Page 90 of Risking it for the Cowboy

He handed her the card.

“Tyler Dixon’s family law practice?” Green eyes wide, she held it back to him. “Pretty sure I can’t afford him.”

T.R. held up his hand, refusing. “He damn near shoved it down my throat. You can talk rates with him but he don’t offer to help family for a price.”

“I’m not family,” she argued.

His eyes traveled over her hair wavering on the breeze from the fan. He fingered a strand, thinking.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

But maybe she could be.

The drive to Daisy’s school took twenty minutes. Charlie sifted through the papers on Judge Mitchell as he drove.

“How many others has Mitchell gone lenient on?”

T.R. shook his head, resting a hand on the steering wheel and the other elbow on the window, still reverberating with aftershocks of losing all control with Charlie.

God, it had felt good to burn that out of his system and yet, it only induced a deeper wanting, a deeper need to hold onto whatever this was with her.

“None. Seems he’s got a record of being tough on deadbeat dads. In some cases, he’s awarded sole custody in volatile divorces when there’s a history of domestic abuse.”

“And yet, with Jason…” She shook her head and dropped the paper to her lap, clenched in her grip, to gaze out the window. “Even if there’s a pattern of judicial favoritism, what can I do about it?”

He reached out, hating the look of helplessness on her brow, and took her other hand, bringing it to his lips. “You talk to Tyler.” He kissed her knuckles.

Brushed his thumb over them. She bit her lip, the gears in her brain cranking. A shy gesture he was growing to love.

“What made you think to get these records?”

“You mentioned Judge Mitchell. It rang a bell, and I wanted to know why. When I went through my records from years ago, wanna know who presided over my case and ultimately dismissed it?”

Chills prickled her arms in his periphery. “Mitchell?”

“Mine was a clear-cut breach of contract case,” he continued, jaw tight. “I ain’t the best reader,” he admitted softly, staring hard at the road ahead of him, hating to admit it aloud. “I misread the date. Mitchell dismissed it with prejudice so that I couldn’t refile it. Let Jason walk away. I had to pivot and go after him for criminal theft.”

She squeezed his hand. “You read fine. You know how. And you’ve figured out how to manage it, all without any help from your parents, from school. Thaddeus, it’s kinda brilliant—”

He withdrew and rested his wrist on his steering wheel. Offering comfort was a one-way transaction that flowed from him to her. Like little Daisy holding his face and telling him that he had her, too, he didn’t know what to make of this acceptance, the gentle way his name rolled off Charlie’s tongue like a calling instead of like a ruler snap to the hands.

“There’s something going on here, baby, with Mitchell.”

Deflect. He wasn’t a teen anymore who could disrupt class to avoid his disability. His neck burned beneath her scrutiny as he pulled into the circle drive in front of the school.

Daisy’s face lit up like Christmas lights, noticing his truck.

He gazed at that little girl and returned her excited wave. Thought of his mistakes. Thought of his threat to Jason. Turned out, he had something to lose now too. Would his mistakes come back to bite him in the ass? His family had warned him countless times that living too fast led to crashes and burns.

He put the stick in neutral and clenched the parking break, hopping out while Charlie stepped out.

Daisy’s teacher called her forward, and the girl ran toward them as Charlie waved, her face brightening. “Hey, Daisy Mais—”

“T. Rex!” Daisy beamed, her twin braids swinging up to knock him in the face as she careened past Charlie’s open arms. “You came to my school. It’s the last day and Momma always takes me to Hilltop for ice cream on the last day of school so you gotta come too!” She threw herself onto him and he twirled her, flashing an apologetic frown at Charlie who scoffed playfully.

“Girlie, is your momma chopped liver or somethin’?” He planted a kiss to the side of her head, tugging on her braid.

“Hi, Mommy,” Daisy said sheepishly.