"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Cassie mumbled to herself as she rounded the corner and saw the construction detouring her foot route to the courthouse. "What? Oh nothing. Listen, Andi, I'm almost there, I promise. Go ahead. I'll meet you in the lobby. Five minutes," she promised, and snapped her cell phone shut.
She neglected to tell her friend it was physically impossible to go around the construction, cross the busy road, and walk the remaining mile and a half in five minutes to get to the courthouse, but Cassie considered herself nothing if not resourceful.
She was in the process of peeling off her high-heeled shoes, fully willing to take off in a dead sprint to make it, when she heard a wolf whistle coming from one of the cars on the busy road beside her. She rolled her eyes. When the jackass gave another wolf whistle and called out, "Hey, good looking!" she turned, fully prepared to shoot the horny roadster a bird. Almost too late, she realized the jackass in question was Kevin.
He had pulled over to the side and was waving her over. "Praise the lord," she whispered and jogged toward him. She jumped into the passenger seat of his truck and said, "I need to be at the courthouse ten minutes ago. Go."
He chuckled, but wasted no time pulling into traffic. "Something happen to your car, darlin'?"
She was putting her shoes back on. "Yeah, I don't have one at the moment. Mine's in the shop. Speaking of which, what are you doing at, say, five o'clock this afternoon?"
"Why didn't you call me or Heather to give you a ride?" he sent her a pointed look that made her feel like she'd been caught doing something she shouldn't have been. He added, "I'll take you to pick your car up. Don't worry about it."
She sent him a beautiful, self-satisfied smile. "You're a peach, you know that? Oh, you can just drop me off in front of the building. Thanks, Cooper, I owe you one."
"You owe me several, but who's keeping tab?" He smiled and gave her the once over. "Looking pretty good, Ross. No wonder you almost stopped traffic back there."
She felt herself color with embarrassment. She wasn't the type to dress up often β that was the great thing about owning your own business. Today, however, she'd needed to look professional and responsible, so she'd pulled out one of the only business suits she had in her closet β a black number she'd partnered with some heels. She'd spent far longer than she should have on her hair, which was pulled back in a very neat style.
She couldn't wait to get home so she could put her jeans back on and let her hair down again.
"You're looking pretty spiffy yourself, Cooper. What's the special occasion?" she asked, noticing he himself was dressed in a sports coat and tie.
"Just meeting you at the courthouse to lend my support."
"You were what?" she asked, completely surprised.
"Don't act so surprised, sweetheart. That's what friends do. I mean, isn't that why you're here? To support Andrea? I'm here to support you. Now you go on inside. I'll meet you in a few minutes after I find a place to park."
She realized he was pulling up to the curb in front of the courthouse now. She hopped out and leaned in to say, "Don't worry about it, Kevin. I appreciate the ride. I'll just meet up with you later."
"Right," he agreed. "In the lobby in a few minutes. Now scoot."
She wanted to argue, but she knew she didn't have time so she just slammed the door and hurried up the steps. Andi, who looked as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs, came forward to greet Cassie. "I was getting worried," Andi said, chewing on her nails.
"Hey, I promised you I'd be here," Cassie reprimanded gently, and then awkwardly offered a hug for support. "So what's the deal? Do we go into a courtroom or what?"
"We have to wait on the judge. I think it's just supposed to be me and Pete and our lawyers, if we have them, and then the judge will talk to the officers in charge of the case. You'll have to wait out here with my parents."
"Oh," Cassie said, having expected something more along the lines of what you saw on TV. "Well, damn. I got all dressed up for nothing."
"Yeah," Andi agreed. "Sorry."
"You have nothing to be sorry about," Cassie stressed, and Andi nodded.
Andi introduced Cassie to the tall, grey-haired gentleman who was sitting with her parents β he was the lawyer they'd hired for her. Kevin joined the group a few minutes later, and Cassie felt a bit embarrassed to introduce him to Andrea in these circumstances. She hedged and explained to everyone that she'd needed a ride, and Kevin had volunteered. Cassie knew her friend found all of this embarrassing and hurtful and probably would have been happier if no one at all knew what had happened in her marriage, let alone a complete stranger like Kevin. Hell, if anything like it ever happened to Cassie, she certainly would not want all of her friends and family hanging around to witness the ordeal.
If anything, though, Kevin charmed Andi just like he'd charmed Cassie, and he, more than anyone, did the best job of keeping Andi's mind off the matter at hand by telling her about some of the adventures he'd been on. Europe, Canada, Asia ... he'd been all over the world, it seemed.
"Have you ever been snowboarding?" he even asked Andi at one point.
"No, but it looks like fun," she admitted, totally engaged in the conversation.
"Well, you'll have to let me take you and Cassie sometime. It's a lot of fun once you get the hang of it. We can go to Colorado β they've got some great slopes there."
Cassie scoffed. "Me? Strap a board to my feet and go hurling down a mountain at sixty miles an hour? I don't think so."
They all got a good laugh out of that.
Almost an hour after her scheduled appointment, Andi was called back with her lawyer, along with a stone-faced Pete and two police officers Cassie recognized from the night of the beating. For the next twenty minutes, Cassie watched the door worriedly, chewing on her nails.
Finally, Andi came out, looking tired and pale and with tear stains on her face. When she gathered herself enough to explain, Andi told them that she had been granted the Order of Protection her lawyer had requested, and both she and Pete were scheduled to be back in court. Andi added that the judge had also granted her sole rights to their home until the Order of Protection against Pete was lifted.
The prick was released on bond and would be out there somewhere, but at least he couldn't go near Andi β or wasn't supposed to, anyway.
That, she further explained, would give her the chance to pack all of her personal items and belongings and "get the hell out."
Thank God, Cassie thought. She'd really expected Andi to stay with Pete, just like she had all the other times. For once, she was glad to be proven wrong.
Hopping into the passenger seat beside Kevin, the first thing Cassie did was let her hair down. She shook it out and ran her fingers through it as she told him, "Maybe Tess can take me to pick my car up later. I hate to keep asking you for favors."
"Don't worry about it."
But she did. She absolutely hated to be indebted to anyone for any reason. Leaning back in her seat, she sighed. "I'll pay you for it then. How much does it cost to fill this thing up anyway?"
"Dinner and a movie, and I get to pick both. You pick up the check."
"Deal."
"That was easy." He whistled. "Damn. I knew I should have asked for a night of hot, sweaty sex instead."