“No, she didn’t,” he answered stiffly.
What the hell, Joanna? Did she really think she needed to pit a lawyer against him? She’d claimed they were basically strangers, and she’d acted oddly last night, but so far she’d given no indication that she wanted anything from him or had reason to mistrust him. So, why the attorney?
“Well, I’m not sure she’s paying a retainer,” Walt murmured. “Her lawyer is her sister. Maddie Zielinski.”
Adam cocked his head, surprised to hear that Joanna’s sister had shown up. “Joanna told me Maddie’s a public defender.”
“You haven’t met her yet, I take it?”
“No.”
Walt twirled his pen in his right hand. “I met her only in passing on my way in. She seems...interesting.”
Trevor frowned, his suspicions obviously aroused again. “Adam, you need to let Walt do the talking for you. I mean, you have to admit you have a weakness for both Joanna and the boy. And probably some guilt about not being there for them before. I’m not saying Joanna or her sister will try to fleece you—but, well, Walt knows what he’s doing.”
The thought of sitting across a table from Joanna, flanked by attorneys while they negotiated payments and visitations, made Adam’s blood chill. “I’ll do my own talking.”
Though his concerns were still visible on his face, Trevor made an it’s-your-life gesture with his hand and fell silent.
“Fine,” Walt said. “You talk for yourself. Just let me look over any paperwork before you sign anything, all right?”
Adam nodded grudgingly.
“So.” Walt set his briefcase aside. “About Maddie. What have you heard about her? Is she, you know, married or anything?”
Narrowing his eyes, Adam shook his head. “Really, Walt?”
His friend cleared his throat with an expression that was uncharacteristically sheepish. “What can I say? She’s hot. But don’t worry. She’s way too young and hip for a beat-up old curmudgeon like me.”
Trevor tilted his head. “Do people still say ‘hip?’”
“Well, there you go,” Walt said with a short laugh. “I don’t even know the terms these days. I’d better content myself with just admiring the view.”
Adam pushed himself abruptly to his feet. “I’ve got work to do. Thanks for the legal crap, Walt. Have your bookkeeper bill me.”
“Right. I’ll charge you the usual veterans’ legal crap rate,” he replied affably.
Leaving his buddies to fret about him if they wanted to, Adam stalked out of the office.
* * *
SIMON WANTED TO swim again before lunch, so Joanna settled in the same lounge chair as yesterday to watch him play with the other children. There was no sign of Cody or his parents; had they left the resort already? She hoped they’d found some relaxation on the family vacation, and that Ken and Leah learned to minimize their stress and reconnect with each other. But that was none of her business.
She stretched out her bare legs, enjoying the feel of the sun on her skin. She imagined that anyone seeing her sitting there in her shorts and loose top with a tablet in one hand and a strawberry lemonade in the other would assume she hadn’t a care in the world.
That person would be mistaken.
Every time her thoughts traveled back to last night on the balcony, she almost cringed. Not only at heated kisses that should never have happened and had come too close to flaming out of control, but at a parting that should have gone better.
Annoyed by her own vacillating, she told herself she’d play this by ear when she saw Adam, depending on how he behaved. Maybe he understood she’d been overwhelmed, tired and conflicted when she’d sent him away so grumpily. Mostly her irritation had been directed at herself, because after all that had happened in the past six years, all the lessons she should have learned, she still found Adam impossible to resist. Even though there was still a chance, considering his intense guardedness, that they were only passing through each other’s lives again.
“Now, that is a serious expression for someone stretched out on a resort lounge chair.”
The familiar voice made her whip her head around and then leap from the chair, her tablet falling to the chair cushion, her lemonade forgotten. “Maddie! What—?”
“I decided I needed a vacation,” her sister said with a deceptively innocent expression.
Maddie’s striking hair and dramatic makeup gave her a quirky and cute appearance that always made Joanna feel a bit staid in contrast. Today Maddie wore a hot-pink sleeveless top that clashed cheerfully with her crimson hair, turquoise capris and glittery platform flip-flops. Big turquoise earrings brushed her cheeks with each movement of her head.