Lone Star Blues

It didn’t surprise her that Karlee knew about Regina making her own bid for custody of Corbin. Karlee probably had heard Dylan talking to his mom on the phone. In fact, it was possible that people in Kansas had heard it. Jordan hadn’t yelled, but that’s exactly what she’d felt like doing.

“How pissed off am I?” Jordan repeated. “Remember that time when we were in middle school and Dylan put a frog in my backpack as a joke to scare me?”

Karlee quickly nodded. “And it peed and crapped all over your homework and ruined it. Ruined your backpack, too, and then you got detention for yelling and cursing when you saw what’d happened.”

Yep, that was the incident all right. What Karlee had left out was that the detention had in turn gotten her grounded. “Well, that anger was a drop in the bucket to how I feel about what Regina’s trying to do.”

Karlee fought a smile. “At least Dylan did the frog thing to show how much he liked you.”

Dylan had indeed claimed that several years later after they’d started dating. But Jordan had always suspected it’d been more of a dare or bet.

“I think Regina might have a different motive,” Karlee continued. “She’s up to something.” Jordan made an immediate sound of agreement. “Last year she tried to fix Eve Cooper up with Dylan,” Karlee added.

Jordan nearly choked on her coffee. Eve and Dylan’s brother Lawson had not only been lovers, they’d been in love. Or at least they had before they’d broken up when Eve had moved to Hollywood to be a TV star.

“And now Lawson and Eve are getting married in two weeks,” Karlee went on. “I’m positive Regina tried to throw Dylan at Eve just to make Lawson realize that he couldn’t live without her.” Karlee lifted her eyebrow as some kind of warning.

A warning that Jordan thought she had figured out after a long sip of coffee. “She wants Dylan and me to team up and fight her. That’ll put us on the same side.”

Now it was Karlee who agreed. “Don’t be surprised if Regina doesn’t bring up that Dylan and you should remarry for the sake of the child.”

That wasn’t going to happen. Dylan and she had had their shot—at a time when she didn’t have the baggage she had now. Besides, she didn’t need to be married to be good at raising her cousin.

“Be honest. Does Regina actually stand a shot at getting custody?” Jordan asked.

Karlee lifted her shoulder. “She’s got money to fight this if it comes down to it. Of course, Dylan’s got money, too, but Regina’s probably better connected with the right people if this actually turns into a court battle.”

Well, Jordan didn’t have money or the right connections, but she had something else. Adele. They’d been close, once, and while Jordan definitely didn’t care for Adele sleeping with her ex, she would put that aside. Somehow, Jordan had to convince Adele to give her custody. That would shut down any fight that Regina tried to start.

“I need to go into town,” Jordan said. “I don’t have a lawyer, but I have to find one. Got any recommendations?”

“Anna McCord-Moore,” Karlee quickly provided. “She has a new practice, is new in town, too, but she’s the only one in a hundred-mile radius who doesn’t have ties to the Grangers.”

Then Jordan would definitely be seeing the newcomer. “I also need to check if there’s a room available at the Red Rooster Inn. Best if I don’t stay here—” Jordan stopped when Karlee kept shaking her head.

“Don’t stay at the inn. A group of kids from a rival basketball team released a dozen green garden snakes into the inn as a prank, and they’ve only found eight of them. The snakes, I mean. They rounded up all the pranking kids.”

Jordan shuddered, cringed. She’d been in combat zones and could handle the bloodiest field injuries, but there was no chance she’d walk into the inn knowing there could be snakes.

“You could stay in the guesthouse,” Karlee reminded her. “I set up my office in there, and I sleep there sometimes when Lucian’s in town, but you can just shove my stuff to the side to make room for your things.”

Great. The guesthouse. The very place where Dylan and she had been newlyweds, and it was only a stone’s throw from the main house.

No chance of escaping old memories there.

Still, she’d be close to Corbin so she had to keep it on her list of possibilities. While she was in town, though, she would look for something else, maybe a short-term rental. If she had time, that is. She didn’t want to be away from Corbin for too long, but there were still things she had to do.

“I need to go into San Antonio to drop off some paperwork at the base, and then visit Adele at the jail.” Jordan added.

Karlee sighed, patted her arm. “I can go with you.”

“No. That’s a kind offer, but I’d rather you stay here with Corbin. I feel like you’re the only person on my side.”

Karlee didn’t jump to agree to that.

Oh no. “You’ll take Dylan’s side because of Lucian,” Jordan said.

Karlee frowned. “I’m taking Corbin’s side because of Corbin. Maybe you’ll get good news at the jail. Here’s hoping the charges against Adele aren’t as serious as we’ve heard.”

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