Shoved (Moonlit Lake Matchmaker #4)

Chapter 15

STORM

Helping Mom and Junie with the goat yoga event last night was more fun than I expected. Especially seeing Serena and Sadie enjoy it so much.

Now I was even more determined to win this case, to keep their lives from being disrupted. I’d spent every spare moment since she hired me, digging up everything I could find on her late husband and his family. I’d been able to discover a ton. But how much of it was Serena aware of?

We needed to meet and talk about everything I’d found so far. I dialed her number, and she answered right away.

“Hey, Storm. What’s up?”

“I’ve got some information to share with you. When would you have time to come to my office?”

“I can come this afternoon, while Marlys, my seasonal helper, watches the shop. Would two o’clock be okay?”

“Works for me. See you then.”

As I looked at the information I’d found, I tried to imagine what her reaction might be. She was married to the guy and probably thought he was a war hero, but he was a criminal. And it was quite possible she had no idea.

How was I going to tell her all this—destroying the memories she had of her husband, Sadie’s father?

She needed to know everything, though. It was important to her case. And that was the priority, helping her to win the case and protect Sadie.

A couple minutes after two, my door burst open and in rushed Serena. “Sorry, I’m late. We had a problem with a delivery that had to be straightened out before I could leave.” Lulu greeted her with a wagging tail and exuberant kisses. “Hi, Lulu. It’s good to see you too.”

“It’s fine. Come on in.” I led her to a small conference room with a dark, oval table and chairs. There was a big window that lit the space with natural light.

Serena sat down at the table, looking at the files I set down in front of me, and took a deep breath. “Alright. Lay it on me.”

“What do you know about your husband’s life before he went into the military?”

“Nothing other than he was from California, and didn’t get along with his parents.”

I paused, trying to figure out how to share this with her. Finding no easy way, I just blurted it out. “Your husband, Ty Kettering, joined the military to avoid going to jail.”

She gasped. “What? There has to be some mistake. What did he do?”

“His juvenile record is sealed, but from what I can tell, he was into drugs. He was busted for minor drug and theft offenses. The judge must have thought the structure and discipline of the military would help him turn his life around.” I opened the file in front of me and slid the printout of his criminal record, complete with his mug shot. “I’m so sorry to have to tell you all this. I hate to tarnish your memory of him. But it’s important you know the truth.”

“I can’t believe this. He never mentioned a word of it or gave any indication he’d been in any trouble. But he was very evasive whenever I asked about his past. I figured he must have some bad memories he didn’t want to talk about. Never in a million years would I have imagined this.”

I glanced at his military record and handed that to her. “He served in the Army for two years of his four-year stint and had a clean record. The judge was right. The military was the right thing for him. It turned him into the hero you knew.”

“Thanks for trying to soften the blow. I do believe he was a good man. But… even though I fell in love with him and married him, I didn’t really know him. I have fond memories of the time we were together, but it was so brief, and even that has faded in these five years.” She wiped a tear from her eye. “What did you find out about his family?”

“His family is wealthy and lives outside of Malibu. His dad is the CEO of a cosmetics company. It seems Ty stole some jewelry, family heirlooms, from his mom’s jewelry box and tried to pawn them for drug money. His parents turned him in and had to testify against him.” I paused to take in her reaction, which she seemed to be soaking in. “Tough love. They probably thought he was better off getting convicted than strung out on the streets.”

“No wonder he hated them and didn’t want us to have anything to do with them.”

“Sounds like a rough situation. Dealing with a child with an addiction would be hard for any parent, especially when they had to make choices that he apparently never forgave them for.” I stacked the information about Ty into a pile and set it aside. “This is just what I’ve put together from my online research. It’s not the whole story.”

She nodded and shifted her gaze to the other stack of papers in front of me. “What can you tell about his parents? They can’t be all that great if they’re suing me for custody, rather than coming to meet us in person.”

“They don’t have criminal records. They’re quite wealthy. No other children. Ty was their only child. The mom is on the board of several charities.” I tapped my finger against my lips as I flipped through the printouts. “You’re right. It seems like a big leap, even with you ignoring their letters, to jump to suing for custody. Your record is clean, so there’s nothing they can hold against you.”

“That’s something, I guess.”

“But I have to warn you. They have deep pockets and will have a huge team of attorneys on their side. I have no doubts about my ability to fight this and win, but I may need to offer them something. A good faith offer.”

“You mean I have to give in to their demands?”

“No, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea to agree to meet with them face to face. First, just us and them. And if it goes well and you feel okay about it, we could discuss supervised visitation so they could meet their grandchild.”

Her brow creased with worry, and she chewed her lip as she thought about my suggestion.

I placed my hands on the table and leaned back in my chair. “If we offer to give them that much, this whole thing should go away.”

“Just meeting them? That’s all I’d have to do?”

“It would show you are making a good faith effort to meet them halfway, and show that you are at least open to the idea of them having a relationship with Sadie. But you’d still have a say in whether you want that and feel it’s in Sadie’s best interest. It’s hard to know what people are really like without meeting them. Wouldn’t you agree?” I asked, thinking of the bad impression she had of me the first few times we met, and wondering if that had changed now that I was helping her. “If you meet them and they seem awful, we can keep fighting this.”

“Okay. But I want to meet them without Sadie. I don’t want her to be confused or manipulated, or put in the middle of this until I know what they’re like.”

“I completely agree. I’ll send a letter to their attorney offering to meet. Where would you want the meeting to take place?”

“Can it be right here, in your office?”

“Certainly.” I gathered the papers, placed them in the file, and stood up. Meeting adjourned. She started putting on her coat. “And Serena? I think you’re doing the right thing. Meeting them.”

She exhaled with an exasperated sigh. “I hope so. You’ll be here with me, right? I don’t have to do this alone, do I?” Her voice was barely above a whisper and laced with an underlying vulnerability that tugged at something deep within me.

I met her gaze, feeling the weight of her words hang between us like a thick fog. There was an innocence in her question that made it impossible to ignore the way her vulnerability set her apart. I could see the slight tremor in her hands, and I instinctively wanted to reach out, to close that space between us.

“Of course not,” I reassured her, forcing a calm smile while my mind raced. “I’ll be right by your side the whole time.”

As her lips curled into a small smile, I couldn’t help but notice how she chewed on her lower lip, a habit that seemed to invite temptation. It was a sweet, innocent gesture, and yet, it sparked a wildfire of thoughts I didn’t want to entertain. How did she manage to look so unguarded and so captivating at the same time?

“Great,” she said, her voice returning to its usual buoyancy. “I could use the moral support. You know, just in case I trip over my own feet, and land in my former father-in-law’s lap, or something. Could happen.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised in the least.” I chuckled, trying to mask my racing heart. “Don’t worry. If you do, I’m sure I could write it off as a clumsy client moment. And I’ll have my camera ready to take pictures, for your protection, of course.”

Her laughter—a light, musical sound—bounced off the walls between us and I realized how easy it was to get lost in her energy. But I had to keep it together.

She raised an eyebrow, leaning in slightly, and I noticed the way her red hair framed her face as she tilted her head. It was an innocent move, but an unintentional tease. “So, if I trip, you won’t swoop in to save me?”

“Only if you promise to make it look dramatic and planned,” I shot back, my heart playing tag with the butterflies in my stomach. “I have a reputation to maintain here, after all.”

She shook her head, but the gleam in her eyes said she was enjoying this dance just as much as I was. “A reputation for being the one who stands by, all grumpy and broody with his arms crossed, while his clients awkwardly make fools of themselves?”

There it was again, the enticing spark of vulnerability wrapped in playful banter. I couldn’t help but feel the weight of our dynamic shift, the air humming just a little louder around us. It wasn’t just the task ahead; it was the connection, a thin thread strung between professionalism and something decidedly more personal.

“Hey, it’s a tough job, but someone has to do it. Besides, watching you make a fool of yourself is becoming one of my favorite pastimes.”

She swatted me on the arm. “Watch it. Or I’ll have to find another attorney, one that doesn’t relish my humiliation quite so much.”

But with every teasing word, the edges of professionalism blurred. I could give her my loyal support, but towards the end of the day, there was still the line drawn in ink. And while I was tempted to cross it—just for a laugh, just for a moment—the stakes were high. She was my client.

“Don’t worry. When I’m working your case, I’ll be every bit the intimidating, intense no-mercy lawyer you shoved into the snowbank. It’s what makes me really good at what I do. But I assure you, I’ll do anything to protect you and Sadie. You have my word on that.”

“Thanks, Storm. I do feel better knowing you have my back.”

As her attorney, it was my job to have her back and protect her rights. The safety and security of her and her daughter were what she hired me for. I was just doing my job like any good attorney would, and she was just my client. Purely professional. That’s all.

Yeah. You keep telling yourself that.