“I think he’s worked harder for all that than you’re giving him credit for,” Heather said. “I was there when he was studying until all hours in law school. I saw the time he put in to win those cases in court.”
“My point is that he doesn’t have a lot of experience at losing or having to fight for things. The minute he realized he wouldn’t go straight into the majors playing baseball, he walked away. He takes high-profile, tough cases, but only if he’s convinced he can win. You’ve been a surprise to him, Heather. He actually lost something that mattered. At first, I suspect he was flat-out stunned. Now that he’s getting his feet back under him, he’s decided that losing is not an option.”
“It’s a fight he can’t win,” Heather told her determinedly. “Not without compromise.”
“He’ll figure that out,” Bree assured her. “Eventually. Until then, you might as well accept that he’s going to be in your face. If you can’t deal with that, you’ll need to be somewhere farther away than Chesapeake Shores.”
Heather sighed. She knew Bree was right. She’d just have to toughen up and not let Connor’s presence get to her. Because losing the future she truly wanted for herself—Connor and her son—was simply not an option. Neither was running away.
* * *
All day Friday, Heather jumped every time the door of her shop opened; but by closing time there was still no sign of Connor. Nor had he called.
Fortunately, little Mick was too young to really grasp that Daddy was supposed to be coming to pick him up, but she could envision a time in the future when Connor would be setting their son up for disappointment with this kind of behavior.
Annoyed, at least in part because she’d gotten herself all wound up over nothing, she decided to take her son to Sally’s for dinner. He could smash an entire plate of French fries if he wanted to, and she could have the burger she’d been craving all day. She figured they deserved to splurge by eating out.
A half-hour later, their food was barely on the table when little Mick began excitedly waving a French fry in the air and shouting, “Da!”
Heather looked up and saw Connor emerging from his car in front of the restaurant. He waved at his son, as if meeting them here had been the plan all along.
Inside, he nudged Heather until she moved over to make room for him.
“You’re late,” she announced testily.
He gave her an innocent look. “Am I? I don’t recall mentioning when I’d be here.”
She opened her mouth to argue, then realized he was right. “Okay, whatever.”
He grinned at her. “Careful, Heather, or I’ll start to wonder if you missed me.”
“Not likely. I just didn’t want your son to be disappointed.”
He didn’t look as if he bought the explanation. In fact, he merely grinned impudently. “Maybe this was just my sneaky way of getting to have a meal with the two of you.”
She frowned at the suggestion. “You couldn’t possibly have known I’d bring Mick here for dinner.”
“I found you, didn’t I? That indicates a certain understanding of your behavior patterns.”
“My behavior patterns?” she repeated indignantly. “What does that mean?”
“When you’re upset, you always crave hamburgers. I’m late. You’re upset. Voilà, here you are at Sally’s.”
She scowled at his observation. “Do you have any idea how incredibly annoying you are?”
“You’ve mentioned it a time or two,” he said readily, beckoning to Sally and indicating he’d have a burger and fries as well. “I’d like a chocolate milk shake, too.”
Heather’s gaze narrowed. “You don’t like chocolate milk shakes.”
“No, but you do. I’m being thoughtful, since I know you’ll never order one for yourself.”
“Once again, annoying,” she declared, though she was touched by the apparent effort he was making.
“I don’t even get one brownie point?” he asked, his gaze on her, even as he moved his son’s French fries from reach. Too many were being scattered onto the floor. Connor had always been a stickler for not letting little Mick throw his food around. Once the fries were out of reach, Connor handed him one, then gave Heather a beseeching look. “Come on, one point’s not a big deal. Give me something to work with here.”
“Maybe one point,” she conceded, then regarded him warily. “Connor, you can get a thousand and one points and it still won’t be enough.”
He shrugged off her warning. “We’ll see.”
Sally dropped off his meal. When she was gone, he took a bite of his burger, then met Heather’s gaze. “How was your week?”
“Fine. Yours?”
“Interesting.” He met her gaze. “Do you really want to hear about it?”
She hesitated. “The Wilder case, right? You had your mediation session?”
He nodded.
“I’m not sure I want to know anything about that.”
He grinned. “It’ll save you picking up the tabloids this week.”
“As if,” she muttered. “Okay, tell me what happened.”
Connor never revealed the details of his cases, and he didn’t this time, either. Instead, he told her about how he’d felt during the proceedings. Her surprise mounted as she listened.
“You’re serious?” she asked when he’d finished. “You went to bat for his wife?”
“Very carefully,” he said. “After all, he was my client. I just tried to make him think about his children and pointed out that he needed to be reasonable for their sakes.”
“And he didn’t slug you? The world didn’t come crashing down on your heads?”
Connor laughed. “No. In fact, other than Wilder slamming a couple of doors on his way out, it went pretty smoothly.”
“And therein lies a lesson,” she told him. “I am so proud of you.”
“I almost called you,” he admitted. “It went down the way it did because of you. I kept thinking about how you’d feel if you knew all the facts that I knew.”
She was more pleased than he could possibly imagine. “You tapped into your compassion, Connor. Isn’t that really the best kind of justice?”
He didn’t immediately respond, which suggested he wasn’t quite ready to go that far, but that
