And, holy shit... It made her melt like butter.
If he was some psycho killer, he knew how to bring down her guard.
But instead of going all Ted Bundy on her, he began to talk. “Got a call from a bondsman in Rochester about your husband jumpin’ bail. Told me you came to Manning Grove and to keep an eye out for Lange. We catch him, we make a little scratch.”
“Why would he come here?”
“To be with his wife and kid.”
She blinked. “He’s not looking for me.”
“Yeah, figured that out.”
“How?”
“Deke went up to New York and...”
His cousin went to Rochester? “And?”
“And got some info up there. From someone you know. Found out you two had split a while back. Before he got charged. Assets were seized while you were waitin’ for the divorce to go through.”
Well, someone got their information right for once. “Yes.”
“That’s why your finger don’t have a mark.”
What? She lifted her left hand and glanced at her ring finger. “I removed it after I kicked him out.”
“Wasn’t gonna give him a second chance?”
It seemed he was being honest, so she might as well be the same. Especially since they were both looking for Dennis. And if Judge found him, it would benefit Cassie, too.
In fact, if Judge or his cousin found Dennis, she could get him to sign the divorce papers and it might be the first step in being free of her hopefully soon-to-be ex-husband’s mess.
“I considered it. If he would have gone to counseling for not only our marriage but his gambling addiction, but he refused. So, I refused to let him back in the house. He spent every damn dime we had saved. He wanted to put a second mortgage on our home. He spent our entire retirement. Everything was gone. Just... gone.” She flung her hands up. “Just like that. Any money we had disappeared into thin air. Everything we worked for. Everything I worked for. He just...” She shook her head. “He left me and Daisy with nothing. Nothing.” Her throat tightened. “He left his daughter with nothing. Not even the little we had put aside for her college fund. He drained that, too.”
A muscle ticked in Judge’s cheek and his grip tightened on her feet. “Yeah.”
“And that was before I found out about the embezzlement, which made it so much worse. Right now, I’m paying for his crime. His daughter is, too.”
His fingers relaxed a little more as he massaged. “Bondsman thought maybe when he bailed and you left town, you were settin’ it up to meet him here, or maybe somewhere else and this was just a stop on the way.”
Of course. Because almost everyone thought she was involved. She was disappointed that so many people thought so little of her own integrity. “No. The only reason I’d ever want to see him again is to get him to sign those papers. To set me free.”
“Your daughter.”
She stared at Judge. Those two simple words, the child she and Dennis shared, made things way more complex. “Yes. My daughter keeps us bound. But he’s guilty. They have too much evidence against him. And once he goes to jail, it’ll be up to Daisy, once she turns eighteen, whether she wants a relationship with him. I will not take her to prison to visit him. Does that make me a bad mother?” She shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe. But he should have thought about her before he stole all that money from her. He had the opportunity to turn himself around before it got that bad. He chose not to.”
“Addictions are rough.”
While she understood addictions were difficult and could rip families apart, he refused to get help. She couldn’t help someone who wasn’t willing to help himself. And she had herself and her daughter to protect.
Plus, she was angry. At him, for hiding it so well for so long, and at herself, for not seeing it.
“Maybe so. But losing your daughter should be much rougher. That’s how I see it. I would do anything for her. He proved he wouldn’t. All he had to do was get help. He didn’t even try. He didn’t even want to make the effort. That’s when I knew I was done. When Daisy was done. I told him if and when he got help, I’d consider Daisy having a relationship with him again. But that never happened because he got arrested and charged. And then my life... our life... began to crumble even further. Her father’s name was in everyone’s mouth. What he did was unforgivable. But worse was where he stole that money from. That foundation trusted him. He’d worked there for years. That was one reason I left, because I didn’t want Daisy dealing with the shit her father left behind. I wanted to make a fresh start where people might not know us.”
“Manning Grove.”
She chewed on her bottom lip. “Maybe. My sister offered us a place to stay temporarily. To escape the shit show in New York. I jumped on it. Daisy needs family. More than just me. She wasn’t getting that in Rochester. My innocent little girl was caught up in shit that she didn’t even understand. So, I packed what little I had left, what hadn’t been seized and we came here. A place where I could gather my thoughts and make a plan.”
“Bet that plan didn’t include workin’ in a bar.”
“No, it didn’t. But I am grateful that Stella hired me. It’s a start. And it’s giving me more than what I had. Which was nothing.”
“Somethin’ is better than nothin’,” Judge mumbled.
Cassie’s head snapped up. “Yes. Something is better than nothing.”
“It’s a sayin’ Trip lives by. He resurrected our fathers’ club not long ago. It had been destroyed, burned to the ground, and he had a plan to rebuild. You remind me of him. Startin’ with nothin’ and tryin’ to make your way. Takin’ what little you have and buildin’ on it.”
“I thought my future was set.” She shook her head. “I was dead wrong. And it’s hard to start again with what Dennis did still hanging over us. I need this divorce. I need to be able to start fresh without worrying if every dime I make will be taken from me to pay off Dennis’s debts. I shouldn’t be responsible for the crimes he committed. My only crime was being blind to it all.”
“Wasn’t your fault.”
She sighed. “Yes? Well, tell that to everyone else.”
Chapter Nine
His fingers slid over her bare feet, over her warm, smooth skin. She had tensed while talking about the shit Lange had created for her and their daughter and he was determined to get her moaning again, even if it was just with his hands on her feet.
“So, you were following me to find Dennis, thinking he would search us out? Or that we might be planning to go on the lam with him?”
“Yeah.”
“Now you know he won’t. He isn’t stupid. He probably figures someone would be watching us. Plus, I’m sure he knows I need him to sign those damn papers.”
Judge traced his fingers around her ankles, moving up slightly to squeeze and massage her lower calves.
“Oh,” she groaned, her eyes fluttering for a second as he moved his hands higher. “Uh... So, you no longer need to follow me. Or sit outside my sister’s home.”
He moved back down to the soles of her feet and then worked his way partly back up her calves. “Started to follow you to find Lange. Soon as I knew your divorce was pendin’, the reason changed.”