Page 28 of Sultry Nights

He'd go to Margo's and get his keys. That would get his happy mojo back. As he pulled into the parking lot, he let out a sigh, nodded his head, and sent up a silent prayer before he jumped out of his truck. He was not going to let her ruin this day for him.

He strode into Margo Price's real estate office and was greeted by a fresh face and a big smile. That was what he needed.

"Hi, Quinn. Are you here for the keys?" Becky, the receptionist asked.

"I am. Thank you so much."

"I've got them right here. Congratulations. This is going to be great for the town. Margo said you are going to make apartments out of the barracks. That's gonna look so much better down there. I can't wait to see what you do with it."

He chuckled. "Well, I hope I make you proud. I hope I make the entire town proud, to be honest with you."

She handed him the keys, a big smile on her face. Her fingernails were painted a light pink with some beachy scene on them. She always painted her nails and had some fun scene on them. It was something he'd always remembered about her, even as a younger girl. She'd graduated with his son, Jared, and if he recalled correctly, she was engaged to be married. A quick glance at her empty ring finger and he wasn't sure now. And he sure as hell wasn't going to ask either.

So he just nodded. "Thank you so much, Becky."

"You're welcome. How's Jared doing these days?"

Quinn smiled a genuine smile. Talking about his kids was always something he enjoyed. "Jared is doing great. He's working with me at Kurtz Construction and I'm going to make him the lead on the barracks project."

"Oh, wow. Isn't that nice? Good for him. He'll do a great job with it. He's a smart one."

Quinn nodded, his smile still in place. "He certainly is. Thank you for that."

Becky smiled, shrugged her right shoulder, and nodded. "Sure thing. Just telling it like it is."

He squeezed the keys in his hand and nodded.

"Oh, Margo said you don't need to bring those back. It's yours in a few days, anyway."

He nodded. "Thank you. Both of you." He nodded and stepped out of the door.

Yes, there was his mojo. It was back.

15

Hanna sat next to her father at the conference table in Attorney Grant Park's office. The room was stifling. It wasn't that anything was bad here. The room was very clean, and pristine. The plethora of oak shelves were lined with law books. Some of them looked to be old and unused.

The paint on the walls was a light blue. The hanging pictures were what you'd expect to see in any attorney's office. George Washington, historical figures, a picture of Abraham Lincoln, and a picture of the Lincoln Law Library. But the last time she'd been in this office, she was getting divorced. And it made her feel like a failure. She felt like that again. She'd failed her sweet, nice, wonderful parents by bringing a dishonest, lying sack of crap to their doorstep. And she continued to bring that sad use of skin to their doorstep time and time again. It just made her feel sad. Her stomach twisted, and she slowly rested her hand against her belly to stop it from quelling.

She swallowed as Grant listened to her father's recount of all the miserable things Isaac had done, and the things he was doing now. Again.

Every so often, Grant's eyes would float to hers and she saw the look of pity on his face. She hated his pity. She hated everyone's pity. He probably thought she was stupid and how in the world did these nice people end up with a daughter who was dumb as a rock? She'd put up with Isaac's bullshit so many times.

Sitting here now, listening to her father recount it all, she couldn't believe she'd tolerated so much. And now, the new crimes. Stealing money from her bank account. Catfishing women. How did one even think of all of this shit? Why did she ever, ever, ever let herself get in this position?

But Grant listened, and then he took a deep breath and addressed her. "Hanna, did these women give you any identifying information other than their names? Do you know how we can reach them?"

"No. One of them said she was going to work really hard to find an attorney who was going to find me at fault and then she'd be in touch." Hannah sighed, then sat up straighter. She pulled her phone from her little purse. “I have their numbers on my phone.”

Grant nodded. She showed him the numbers, and he wrote them down. At least she could help that much.

Grant continued, "Well, what we can do right now is put together a plan of action. If anyone else calls you, have them call me immediately. Give them my name and my phone number. We'll get the information we need from them. We'll let them tell their stories, which, honestly, is really what they want. They want someone to talk to about this and, of course, they'd like their money back. But, mostly, they want someone to tell them Isaac is a terrible person and how did someone as smart as them get wrapped up with a loser like him? They want to know they aren't alone, and in these two cases, they are not. But so many others over time have been in similar situations. And they want to know they aren't stupid. He is just that good of a liar.

“Hopefully, they're the only two, but time will tell. I guess, as is often the case in these situations, these women start looking for each other and finding each other, and then they'll band together. But my office can make sure you're not bothered and you don't have to listen to any of them bad mouth you or ridicule you or threaten you. All you need to do is say, call my attorney. His name is Grant Park. Here's his phone number. Then hang up."

She swallowed the knot in her throat. "Okay." She tried really hard not to let her shoulders sink. Inhaling deeply, she picked her shoulders back up.

She was not to blame for this. She might be a little stupid, but she was not to blame for this. This was all Isaac's doing. And once again, he was trying to drag her down some deep dark hole, but she wasn't going to let him.

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