Page 30 of Finding Home

My phone buzzes with a text. When I look down, it’s from my sister:

Hey asshole, don’t forget you’re there to get to know your daughter, not to fuck her nanny. If you fuck Aubrey and then break her heart, where will that leave poor Raine? Without the one person she’s got left in this world. So, please, think with your head and your heart, and not with your dick, you horny-ass motherfucker!

Jesus.

I have no idea what compelled Miranda to shoot off such an unhinged text within seconds of hanging up. Yes, I’m a horny-ass motherfucker, and my sister knows that about me. But I’m positive I didn’t make my intense physical attraction to Aubrey obvious during the call. Did I?

“Oh! The timer just went off,” Aubrey announces. “Time to turn around.”

“Perfect timing.”

Aubrey motions to the dirt path we’ve just traversed. “After you. And yes, I’ll hang back again and listen to music.”

“Actually, walk with me at first. When I texted my attorney about our arrangement yesterday, she said she wanted to meet you.”

I make the call on speaker phone, and right out of the gate, Paula and Aubrey connect in a way that kind of irks me. My attorney is never warm and sweet like this to me. What the fuck?

After a bit, when the Paula-Aubrey portion of the phone call has run its course, Aubrey drops back to walk—or dance—about twenty yards behind me again, and I resume talking to my attorney in private.

“She’s fucking adorable,” Paula says. “Also, completely credible. At the hearing, I’m sure the judge will believe every word she says, which means you’d better make sure Aubrey likes you and believes you’ve got nothing but Raine’s best interests at heart.”

“I do.”

“Good. Let’s keep it that way.”

At my prompting, Paula gives me an update on the lawsuit, letting me know it’s going to be filed in Los Angeles before the end of the day. “As we discussed,” Paula continues, “we’ll ask for sole legal and physical custody for you, with full visitation rights for Aubrey. That’s what you still want, now that you’ve met Raine?”

“Now more than ever.”

“If you’re not positive about that, tell me now, so I can amend the suit to supportAubreyhaving physicalcustody, while you get legal custody and visitation rights.”

“I want my daughter, Paula, and I want Aubrey and her family to be a part of her life, forever. I don’t have any doubts about that now.”

Paula smiles broadly. She rarely does that, when we’re talking business. But this time, my trusty attorney can’t keep her excitement from lighting up her face. “Okay, I’ll get the paperwork filed. In the meantime, your job is to bond with Raine before the hearing in a month. You’ll need to convince the judge you’re a fit father, Caleb. Your sperm fertilizing an egg isn’t nearly enough to establish that.”

“I know that better than anyone, thanks to my own fucking father.” I glance back at Aubrey. Once again, she’s in her own little world back there. “Luckily, I’ve got Aubrey helping me learn the ropes. She’s incredible with Raine and patient with me. She really understands how to?—”

“Fucking hell, Caleb.No. You can’t have sex with Aubrey.”

I’m floored. “What are you talking about? What made you say that?”

“When you said her name, you looked like a goddamned wolf in heat. Don’t even try to deny it. I’m an expert at reading body language, and yours screamed, ‘I want to fuck my kid’s nanny!’”

I roll my eyes.

“You deny it?”

“Completely. One question, though.” I smirk. “Would it fuck things up, from a legal standpoint, if I did fuck Aubrey?”

“I knew it!”

I chuckle. “Just answer the question, counselor. That’s what I pay you to do.”

Now it’s Paula’s turn to roll her eyes. “A custody hearing is like a mini-trial, Caleb, except the judge is the one who makes the decision, rather than a jury. The last thing we need is for the judge to think Aubrey’s testimony has been compromised by you giving her orgasms and/or whispering sweet nothings into her ear for the past month, in order to manipulate her testimony. She’s quite a bit younger than you, remember? We don’t need the judge wondering if?—”

“So, are you saying it’d be a bad idea because the optics wouldn’t be good, or are you saying it’d be illegal?”

“It wouldn’t be illegal, no. But it’d be a bad idea.”

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