Three Makes a Family--A Clean Romance Cari Webb (short books for teens txt) 📖

have her on his side, fighting for his innocence. Without Molly, it was unlikely he would’ve discovered the evidence they’d found. He owed her.

Drew leaned back against the couch and stared at their Santa photo. “This is still one of my favorite Thanksgivings ever.”

“Seriously?” Molly sipped her wine.

“It’s one of the few I didn’t spend with my nose in a law book the entire time,” Drew admitted.

Molly swirled her wine in her glass. “We were good that way, weren’t we?”

“What way?”

“We balanced the school and work with the fun,” she said. “Remember flag football.”

“And trivia nights.” He nudged her shoulder with his. “You always hated when you lost.”

“I still hate to lose.” She laughed and finished her wine. “I don’t miss those late-night burrito runs when we left the library after a study session.”

“Best burritos in town.” Drew touched his stomach. “You always ate half of mine even after you complained you weren’t hungry and didn’t even want a burrito.”

“It always looked better when you were eating it. I don’t know why.”

“Everything is better together.” Drew wanted to swallow those words but it was too late. They were already out. In the sudden quiet, he realized a truth. Things had been better with Molly in his life. What happened to us?

Drew cleared his throat. They’d been friends and grown apart. He wouldn’t mistake the gratitude and respect he felt for Molly now to be anything more than that. But his gaze returned to the picture and thoughts of Molly as something more rumbled inside his chest.

“I bet you never knew you were my only real friend.” Molly scooted into Drew’s side, set her head on his shoulder and traced her finger over the picture. “I’ve really missed you.”

He had to admit it. “I’ve missed you too.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

MOLLY ANSWERED HER PHONE, greeted the caller and pulled her gaze away from Drew. He stood on the other side of Hazel’s stroller, leaning casually against the elevator wall. The elevator that was taking them to the twenty-fourth floor of a high-rise in the financial district and the location of Brad Harrington’s offices. Drew had texted his brother last night, letting him know they’d be coming by in the morning.

Hazel had been Molly’s sunrise wake-up call. She’d prepared for work between diaper changes, the introduction of a new food texture in the form of oatmeal and an unscheduled bath.

Now, she was supposed to be acting in an official role as Drew’s counsel.

Yet Hazel was chewing on a teether in her stroller between them. And Molly had just accepted a personal phone call. Hardly professional and the entirely wrong way to run her practice. But the business and personal lines had been blurred since she’d run into Drew at the courthouse. She would reestablish boundaries after her call.

She shifted, wedging herself into a corner of the glass elevator. As if that suddenly granted her privacy. She quickly finished her phone call.

“Everything okay?” Drew asked.

Molly tucked her phone into her briefcase, not the outside pocket of the diaper bag. She was with a client, not on an adventure to the park. Time to set those boundaries. “Fine.”

Drew looked at her. “Are you sure?”

She had to keep the focus on her client and his case. Her personal business was just that...personal. But the concern in Drew’s voice and the warmth in his gaze loosened her resolve. The truth spilled out like wine from an overturned bottle, unstoppable. Unavoidable. As if Drew weren’t simply her client. As if boundaries never existed. “That was the office of Judge Martina Reilly. I’m filing for full custody of Hazel. I don’t foresee any issues, but in case of a hearing, I want to have it here, not Los Angeles. I’ve been granted time Monday morning to state my reasons in person.”

He pushed away from the glass wall. “What do you need?”

She needed him to stop acting as if she could always lean on him and that he would expect her to. To stop being concerned. To stop making her think she could forever count on him. “I think I’ve got it covered.”

Or she would have everything covered after the nanny interviews she’d scheduled for the afternoon at Sugar Beat Bakery. Once she hired a nanny, Hazel wouldn’t have to return to the day care. And Molly could concentrate on her practice, follow up on her networking and grow her client list, locate an office space. Then she’d stop looking to Drew as if he were meant to stand by her like a partner in every sense of the word.

He was not hers.

And a picture with Santa from their past and his fondness and affection for Hazel would not change that. Hazel filled her heart and her career filled her life. Nothing more was required.

“I can help if you need me,” Drew offered.

The elevator doors opened. Molly stepped behind Hazel’s stroller, gripped the handles and blocked Drew from pushing. Time to recommit to those boundaries. Right now, she had to concentrate on the case at hand and get the information that would help them prove Drew’s innocence and restore his career and reputation.

Hazel launched her teething ring into the air as if testing those boundaries. Drew swooped in and caught the colorful ring before it hit the floor.

Drew acknowledged several employees and led Molly and Hazel toward a corner office. He knocked once on the closed door and strode inside without waiting for permission. Molly pushed Hazel’s stroller into Brad’s office and offered Drew’s brother an apologetic smile.

“We need to find this man.” Drew slapped a piece of paper on Brad’s sleek glass-topped desk. “Now.”

“Reuben Cote? Isn’t he the one who recanted his testimony recently?” Brad nodded a greeting to Molly and shifted his chair, booting up his computer.

“Yes. He’s also the man who will prove I had no part in manipulating a witness,” Drew declared.

Brad tapped on his keyboard. “This is welcome news.”

Molly wasn’t surprised Drew had confided in Brad. Or that Brad seemingly dropped everything at Drew’s arrival to