“Maybe he felt responsible because he was the one who brought her into the company to start with? I don’t quite know. Anyway, this is more than enough for us to get a new appeal.”
Adam slapped his hand with the disc, a wave of energy flowing from him. Time to get things moving. “I’ll write it up and email you a copy. I’ve been running it through my mind and have it all but mapped out. Once you approve it, I’ll send it to the courts. Then it’s a case of wait until they give us a date.” Let’s hope it’s not too long.
“Are you going to go and see Simon again?” Ben crossed his arms. “Because if you aren’t, I wouldn’t mind ringing him and telling him the news.”
“Sure, I’ll leave it up to you. I don’t want to build his hopes up, but he may as well be prepared.” Adam walked to the door. “Thanks for not blaming me for any of this, Ben. I appreciate it.”
He left the office without the weight on his shoulders that was there earlier in the day and headed home where Spencer would be fretting for him. The poor dog hated being left alone nowadays. He’d taken to Adam and the farm with a new lease of life. I guess being in the city didn’t really appeal to either of us.
Chapter 22
Adam went online early the next morning to read the Sydney papers to see if his father had kept his part of the bargain. There it was on the front page. Great. Famous Judge Calls It Quits Due to Ill Health. The story went on to summarize some of his career highlights and most prominent cases. It lorded his father as the judge everyone looked up to and how much he would be sorely missed. Due to ongoing ill health, Judge Chapman had decided to enjoy his retirement and catch up on travel and family commitments.
Good excuse I guess. “Family commitments, that’ll be the day. He never cared before and I can’t see it changing now. Well, what’s done is done; at least he kept his word. All we have to do is wait for the courts to decide if they will hear the appeal and we’re in business.” He logged into his emails and clicked on the draft he’d done last night and sent to Ben for approval. Adam read it through once more before he hit the send button. Now it was in the lap of the courts.
The next few days were a blur of activity while Adam worked on the farm to keep his mind off the case and the last few weeks in general. He kept his eye on the café and Lena’s comings and goings, even though he convinced himself it was a stalker-like attitude to have. He didn’t want to approach her without knowing the outcome of the appeal application. In his mind, getting closer to setting her cousin free would make him a better prospect in her eyes. A man worthy of her time and affection.
He slogged it out working on fences and yards to bring the rest of the farm up to deer proof for the day he would once again invest in stock. The loss still hurt him, but he had to move on eventually and buy more stock if he was to make this farm work. Next time though, he would be a lot more careful and ask for testing before bringing the animals onto his farm. It might cost more in the beginning, but it would be worth it considering what he’d been through.
Kyle called in after school and found him in the shed mixing feed. “Hey.”
I’ve missed you, kid. “Hey yourself. How was school today?” Adam wiped his hands on his jeans and tipped the hat on his head back, using his hand to wipe the sweat from his brow.
“Good. Have we done something wrong?” Kyle stood looking at him with a wary but determined expression on his face.
“What on earth makes you think that? I’ve been kind of busy and so have you. What with your mum so flat out with the café, I didn’t want to get in the way.”
Kyle shrugged his shoulders and scraped his foot in the dust. “It was just that, you kind of seemed to fit in and get friendly and then, well, you know. You haven’t been over or anything and I wondered…”
Oh heck. Adam realized his mistake and sucked in a breath. “Kyle, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to take a step back, not really.” He dropped the feed bucket and walked over to the boy, resting a hand on his shoulder and looking down into his eyes. “Thing is, my mind has been kind of preoccupied. You know I’m trying to get your mum’s cousin an appeal, don’t you?”
“Yeah. So?”
“It’s just that I didn’t want to seem too anxious in front of your mum or grandparents. It could go either way and you can never tell with these things. It all rests on the judge sitting who reads the application and how he reads it on the day.” And a lot of luck on our part.
“But that doesn’t sound right. I mean, if you’re trying to get him off don’t you think Mum will be happy to see you?”
Maybe, maybe not. “Not if it doesn’t go how we want it, no. It’s my fault he’s there in the first place so I don’t really want to go and see her until I can give her some good news.”
“You like her, don’t you?” Kyle tilted his head and scrutinized Adam.
Adam stepped back, unsure how to respond. He didn’t think he had been that obvious.
“It’s okay, I don’t mind.
