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“Great. Thanks. Do you need anything while I’m out?”
“No, we’re all good.” His smile was hot this time, and I felt it in my core. Damn the man.
Belle came downstairs, her sandals slapping on the hardwood floors loud enough to make me wince again. “Okay, bye.” Still lame, then. Good to know.
“Bye.”
“I love this car,” Belle sighed when I buckled her in the back seat.
“Yeah, it’s pretty amazing. You all good?”
“Yep.”
I bopped her on the nose, smiling when she giggled. “Let’s go then.”
Since I still hadn’t let go of the anxiety of being in charge of such a large, expensive car, I drove like an old lady to the park. All the while, I was running sums in my head, trying to figure out exactly how I was going to come up with the funds to fix Doris. The guys at the garage had been generously keeping her for me, but I really didn’t want to impose on them for too much longer. A few Elsa gigs and some shifts at the diner just weren’t going to cut it and it was time I faced those facts.
Staying with Wolfe was a wonderful reprieve from all of those worries, but it was temporary and not something I could afford to get too used to. Man, I’d miss the sex when I finally did move out. Even though it was only those quick, quiet fucks and the occasional grope if we could manage it, it was giving me life right now, I swear.
We pulled up next to my trailer and my heart twisted painfully at the sight of the blackened walls. It was nowhere near being fixed. Fuck. The thought of returning to this broken place, with no hope or means of rebuilding our lives, gnawed at my insides. Forcefully pushing the morbid thoughts aside, I turned to smile at Belle. “Let’s get the mail and see if Mrs. Thompson is home.”
We cleared the mail from the cluster of boxes at the front of the park and I quickly scanned the fronts of the envelopes. Bills, bills, more bills, maybe a party invitation? Oh, what was this? A cream-colored envelope with the words Lawrence & Co, Attorneys at Law, in fancy curving letters in the top corner. Frowning, I turned it over to see if there was anything on the back.
“Esme!”
I spun around to see Mrs. Thompson barreling towards me. Before I could even draw breath to greet her, she’d pulled me into a big, squishy hug. Over the next few minutes, she ushered us into her trailer and put the coffee pot on, all the while peppering me with so many questions that my head was whirling. So much so that I completely forgot about the envelope. Most of the questions centered on the mysterious, tall, dark and handsome man that we’d driven in with the day the trailer caught fire. Belle was all too willing to chat about Wolfe’s house, the pool, the home theater, the enormous beds, the bath that was nearly as big as the pool. As she chattered on, it didn’t escape my notice that every second sentence began with Wolfe this and Wolfe that, Wolfe says, or Wolfe thinks. It obviously hadn’t escaped Mrs. Thompson’s notice, either.
“This Wolfe guy seems quite something,” she smiled at Belle, but shot me a look over the rim of her coffee mug.
Feigning nonchalance, I said, “He’s just a friend.”
She arched a brow in reply, and my gaze slid from hers. I’ve always been a terrible liar. Thankfully, she let it go and we passed the next hour catching up on all the park gossip. Then I figured we’d been gone long enough, the movie the kids were watching was probably nearly over and the last thing I needed was for them to interrupt the meeting. I said goodbye, accepted another squishy hug and reassured Mrs. Thompson that I’d let her know if there was anything she could do for me.
A few minutes later, I eased the Merc carefully into Wolfe’s garage, holding my breath the whole time, as if that would somehow make me a better driver. Belle bounced out of the car the minute I turned the engine off and slammed the door shut. I let her go, resting my head on the back of the seat and closing my eyes, happy just sitting in the quiet of the garage for a moment. An hour with Mrs. Thompson was great, but exhausting. The woman could talk under water with a mouth full of marbles, I swear.
Heaving a sigh, I accepted the fact that I couldn’t hide in the car for much longer without someone coming to look for me. As I reached for my purse, my eyes fell on the stack of letters I’d dumped on the passenger seat. The cream-colored envelope was on the top, begging to be opened. I hoped it wasn’t something awful. The last thing I needed right now was someone suing me or something.
On the thought, I tore open the envelope and unfolded the crisp sheet of paper. My eyes scanned the contents quickly and my heart raced with disbelief. According to Mr. Lawrence’s letter, he’d collected $24,000 from Hazel and the children’s fathers. Not only that, but monthly child support payments of $4,200 from all our parents would come our way on the regular. I dropped the letter in my lap and stared blindly through the windscreen. My eyes welled up with tears and I covered my face with shaking hands as the realization of what a big fucking deal this was hit me full force. It changed everything. And I knew exactly who was responsible.
The minute I entered the spacious living room, I saw Wolfe, Grayson, and Rhett still deep in conversation around the dining table. Their serious faces contrasted sharply with my own giddy excitement.
“Did you do this?” I blurted out, waving the letter at Wolfe.
All three men looked up in surprise, but it was Wolfe who had all my attention. His gaze fell to the cream-colored envelope in my hand, and his lips quirked in a little smile. “That depends. Does it make you happy or mad?”
“Happy, of course!” I laughed, tears threatening to spill over as relief and gratitude washed through me.
Grayson’s eyebrow quirked up as he studied me, curious about our exchange, but it was Rhett who interjected, leaning forward in his chair. “What’s going on?”
Wolfe glanced at me, then back to Rhett. “Esme got some unexpected financial support for the kids.”
“How? How did you do this?”
“I didn’t. My lawyer did it.”
“But so much money, and all at once?”
“Well, my instructions were explicit. Don’t hold back. They all know they have kids they aren’t paying for. Remedy that situation or face the consequences. Obviously, he was very persuasive.”