“Not if you need me,” she replied. “I was planning to take a couple days off—just until you’re settled in.”
“You don’t have to do that,” I said.
“I know.” She shrugged her shoulders. “I want to.”
She played with the collar of my T-shirt.
“Are you going to…to call…” Her voice trailed off and she bit her lip.
“My real father?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
“I guess I should,” I answered. “He’s in a hotel in town, too.”
“I heard.”
“Right.” I sighed and ran my hand through my hair.
“Do you want me to go with you?” she asked. “I mean, actually go with you? I’ll drive you either way, but I’ll also, you know, stay with you, too. If you want.”
I thought about it for a minute, and it was seriously tempting. I knew I couldn’t take her into the lawyer’s office, but to talk to Thomas Gardner? Yeah, that was tempting.
But I also knew I had to do it myself.
“Thanks, Rumple,” I said with a half-smile. She probably didn’t buy it. “I’ll definitely take the ride, but I think I have to talk to him on my own.”
Her hand came up and brushed my cheek.
“It’ll be okay,” she whispered. “I just know it will.”
I nodded slowly, not nearly as convinced. Regardless of the outcome, I knew I still had to do it. I had to see him, hear him out, give him the chance to tell me why I spent my life with Lou Malone instead of him.
Once I was out of the car and back into my wheelchair, I looked up over the door to the sign: Lucas and Lucas, Attorneys at Law.
Yeah, right.
“You want me to come in?” Nicole asked. “I can just stay in the waiting room or something.”
“It shouldn’t take long,” I said. “I guess I’d rather you just, I dunno…hang out here for a bit? If it looks like it’s going to take longer, I can call you.”
Nicole narrowed her eyes a little as she looked me over.
“All right,” she said. “I’ll be in the car.”
“Thanks,” I said. I tried to give her a bit of a smile, but I wasn’t feeling it. I rolled far off to one side of the entrance to get up the wheelchair ramp, then pushed hard to make the angle. I still wasn’t used to going up inclines, and that shit wasn’t easy. Once I got to the door, there was one of those buttons you could push to make the door open up. I made my way into the waiting room and looked up to the counter.
I recognized the chick there but didn’t know her name. She was chewing gum noisily and smiled down at me as she hung up the phone.
“Good morning, Mister Malone,” she said. “Mister Lucas is expecting you.”
She walked around the counter and escorted me down a hallway, opening the door and holding it for me as we got to the end. P. Lucas—I couldn’t even remember what the P stood for—was sitting behind his desk with stacks of documents all over it. He waved me in, and the receptionist was kind enough to move one of the office chairs out of the way so I could roll up across from him.
“Max said he talked to you,” Lucas said. “Sorry I didn’t make the funeral. It seemed more prudent to stay away.”
I just nodded.
“He’s still at your service if you want to keep him handy,” Lucas informed me. “We still have a contract, but we can work all that stuff out later.”