Holidays at Crescent Cove by Shelley Noble Page B

the opposing attorney. Not her father, her father who had driven her away.
    â€œI’ll show you out.”
    It was a ridiculous thing to say since the door was less than twenty feet from her desk. And she was pissed at herself for letting him goad her into exaggeration. As she walked to the door she could feel him looking, not at her, but around her office. And she knew what he was thinking. A little storefront law practice that she had to supplement by giving real estate advice.
    A failure. He was probably disgusted. Which would be preferable to pity.
    She reached the door and realized he hadn’t followed her. He pulled a chair over and sat down, facing her desk. “I’ll pay for your time.”
    Grace stared at him. She felt extremely close to tears, which was not an option. She’d learn to steel her emotions long ago, mainly to compensate for her lack of height and for being a woman. And then from letting the horror of what people did to one another get the best of her.
    But nothing had prepared her for this.
    And there was no rational way to get rid of him. Call the police? Nick would ask him to leave but would think she was crazy. Then he’d tell Margaux, who would tell Bri, and they would be over in a flurry of wine and martinis to hold an intervention. But they were both busy with their families now, they didn’t need to be taking time trying to fix their broken friend.
    Grace was the one who was alone. And who had a nutcase father sitting at her desk.
    â€œI’m calling Mother.” It sounded so childish, but she couldn’t think of another option.
    He didn’t answer, just began pulling papers out of his briefcase, which, in her shock at seeing him, she hadn’t noticed he was carrying..
    â€œWhat are you doing?” Grace rushed back to her desk while the cell phone rang in her hand.
    â€œI need your advice.”
    She stopped. He what?
    â€œHello? Hello? Grace is that you?”
    Grace looked at her phone, put it to her ear. “He’s lost his mind.”
    That’s all her mother needed. “Let me talk to him.”
    Gladly, she thought, and shoved the phone at her father.
    He put it to his ear as he continued to arrange papers on her desk; moved it away as her mother’s strident voice squawked from the other end.
    â€œVince, haven’t you come to your senses yet? Come home before you get into more trouble.”
    Grace had meant to move away,. She didn’t want to be privy to whatever was happening in her father’s practice or her parents’ relationship, but her mother’s voice was too loud to ignore.
    â€œYou’ve lost your mind,” her mother said.
    â€œNo, I think maybe I’ve come to my senses. Stop worrying.”
    He handed Grace the phone.
    â€œGrace,” her mother said. “You have to talk some sense into him. The partners are frantic, it seems he has some papers they need for a case they’re arguing next week and they need to prep for it. Tell him to come home before he gets into more trouble with the firm than he’s already in.”
    â€œRelax, honey, I know what I’m doing,” her father yelled over her mother’s arguments.
    â€œI’ll kill him,” her mother said, and hung up.
    Grace closed the call. “She said—”
    â€œThat she’s going to kill me. I heard.”

Chapter Seven
    G RACE RUSHED BACK to her desk. “Just put those papers back where they came from. I don’t know why you’re here. I certainly don’t know why you think that I will in any way help you defend that bastard. I’m sure there are plenty of—I believe the term you used was “real lawyers”—in your firm all too willing to sell their souls. So just get up and get out.”
    The color drained from her father’s face, and she saw that his hands trembled. And suddenly she was afraid that she had gone too far and would literally be the death