uber thing?”
For just a moment, Boone zoned back to the Fort Worth courtrooms where he’d tried murder cases. This is what I’ve come to professionally?
Yes, it is. And you, Boone McBride, are a blessed man.
Twenty minutes later, Boone watched from his window while Benjamin Karr climbed into the back of a high school senior’s Jeep for a ride home. He returned to his desk, thinking he’d knock out revisions on a real estate contract he was doing for Celeste when his office phone rang. “Busy morning,” he murmured as he answered the call. “Boone McBride.”
“It’s me,” Hannah said. “Do you have a few minutes if I stop by?”
“For you? Always.”
“Good. I’m downstairs now. I’ll be right up.”
Now, this was the way he liked to keep busy at the office. Boone heard her footsteps on the stairs as he opened his door, and when she first came into view and glanced at him with those big blue eyes that this morning glittered with happiness, his heart did a little doo-wop.
She’d taken the two AM feeding this morning and forgotten to turn down the monitor. He’d woken to the sound of her cooing praise at Bree and calling her “my little love.” Boone had wanted to vault onto his feet, do a fist pump, and shout “yes.” Instead, he’d waited for her to get the baby to sleep and return to bed, and then he’d made slow, sweet love to her.
He was so far gone over Hannah Dupree that there was no coming back.
“Hey, Hollywood. This is a nice surprise.”
“I saw Ben Karr leaving, so I hoped you’d have a few minutes.” She paused to kiss him—no quick buss, but the real deal—then breezed into the office and took a seat in his guest chair.
Boone reached behind him and locked his door. Hannah had visited his office a few times, but he’d never made love to her here. Time to break in his desk.
Hearing the distinctive click of the lock, Hannah shook her head. “None of that, McBride. I’m here on business.”
“Monkey business?”
She chastised him with a look, then gestured toward his chair. “Have a seat.”
Well, well, well. The woman was full of surprises today.
She reached into the tote bag she carried and pulled out a manila folder. She slid it across his big desk.
“What’s this?” he asked, flipping it open.
“A business plan.”
Boone looked up from the pages and met her gaze. Damn, but those eyes of hers sparkled. He arched a brow. She explained, “Claire and Gabi and Caitlin helped me write it.”
All three women operated businesses in Eternity Springs. Claire Lancaster owned Forever Christmas. Gabi Brogan owned Whimsies, a gift shop. Caitlin Tarkington owned Gingerbread House, a day care center. “Oh, yeah?”
Boone looked back down at the file and scanned the page. Maternity Springs. Hot damn! “What are you proposing here, Hannah? Cut to the chase for me?”
“A partnership. I invest my own money, and I have a controlling interest in the business. I want to manage it, and I want the space next door to the Christmas shop.”
Boone’s head jerked up. “That property isn’t on the market.”
Self-satisfaction glimmered in her grin. “It will be tomorrow—unless I exercise the purchase option I agreed to this morning with Celeste.”
“Location. Location. Location,” he breathed. That spot was perfect for a children’s store.
He slammed the folder shut. “It’s a deal.”
“You haven’t read my plan.”
“Don’t need to.”
“What sort of businessman are you?”
“I’m not a businessman. I’m a lawyer and a lover.” He swept the file off the desk onto the floor and reached for her, glad he had an extra-large desk. However, if he was going to start conducting business in the office with Hannah, he probably should bring in a couch.
Feeling like a million—no, ten million—bucks, he hummed his way through the chamber of commerce luncheon at noon. As he sauntered back to his office afterward to prepare for his two o’clock appointment, he whistled “We Are the Champions.” Reaching his building, he bounded up the stairs, unlocked his door, and stepped right over the pile of mail the postman had slid through the mail slot.
“No time for losers,” he sang as he stooped to pick the envelopes up.
One in the middle of the stack gave him pause. WAGGONER, THOMPSON, AND COLE. “Huh.”
In the past, receiving a letter from his old law firm had driven him to drink, but he’d put that old ghost to bed with Brianna’s adoption. Right?
So why was apprehension slithering up his spine like a rattlesnake?
He reached across his desk and removed a letter opener from the drawer. Propping a hip on the desk, he slit the envelope open and removed a letter. Recognizing Ashleigh Hart’s handwriting, he almost tossed the paper in the trash. No, it was time to move on. Time to finally forgive.
He scanned the page. His stomach took a tense roll. So Ashleigh had news related to Bree? What was it about this woman and the children in his life?
He picked up the phone and placed a call to his former law firm and requested to be put through to his former friend.
“Boone?” came her hopeful voice a few moments later.
“What do you have to tell me about my daughter?”
“First, I’m going to talk about Mary. I’m sorry, Boone. I’m so very, very sorry that I interfered in the adoption. I have attempted to atone in what ways I can, and I pray every day that you will find it in your heart to forgive me.”
Boone closed his eyes. “Why did you do it?”
“Because I wasn’t in my right mind. We never told you that I had a miscarriage, Boone. I really wanted the baby despite the trouble in our marriage. I knew when I lost it that Joe and I wouldn’t make it. I mourned my baby and my marriage and I was jealous of Mary. You loved her and she was going to have her baby. It made me crazy. That’s why I meddled. It’s no excuse, but it’s the reason. I’m terribly sorry.”
Boone sighed heavily and rubbed the back of his neck. What a crappy set of circumstances. People acting badly all the way around in those days—himself included. “I forgive you. I hope you’ll forgive me too. I was wrong to shut you down when you tried to talk to me, Ash.”
“My heart was broken. It’s still broken.”
“You should pay a visit to Eternity Springs. This place works wonders on broken hearts. Now tell me what you know about Brianna?”