“Because they are up to no good.” Drew picked up a cup from the stack Evie always kept available.
“Don’t be so flippant.” Evie tapped him affectionately on the shoulder. “Sometimes people come back to change our worlds.”
Drew gripped the thermos and refused to admit the same sentiment had already whispered through him after his first run-in with Molly. But the charges against him were life-changing. World-flipping. That was more than enough to make him keep his distance.
“I’m not about to confess that Molly is a long-lost love. A soul mate. Or even a potential permanent part of my life.” He eyed Evie. “Molly is simply a part of my past,” he stated with conviction. Or what he hoped sounded like conviction.
“What about your future?” Evie’s eyebrows lifted over her glasses. Her gaze sparked. “What about love?”
Only a distracted, irrational fool fell in love when his entire life was on the line. Love would not save him. After all, there was no room for emotion in the court of law, only facts and reason. “Love can go find another unsuspecting victim.”
“Mark my words, Drew.” Evie’s voice lifted to follow him into the backroom. “Love will find you and you won’t be able to reason it away.”
But he could ignore it.
Drew walked through the kennel area reserved for the dogs and opened the door to the cat room. He released a litter of six kittens onto the floor, gathered the kitten toys around him and leaned back against the soft big pillows Sophie had decorated the room with. Ten minutes later, two pure white kittens with silver-tipped ears pounced on the laser beam light he swirled over the floor. A calico curled on his lap and slept. A tabby stretched out on its back against his leg. The two black-and-white tuxedos wrestled beside him. The kittens offered a quiet, calm sanctuary. And yet his mind wouldn’t stop searching for that new perspective. That missing piece in his case.
Sophie opened the door and peered at him. “Evie claims you stole her entire thermos of Irish cream coffee.”
Drew pointed to the thermos beside him. “I did. And I’m not even sorry.”
“Want to talk about it?” Sophie pressed her back against the wall and lowered herself to the floor next to Drew. Her hands cradled her stomach and the twins growing inside. “I will regret this later, so you have to promise to help get me off the floor.”
“I can’t give you any coffee.” Drew set the thermos of whiskey-spiked coffee away from his very pregnant sister-in-law.
Sophie sighed. “Go figure. Today I really need it too.”
“It helps if you talk about it.” Drew considered Sophie a sister and even more, a good friend. Sophie and his brother had built a family and a home that swelled with love. Guests were family as soon as they walked inside. Strangers became instant friends inside their house.
Drew had never considered a home and a family for himself. He’d dedicated his life to his career. Hadn’t regretted it. Now he wondered...
He blamed Molly. Seeing her again had stirred up too many old wishes. He brushed his hand across his face, trying to push the past aside.
“You talk first.” Sophie nudged her shoulder against his. “You’re sitting in my cat room alone and drinking spiked coffee on a Monday afternoon.”
“It’s a good place to think.” Drew stroked his fingers over the calico’s back. “And the kittens don’t judge. They just keep purring.”
“Bad day working on your case?” Sophie asked and quickly added, “You’re wearing mismatched socks, an Angels T-shirt and Pioneer jogging pants. I’ve never seen you wear your workout clothes out of the house.”
“It’s nothing I can’t handle.” How many times had he repeated that tired line? Drew tugged his pants over his mismatched socks. “What about you?”
“It’s good to hear you’ve got things under control. Wish I could say the same.” Sophie picked up the tabby and cuddled the kitten against her chest. “I was asked to step down as the president of Paws and Bark. Auditors from the attorney general’s office are investigating my foundation.”
Drew scratched the back of his neck and the unease skimming over his skin. “For what?”
“Complaints have been filed against the foundation.” Sophie pressed her cheek against the kitten’s fur. Her voice wavered. “I don’t know why this is happening. We’ve always had professional independent audits. Filed all our paperwork to the state on time. No discrepancies or issues ever.”
Drew wiped his hand over his mouth, wanting to catch his sudden alarm. The attorney general had released a statement to the press about the charges against Drew. On the same day the district attorney had insinuated in a press conference that Drew was guilty. Cory Vinson, the current district attorney, had lied. Now, suddenly the attorney general’s office was looking into Sophie’s nonprofit. Drew never subscribed to coincidence. “Why were you asked to step down Sophie?”
She refused to look at him. A quiver worked across her chin before she buried her face in the kitten’s fur.
Apprehension bit into his skin, spreading more and more with every moment of Sophie’s silence. “You were asked to step down because of me, weren’t you?”
Sophie simply cuddled the kitten closer and imitated the animal’s soft purr.
“Sophie,” Drew pressed.
Finally she nodded.
That dread sank through Drew’s chest. He was being unjustly accused of witness tampering on a murder trial he had led and won two years prior, his paralegal who’d been with him from his first day at the district attorney’s office had been randomly reassigned within the department and now this.
He switched off the laser beam pointer, faced Sophie and did his best to bury his frustration. “But I’m not associated with the Paw and Bark foundation. Other than attending its fundraising gala, I’m not connected.”
“We’re associated.” Sophie flicked her wrist between them.
“We’re family.” His family was supposed to be off-limits. In fact, they should have been protected. The charges against him should not have impacted them. But his enemies seemed to be playing according to their
