Advice of Counsel (The Samuel Collins Series Book 1) (8 page)

“You’re going to be okay, Landra,” I told her, when she had
calmed down.

“I know.  Thanks, Sam,” she said, into my chest.

“What are you doing today?”  I didn’t want to leave her.

“I need to go by Sara’s later this morning and then . . . I
don’t know.”

“Why don’t you come over and get started on my walls after you
do your thing with Mrs. Howard?”

“You’re afraid to leave me alone, aren’t you?” she said.

“No.”

She smiled and touched my lips with her finger and called me a
liar.  “Don’t worry, Sam.  For one, I’m not suicidal, and for two, I’m not your
responsibility. I don’t want you to think of me as some helpless girl you have
to take care of.  That’s not the kind of relationship I want with you. I’ve got
lots of girlfriends that I can call on if I need to, so please – you don’t have
to feel responsible for me.”

“You have this way of coming up with the most bizarre,
off-the-wall comments that . . . Where do you come up with this shit?”

“I don’t know.  I just say what pops into my head.”

“Obviously.  Didn’t your mother ever tell you to think before
you talk?  Now, do you want to come over or not?  Because if you don’t, I’m
going to call some other girl and ask her to come in your place.  Where’s your
phone?”

I made her laugh again.  “I’ll come over later.”  She kissed me
on the cheek and got off my lap, then she took my hand and pulled me to my
feet.  “You’re looking kind of scrawny.  You should eat something.”

I pulled her over to me and hugged her again, and then we went
back inside and I gathered my coat and tie and put on my shoes and Landra
walked me to the door.

“I’ll see you later,” I told her.  She leaned in and kissed me
on the cheek.  It was a harmless peck, but it was enough to make me want more. 
“Plan on staying for dinner and I’ll cook for you.”

Landra smiled.  “That sounds great.  I’ll see you this
afternoon.”

The truth was, I didn’t want to go, or rather, I wanted to take
Landra with me.  Not because of any of the reasons she had stated; but for the
simple fact that I liked her and I liked her company.  She was the first girl I
had met in a long time whose company I really enjoyed.  And I couldn’t think of
anyone I’d rather spend the day with.  She had turned back towards her house
and was already halfway inside when I grabbed her arm and pulled her back
outside.

“Come with me,” I said.

“Where?” Landra asked, confused.

“I don’t know.  Home.  Somewhere there’s food.”

“I thought you said you had tons of stuff to do today.”

“Did I say that?  Well there’s nothing that can’t wait until
tomorrow.  Come on.  Come with me.”

I’ve always been really good at arguing.  That’s why I make
such a good lawyer.  And I had a come-back for all of Landra’s excuses, both
legitimate and made up, for why she couldn’t spend the day with me, and in the
end, I prevailed.  I waited around while she showered and changed clothes and
by the time we got out of her house it was almost 11:30 and I still hadn’t eaten a thing.  I had rummaged through Landra’s pantry and fridge looking
for something edible while she got ready, but nothing looked appetizing.   We
loaded Landra’s paints and supplies into my Suburban and drove straight to Taco
Cabana, the unmistakable pepto-pink restaurant, with its palm trees and
tropical setting.  TC is a haven for late-night partiers with a craving for Mexican
food and a ritual for those nursing a hangover the next morning, and that day
was no exception.  The place was packed.

We went to the drive-thru and I got my breakfast tacos, then we
drove back to my house to eat.  When we finished, Landra walked across the
street to Mrs. Howard’s house to do whatever she needed to do with her, and we
agreed to meet back at my house at 2:00 o’clock.

I had gone into the kitchen to get some orange juice and I
noticed that the light on my answering machine was blinking.  The first message
was from a friend inviting me to a barbecue for later that afternoon, so I made
a mental note to call the guy back and decline.  I was mid-swallow when the
next message came on and what I heard made me choke on my juice.

“Hey, Sam.  It’s Niki Lautrec.   I’ve come up with something on
both matters you called me about last week.  I’m going to be out of town for
the rest of the weekend, but I’ll get back with you Monday.”

I stood frozen in place, looking at the answering machine but
not even hearing the next two messages.  Damn, damn, damn. What the hell had he
come up with on Landra?  As I contemplated my dilemma, I realized how the
concept of shooting the messenger arose.  I was pissed off at Niki and if he
had delivered the message in person, I might have even slugged him – this, in
spite of the fact that the guy could kick my ass, no problem.  Now I was going
to have to sit around all weekend and wonder what bombshell he was going to
deliver come Monday morning.  Fuck and double fuck.

My doorbell rang before I could think any more about it.  I
tried to hide my frustration when I opened the door, but it must have shown on
my face because Oliver said, “Hi, Samuel.  You’re face looks like this,” and he
furrowed his brow and gave me a scowl just like mine.

I had to laugh.  “Hi, Oliver.  What’s up?”  He smiled when I
did and I decided he was a good distraction, so I invited him in.  “Want some
Oreos?”

He had a little bag with him that was full of toys and we made
ramps with my clipboards and played cars for the next 30 minutes, then we went
out in my front yard and tossed the ball back and forth for a while.  At one
point, I noticed a black truck with tinted windows driving slowly past Maddie’s
house, and I didn’t think much about it, until the same truck came back by in
the other direction ten minutes later.  He had definitely slowed down and
checked out her house and then picked up speed again once he had gotten past
it.

“You ever seen that truck before, Oliver?”

Oliver stopped and looked at the truck and shook his head, “Nuh
uh.”

If the guy had driven by a third time, I would have stopped him
and found out who he was, but I didn’t see him again so I decided it was
probably nothing.  Maddie came out shortly afterward and called Oliver home for
lunch, so I was stuck with myself and my imagination, as I tried to figure out
what Niki had come up with on Landra.  I reasoned that whatever it was couldn’t
be
that
bad or it would have materialized immediately, and I decided to
give Landra the benefit of the doubt until I found out exactly what it was. 
The truth was, I had all but fallen in love with her and I wasn’t even sure how
I would react to what Niki had to say.  For some reason, I was feeling very
protective of her and all I wanted to do was defend her.

The feeling was only reinforced when she came knocking at my
door when 2:00 o’clock rolled around.  She was holding a basket of Mrs.
Howard’s muffins and that song where the wolf is singing about Little Red
Riding Hood popped into my head.  I wanted to take her straight back to my
bedroom and take her clothes off and ravage her.

“How’d it go with Mrs. Howard?” I took the basket and ate three
muffins one after the other.

“Not so great.  I told her what happened last night and she’s
all worried.  She wanted to go down to the police station and tell them what a
nice person I am.  I had to  convince her not to.”  She took a muffin from the
basket and somehow managed to make three bites of it.  I was watching her chew,
staring at her mouth and wanting to kiss her, and she called me on it.  “You’re
staring at me.”

“Am I?  Sorry.”  I still didn’t look away.  Yep.  I was
definitely whipped.  No way was I going to be objective when Niki told me
whatever he had to tell me.

“Are you okay?  You seem distracted,” she said.

I was trying to picture her doing something unscrupulous and it
was just unimaginable.  I couldn’t do it.  I couldn’t conjure up a vision of
her being anything but kind and sweet and beautiful and funny, and beautiful .
. . and beautiful.

“I’m fine,” I told her.  I went to my fridge and pulled out a
beer and offered Landra one.

“Not right now, thanks.  You ready to paint?”

“I thought
you
were painting,” I said.

“I’m just doing the stones. 
You
have to do the
undercoat,” she said smiling.

I groaned.  “Can’t you just paint over what’s there?”

“I could,” she said agreeably, but then she added, “If you want
it to look like shit.”

Shit was not really the look I was going for, so I broke down
and painted the damn walls while Landra sat there directing me and pointing out
what I was doing wrong.  In truth, her method
was
better, but I wasn’t
going to admit it.

We went outside and sat on the front steps while the paint on
the walls dried.  Landra was in the midst of telling me something about Mrs.
Howard when I heard a car door slam.  I turned toward Maddie’s house and saw
Oliver walking away from the black truck I’d seen earlier.  He had an ice cream
cone in his hand and was waving happily to the driver as the guy drove forward
and pulled into the driveway next to Mrs. Howard’s to turn around.

I was on my feet, running towards Oliver before I even realized
it.  Somewhere in the back of my mind I heard Landra yelling, “What’s the
matter?” but I just kept running without looking back.  When I got to him, I
squatted down and took him by his shoulders.  “Who was that, Oliver?”

“Mommy’s friend from work.  His name is Larry.  He got me an
ice cream.” When Oliver realized I was upset, he added, “He said that Mommy
said it was okay.”

Landra had come running after me and I shoved Oliver at her and
went running like a madman into the street.  Larry had just backed out of the
neighbor’s driveway and I jumped in front of the truck just as he was putting
it in drive and I slammed my fist on his hood to get his attention.  His window
was halfway down and I could see him fumbling with the lock as I made my way to
his door, but I got there first.  I opened the door and I pounded him in the
face with a  couple of good punches as he tried to push me off.  He hit the gas
and I ran along side the truck while he tried to get his door closed.

“You ever come near Oliver again and I’ll break both of your
legs!” I shouted.

I gave him one last shove and ducked away from the door.  He
slammed it closed and drove off as I doubled over in the street, trying to
catch my breath.  Maddie had come running out of her house and was huddled next
to Oliver, and Landra came running over to me.

“What the hell was that?  Who was that, Sam?” Landra asked.

“Someone who Maddie’s had problems with at work,” I told her,
shaking out my sore knuckles.

She took my hand and looked it over.  “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

We walked back over to where Maddie and Oliver were.   Maddie
was pale and Oliver was in tears.

“He called me a second ago and told me he was with Oliver in
front of my house,” Maddie said.  She let go of Oliver and came over and hugged
me.

“Thank you.”  She was shaking almost as much as I was.  “I
can’t believe he would do that.  What if he hadn’t brought him back?”

That was something I didn’t want to think about.  “You need to
call the police,” I told her.

She unlatched herself from me and I bent down and picked up
Oliver.  “That guy’s not nice, Oliver.  And you should never,
ever
, get
in a car with him again.”

He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and buried his head in
my neck.  “I won’t.  I’m sorry, Samuel,” he cried.

“I know you are.  And I’m sorry I scared you.  I was just
really worried about you.”  I squeezed him and slapped him on the back.  “We
still friends?”

He lifted his head and wiped his eyes with his fists and nodded
his head
yes
.

“Good.”  I handed him off to Maddie. “Go call the police.”

I fully intended to talk to Maddie about her letting Oliver run
around the neighborhood unsupervised, but I wasn’t going to do it in front of
Oliver.  The two of them  went inside and returned with the phone and it wasn’t
two minutes before a police car pulled up in front of the house.  I told the
officer what I knew and hung around for a while, then Landra and I went back to
my house, but it was probably an hour before my nerves finally settled down.  I
kept thinking of things that could have happened to Oliver and the more I
thought about it, the more I wanted to kill Larry.

I finally picked up the phone and called Maddie and told her
that she needed to quit working at Datacare on Monday, and that made me feel a
little bit better.  Except that I had promised her a job, so now, not only
would I have to put up with Maddie every day, but I would also be outnumbered
by the women in my office, 2 to 1.  This, I was explaining to Landra, who, true
to form, found amusement in my predicament.  She was smiling almost to the
point of laughing as I related my dilemma.

“What’s so funny?” I finally asked her.

“Nothing.”  She tried unsuccessfully to say it with a straight
face.  “There’s nothing funny about this whole thing.  I’m just falling in love
with you as you speak.  You’re the most incredible man I’ve ever met, that’s
all.”

That’s all
?
 
I leaned my head back against the
couch and looked at the ceiling and then over at her.  She shrugged her
shoulders and smiled, then picked up my hand.  I intertwined my fingers with
hers and she ran the fingers of her other hand over my swollen knuckles.

“You should probably ice that,” she said.

I removed my hand and reached over and touched her face, then I
pulled her over close to me and gave her the kiss I’d been wanting to give her
all day.  It was slow and deliberate, a mixture of passion and pent-up emotions
from the previous 24 hours that desperately needed to be released.  She leaned
her full weight against me and I could feel her chest going in and out with
each breath she took.  I ran my hands through her hair and over her body while
the kiss continued.  I realized that all that I ever wanted was right in front
of me, and if I had died at that moment, I would have had no regrets.  As it
was, it wasn’t the grim reaper who came knocking, but one Sara Howard, who
waited patiently at the door while Landra buttoned up her shirt and I tried to
hide what had grown to ridiculous proportions while we’d been kissing.  It took
a good three or four minutes before I answered the door, but Mrs. Howard didn’t
seem bothered in the least; nor did she seem to care about bothering us.