Page 51 of Second Chance for the Single Mom

There was another bang of the gavel. Everyone rose as the judge exited the courtroom. I stood frozen in place, shocked by the result.

“You all right?” Shay asked, lightly touching my arm.

“Yeah. Sorry. I’m just surprised that actually worked!”

Shay’s lip twitched in a smile. “The judge likes me because I never waste his time.”

“I didn’t realize you were a lawyer,” I said as we walked back to the gallery.

“Well, we never had a chance to get to know each other, did we?”

We grinned together, sharing in the memory. It all seemed so ridiculous to meet that night, that way. And now he’d gotten me out of a parking ticket.

“Lucas mentioned you had a law degree,” I said. “But I thought he was making a joke.”

“Why would that be a joke?”

“Because at the time, you were just some guy sitting on a couch in a hoodie,” I replied.

“This is going to blow your mind,” Shay said, leaning closer, “but lawyers wear hoodies. Sometimes I even put on a pair of…” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “Sweat pants.”

I gasped. “Scandalous!”

There was a woman in a pencil skirt standing nearby in the galley, watching us impatiently with a stack of papers in the crook of her arm. “I’m on the docket next. I’d better start preparing.”

“You seemed to do a good job without any prep with my case,” I said.

“I’m good on the spot.” He cocked his head. “You’re a real estate agent, right? I’m interested in looking at those new condos downtown, but my old realtor retired.”

“Yes!” I said, digging into my purse. “Here’s my card. Give me a call and we can schedule a showing! That condotechnicallyisn’t allowing showings yet, since they’re still installing appliances, but I know a guy who knows a guy who can get us in.”

“I wouldn’t want you to go out of your way…”

“Are you kidding?” I replied. “You just got me out of a four hundred dollar ticket. I’ll drive to Seattle for showings if you want!”

He tapped the card against his palm, then nodded. “All right. I’ll get something scheduled.”

“Shay?” the woman behind him prodded. “I wanted to go over your statement before the judge returns…”

Shay pressed my business card to his forehead like a soldier giving a salute, then turned toward his colleague.

I practically skipped out of the courtroom, relieved about my ticket—and excited about Shay.

27

Haley

It was a short drive from the courthouse to the office park area where I was meeting Lucas for lunch. I was early, so I went ahead and grabbed a table for the two of us and spent some time catching up on emails.

A lot had changed in the past two weeks. At the time, that sinful night had been so easy to agree tobecauseI didn’t take the three guys seriously. IknewI didn’t have any sort of future with Lucas or Jordan, and Shay looked sexy—but harmless—in his hoodie. It was easy to treat the evening as something that was only physical. Everything was simple that way.

But none of that was true, now. Jordan was in residency to become a pediatrician. Shay was an attorney, one who seemed important enough to have people working for him. Even Lucas Freaking Hollister had grown up and had a real office job with a dress code and everything.

It was like my world had been turned upside-down.

I still wasn’t sure what was happening. I’d slept with Jordan again, and he was now my son’s baseball coach. Shay had gotten me out of my parking ticket, and now I might become his realtor. I was about to have lunch with Lucas. Our lives were becoming intertwined in a confusing way.

But I wasn’t confused about one thing: how excited I was to get to know these guys better. Regardless of what it meant, and regardless of where things might lead, it was nice to have adults other than Sara and Harper in my life.

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