“We’ll get a new one on the way to see Mike,” Tank suggested. “I want to register the car in your name anyway.”
“Then I need to call the insurance company before we go. I was fixin’ to do it today anyway.”
“Why don’t you go take care of that, and I’ll watch the girls,” Tank offered.
Conroy put his arm around Tank. “Looks like you’ve got things covered, son. We need to get over to the restaurant.”
Leah thanked them profusely, and after his parents left, Tank sat outside with the girls while they played in the yard and Leah called the insurance company. She’d been putting off making the call to give them her new phone number and handle whatever needed to be handled, but it was painless, and it felt good to do something productive.
She joined Tank on the porch, watching the girls lying in the grass making grass angels, like snow angels without the snow.
“Everything go okay?” Tank asked.
“Yeah. It’s about the same rate as my car was. They’re still processing the claim for the accident.”
“Lee, there’s something I wanted to talk with you about. Justice found out that the guy who hit you is being charged with involuntary manslaughter, which carries up to a twenty-year prison sentence.”
“Okay,” she said softly. “I hate talking about this.”
He took her hand. “I know. So do I. I just want to be sure you’re taken care of.”
“We’re fine. You’ve already made more than sure of that.”
“But this is part of it. I don’t want you to look back in six months or two years and wish you had handled things differently. I need to ask some hard questions, and I apologize ahead of time, but they’re important. Have you thought about if you want to sue him?”
“No, and I don’t want to think about it. I want to forget he exists. I don’t want to see his face or hear his voice, and I definitely don’t want to spend my energy fighting him for anything.”
Tank lifted their joined hands, kissing the back of hers. “I understand and I support your decision, but I wouldn’t feel right if I didn’t tell you all your options. If you want him to pay for taking away the girls’ father and put that money away for their futures without taking the guy to court, Justice can try to negotiate some sort of victim restitution.”
He was so good, to think about the things she didn’t want to, she mulled it over as she watched the girls chasing each other and giggling. “You mean for college, or a car, or whatever else they need?”
“Yes, or even just so they know the guy paid for what he’s done.” He turned a pained expression on her. “I can’t even begin to imagine how they’ll feel years from now, about the accident, or any of it. I hope they’ll be okay, but if the guy is out of prison, they could be angry. They’re so little right now, there’s no way to know.”
The pit of her stomach burned thinking about the girls being angry years down the line. “What would you do?”
“This isn’t about me, darlin’. It’s about doing what you feel is right for you and the girls. If you go the restitution route, it might mean he gets a lighter sentence, but the girls would get something in return.”
She leaned against him, whispering, “I hate this.”
“Me too.” He put his arm around her and kissed her temple. “You don’t need to decide now. I just wanted you to think about it.”
She thought about what it was like after her father died and whether money would have made a difference. “I know what I want to do. I want to love the girls enough for me and River and keep his spirit alive so they know him through me. But I don’t want to take dirty money or decide someone else’s fate. Money won’t bring River back. Let the judge do whatever he’s going to do. We did okay after our dad died, and we didn’t have much. The girls and I will do fine, too.”
“I’ll make sure of it.” He glanced at the girls, who plopped down in the grass on their stomachs, looking at something, and then he gave her a quick kiss.
She loved that he worried about the girls in the same way she did. As the girls popped up and ran over, she said, “Thank you for caring enough to ask the hard questions.”
He nodded as Rosie ran up the porch steps and climbed onto his back, hollering, “Piggyback!”
Tank made a growling noise, sweeping one arm around Junie and rising to his feet with Rosie hanging on his back and Junie tucked under his arm like a football, both girls giggling. “Who wants to go for a ride in your new car?”
“Me!” Junie and Rosie cheered.
Rosie yelled, “Get Boo!”
As Leah followed them inside, Tank’s heavy footsteps clomping into their room and the girls laughing hysterically, she knew she’d made the right choice. There wasn’t enough money in the world to inspire love or laughter, much less give the girls a lifetime full of both like they deserved.
LEAH PACKED AN enormous bag of toys and snacks before they left for the Registry of Motor Vehicles. Tank thought she was nuts to pack so much, but after ten minutes of waiting at the registry, he learned about the impatience of little ones and the tricks Leah used to deal with it. They played I Spy, Go Fish, colored, took walks around the waiting room, ate lots of snacks, and drank too many juice boxes. Rosie had a crying fit, and Leah handled it like she was born to be a mother, holding her and talking soothingly. When that didn’t work, she gave her a lollipop. A little sugar goes a long way.
What felt like eight hours later, but in reality was only two, Leah had a new driver’s license and the car was registered in her name. After they put the girls in their carseats, Tank pulled Leah around to the back, where the girls couldn’t see them, and drew her into his arms, kissing her smiling lips. “How does it feel?”
Her cheeks pinked up. “I’m not sure. Maybe you should give me s’more sugar.”
He chuckled and lowered his lips to hers, kissing her passionately. She went up on her toes, and it took everything he had not to lift her onto the trunk and kiss her senseless. He forced himself to break their connection but kept her close. “I could kiss you all fucking day.”
“Uh-huh,” she said breathily, then giggled and buried her face in his chest.
He loved when she did that, so adorably sexy. He palmed her ass, giving it a squeeze. “Let’s go before I get us arrested for indecent exposure.”
“The things you say,” she whispered, red cheeked, her hands fisted in his shirt.
He didn’t know what the guys she’d been with were like, but he took a chance to see how she would react and brushed his beard over her cheek, speaking gruffly into her ear. “They’re not nearly as dirty as the things I want to do with you.”
She stared up at him, wide-eyed, and he feared he’d scared her, but in the next second, a slow, sensual, and somehow also bashful smile appeared.
Oh yeah, baby. We’ll get there.
“Don’t worry, darlin’, I’m not in a rush.” He leaned closer and said, “But you’d better get behind the wheel before I change my mind.”
She laughed softly. “You should drive. I don’t know where Mike lives.”