Single Mama's Got More Drama. Kayla Perrin
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didn’t have even the slightest interest in meeting with attorney Bradley Harris and the woman who had been a thorn in my side. But despite the fact that I’d been avoiding Tassie’s lawyer, I knew he was right. I couldn’t avoid Bradley and Tassie forever. At some point, this situation would have to be resolved.
Fine—if Tassie wanted a meeting, we’d have a meeting. However, she would soon learn that I wasn’t planning to hand over anything to her.
She was in for a fight.
“Ms. Cain?”
“When?” I asked. I knew I sounded testy, but I didn’t care. “When were you and Tassie thinking of having this meeting?”
“Early next week would be good for my client. We can meet in Miami, as I know that will be more convenient for you.”
“Very thoughtful,” I muttered softly, not meaning my words. But the lawyer was right. I would have to meet with him and Tassie Johnson sooner or later.
It would just have to be sooner.
“Will that work for you?” Bradley asked.
“Yes. How about Tuesday? The afternoon will be better for me.”
“Let me verify my schedule and speak with Tassie, then I’ll get back to you.”
“You do that.”
I hung up the phone, emitting a groan as I did. Then I forced myself to draw in a few steady breaths.
I was looking forward to this meeting as much as a person looks forward to root canal. But on one hand, I was glad that the lawyer had forced this meeting. Because with a date set, I would have to take action myself.
The last time I’d spoken with Bradley Harris, I’d been determined to fight back. Determined to keep my home from the hands of a greedy, conniving bitch. I’d called a reporter from the Miami Herald who’d followed the story of Eli’s death and asked for her help. But as the days passed and I hadn’t heard from her, I’d put the whole matter out of my mind, wrongly hoping that Tassie would simply go away.
I needed to call Cynthia Martin back, see what the reporter had discovered. Perhaps she’d forgotten my request or had been too busy to do any digging. If that was the case, my call would prompt her into action.
And if she’d been unable to find any dirt on Tassie, then I’d have to hire a private investigator. Because I knew the dirt was there.
I felt certain that Tassie was involved with the man who’d been at her side at Eli’s funeral. There was no law against that, especially since she and Eli had been separated for years. But it mattered in terms of the way Tassie had portrayed herself in the media—like the doting, grieving widow who’d never stepped out on her man, even though he’d had his own indiscretions. And she had painted me out to be a gold digger who had relentlessly pursued her pro-athlete husband for his cash.
Given her lies, I knew that for Tassie perception was everything. A woman like her would hate to have the truth about her own adulterous relationship exposed for the world to see.
And if she hoped to persuade a judge that she deserved my home because she and her husband had been very much together at the time of his death and that I was simply a woman on the side, she also needed to keep up her grieving widow charade.
With Cynthia’s help, I was about to blow that plan up in Tassie’s pathetic face.
Well, I hoped I was. Even if I believed that Tassie had been living her own life and had been romantically involved with at least one man in the past seven years, I still needed proof. Proof was the only thing that would persuade her to leave me the heck alone.
My temples throbbed. Talking to Bradley Harris and thinking about my predicament had brought on a headache.
I withdrew a bottle of ibuprofen from my desk and downed two capsules with the dregs of my cold coffee. As I was swallowing, my phone rang again.
I hesitated—and then was angry that I even had to be wary of answering my office phone. Damn Tassie Johnson.
I picked up the receiver and placed it at my ear. “Vanessa Cain.”
“Baby,” came the smooth, sexy voice.
My stomach tensed slightly at the sound of Lewis’s voice. It shouldn’t have, of course, considering he was my fiancé.
Then again, he wasn’t really my fiancé—well, not in the true sense of the word. He’d proposed marriage, and had assumed that I’d accepted. I’ll admit, I didn’t do much to let him think I hadn’t accepted his proposal, but I hadn’t really had a choice. He was the way out of a problem—the problem being the woman who wanted to take my home from me and my daughter. Lewis could easily give me the money to pay off Tassie Johnson.
The simple fact was that I couldn’t afford to turn down Lewis’s proposal. Not when I knew that it was part and parcel of his offer of financial help.
But I’d loved him once. I could love him again.
“Vanessa?” Lewis said, reminding me that I hadn’t greeted him. “You there?”
“Hey, Lewis.”
“What’s wrong, baby?” he asked.
“Nothing.”
“Then why do you sound stressed out?”
“I do?”
“Uh-huh.”
“It’s been a long day,” I said. “I’m getting a bit of a headache, that’s all.”
“Maybe I need to come by and give you a nice back rub.”
I smiled and said, “Nice try, Lewis. But I’ll be fine.”
“It would just be a back rub. Right in your office. With the door open if you want. So everyone will know there’s no monkey business going on.”
After realizing that I couldn’t exactly turn Lewis’s proposal down, I’d told him two things: that I wanted a long engagement, and that I wanted to wait until we were married to have sex.
Total stall tactic. I admit it.
“I’ll pass on that, thank you.”
“Damn,” Lewis muttered. “You’re being tough on a brother. But I get it, so I’m not complaining.”
“Thank you for understanding.”
“Any word from Tassie Johnson’s lawyer?” he suddenly asked.
“As a matter of fact, yes,” I said. “I got off the phone with him a few minutes ago.”
“And?”
“And he’s proposing a meeting. Next week.”
“Good.”
I drew in a shuddery breath. “Yeah, I guess it is.”
“You’ve got to do this sooner or later, babe.”
“I know.”
“Did you tell the lawyer that you definitely have the cash and offer to buy out Tassie’s share again?”
Lewis had advised me to do that, but I hadn’t. “I didn’t bother to call him back, because it’s clear Tassie is playing games. I kinda hoped they’d just go away.”
“Now you know he’s not going away, so the meeting’s a good thing. I’ll go with you, we’ll bring a check. Tassie’s gonna be there?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll make it a cashier’s check. When Tassie sees it, I bet she’ll happily accept it and disappear.”
I found myself smiling. Lewis was definitely being super-supportive, and I was extremely grateful for that. The idea of him being with me at the meeting set my