“A heartbroken woman. And I know as sure as we’re sitting in this room, talking like mother and daughter, that your pain has nothing to do with your ex-husband and everything to do with Griff.”
She blinked back tears, but they fell anyway. Then Chelsie did the one thing she needed most. She cried in her mother’s arms.
* * *
The roar of airplanes sounded in the distance as Chelsie bid good-bye to her parents at the airport.
“We’ll be back at the end of the month,” her father promised, “apology in hand and knocking on that man’s door to see our granddaughter.”
Her father had referred to Griff as that man ever since her mother had informed him he’d turned Chelsie away. In her opinion, they were taking the parent routine too far, but they’d get past it. “I’m sure I can arrange visits. He’s not unreasonable, Dad. And given everything you put him through, an apology would help ease things between you.”
“I’ll do it, but after what he did to you...”
“That’s between us, and you owe him.” She leaned over and kissed her father’s weathered cheek.
“I know. But I still don’t like what went on between you two.”
“Like you said, Dad, it went on between us. Stay out of it.”
He turned towards his wife. “I’m good enough to talk to when it comes to dealing with her son-of-a-bitch ex-husband, but when it comes to...”
“The man she loves, it’s none of your business.”
Chelsie looked at her parents and laughed. Two people who had learned life’s lessons the harshest possible way, but still remained together. She wished Griff could see them now. Maybe he’d believe anything was possible.
She thought of his past and his pain and knew she was wishing for the impossible.
THIRTEEN
Griff turned onto the busy street. The modern office building he sought appeared on his left.
“Last chance to back out.” Ryan thumped his hand against the dashboard of the car.
The time had long passed to second-guess his decision. So much of his life and his future rode on this meeting. Griff turned the steering wheel, angling the car into the nearest parking spot in the underground lot. “No way in hell. You?” He glanced at Ryan.
“Nope.”
Griff had known the answer before he asked the question. Ryan had never deserted him in the past. He wouldn’t start now. The trust he placed in his friend had taught him a valuable lesson, one he intended to extend to Chelsie. Both people were loyal and cared for him. Griff only wished he’d heeded what was in front of him for so long.
They walked through the dark lot and into the building. A security guard greeted them at the front entrance. “Stevens and McLaughlin,” Griff said. “We have an appointment with one of the attorneys.”
The burly man in the gray suit nodded. “Sign in.”
Griff scrawled his name. Ryan did the same. “Fifth floor,” the guard said.
They stepped into the elevators. “So far, so good.”
Griff rolled his shoulders. “Take it easy, Ryan. The hard part’s yet to come.” Griff had no illusions about dealing with the man Chelsie had once called her husband. He hadn’t reached the top of his profession by letting other people have their way easily.
“I can handle it.”
“We’ll see. Just stand behind me and keep your mouth shut.”
Ryan frowned. “Yeah. I never should have agreed.”
“But you did.” His friend wouldn’t be here otherwise. Griff would have liked to handle Jeff Sutton on his own, but Ryan’s persistence couldn’t be ignored. Besides, the backup would shore up his points with Chelsie’s ex and ensure the outcome. Two men would intimidate Sutton much more than one, but Ryan’s temper tended to get in the way of common sense.
Griff needed cool heads and clear thinking for his plan to work. He was counting on the self-serving side of Jeff Sutton’s personality to swing things their way. He could at least give Chelsie back her life before truly placing his trust in her hands.
The receptionist took one look at Griff in his three-piece suit and Ryan in his favorite jeans and leather jacket and led them back to Jeff Sutton’s office without argument.
The young woman raised her hand to knock on the office door. “We can take it from here,” Ryan said.
“He prefers to be notified when he has unexpected company,” she said.
“Then we wouldn’t be unexpected, would we?” Griff asked. “It’s okay. We’re old friends.”
The woman looked uncertain.
“I’ll say you were indisposed and we walked ourselves in.” Ryan gave her a wink that had been charming women throughout the years.