“That’s because the court appointed me as guardian. And because you have no money,” Jax said, just a little snidely.
She scowled. “I need a lawyer. I want those guardianship papers to bereal. And Loretta should have an allowance to cover clothes and school supplies and bank boxes.” With her own degree of spite, she added, “And she needs an allowance for hiring a lawyer.”
Instead of laughing at her, Macho Man grudgingly nodded. “I’m starting to think that, too.”
Evie figured there ought to be fireworks accompanying that statement. She swiveled to stare at him. The damned man had a square jaw that stuck out just enough to be stubborn and full lips that she wanted to kiss right now. But he was sitting military straight and keeping his eyes on the road and he was still an uptight bastard.
“You think I’d make a good guardian?” she asked, a shade too tentatively, because she wasn’t the least bit certain herself.
“Better than me. I shoved a grieving kid into a strange school and abandoned her because she was just a job to me. I should have known better. Idoknow better. I have a sister and know how hard she took it when our parents died. But I was focused on doing as told, which didn’t include getting personally involved with a kid.” He glared out the windshield.
Evie took a little peek at his aura and decided it was definitely growing in good directions. But he was still way too angry. There was a story here. “How did your parents die?”
“Car accident, rainy night. My father had just been fired from his job. I was only twelve and didn’t understand at the time. I still don’t, entirely, which is why I’m working for his old firm.”
“Uh-huh, yeah, because that’s what one does, right.” She wanted to soothe the heartbroken boy he must have been, but her leapfrog mind jumped on the ambiguous statement Jax threw out to divert sympathy. Her eyebrows shot up. The heartbroken boy was seeking revenge. “You’re mad at the firm for firing him, right? And you want to find out why he was fired?”
“Impressive deduction. But Stephen Stockton has been good to me and my sister, and I can’t believe he’d do anything irresponsible, so there must be more to the story.” He left the interstate for the cotton-field-lined two-lane that led to Afterthought. “How did your aunt know we were at the house and had the deeds?”
Evie snorted at the side track. Jax didn’t want to reveal the pain that would have helped him understand Loretta. If she was the queen of diversion, he was king. Now that she knew Macho Man hid a heart, she didn’t call him on it. “I called her and told her we were going there, and sheknewPost had his mother’s deeds. I assure you, neither of us reads minds, but Val is an impressive actress and chews through ten scenes before breakfast.”
“Huh, a con game without a con, weird.”
She probably ought to smack him but not while he was driving. So she hit him with words. “And if Stephen Stockton was the cigar-smoking asshat who was in the shop yesterday, he isn’t irresponsible so much as...” Evie looked for a description Jax might accept. “Concerned only for himself and the bottom line. This is not a bad thing, but over long period, without any benevolent balance—it corrupts the soul. You cannot build a life of plenty for yourself without walking over a few people to get what you want. And if you ignore the plight of others often enough, you get used to crushing souls. And after a while, other people are simply in your way and become expendable. He’s rotting on the inside. I bet he has ulcers.”
Jax’s jaw muscle clenched, but eventually, he gave a curt nod. “Tricia was his conscience. Once she died, he lost interest in anything except the firm. So maybe I’ve been seeing him through the eyes of the child I once was. He rescued us from foster care, gave us the home we needed, still allows Ariel to live there rent free. I have to respect him, but I don’t know if I can trust his ethics anymore.”
“Not any more than you trustme. I get that.” Especially if he thought his parents had been taken from him by treachery—he’d see the world through a prism of cynicism. “Tricia was his wife? Your adoptive mother? Did they adopt you, legally? Can I do that with Loretta?”
“They had no kids, so yeah, they adopted us. Ariel is over twenty-one. He doesn’t owe her any support. I guess he’s at work so much, he barely realizes she exists. I could set her up elsewhere. She just won’t leave. And no, I don’t think any court in the world would allow an unemployed, unmarried distant cousin to adopt an heiress.”
Charming. And another interesting perspective of the uptight lawyer. Break down a few more of Jax’s barriers—and he might almost seem human. But she’d hire a less negative lawyer for Loretta. “Turn down Shady Lane. It’s on your right, a mile or two before you reach the pond. I want to see something.”
Evie wasn’t certain she wanted to knowtoomuch about Jax. She didn’twantto like the lawyer who could take Loretta away. But they’d named the shop the Psychic Solutions Agency because sometimes, her family saw solutions others didn’t. She didn’t think Jax accepted her psychic abilities, but he might appreciate her more practical ones. “Is your sister disabled in some manner?”
“Autism spectrum,” he said curtly, slowing down to watch road signs nearly covered by overgrown trees and kudzu. “She has an amazing mathematical ability. Our father had it, too, but he was more socially adept, to a point, at least. I suspect the trauma of losing our parents sort of froze Ariel in time. The Stocktons had to hire tutors for her because she couldn’t manage school.”
“But she can look after herself?” Evie pointed out the road she wanted.
“Pretty much. The house has a daytime housekeeper. Ariel tends to eat at midnight to avoid servants, so she’s learned to fend for herself.” He swung the sedan down the road she indicated.
As they slowed down, Loretta woke up and rubbed her eyes. “Where are we going?”
“To see your property. When Aunt Val called it the backyard, I knew where she meant. The front yard is the road and pond. The cemetery is where the old farmhouse used to be. On the far side of the hill, out of sight, is the new farmhouse. It’s been rented out until recently. Of course,newin this case means it wasn’t built before the Civil War. I’d guess it was Great-grandmother Letitia’s childhood home.”
Evie peered through the windshield until she recognized the mailbox on the left. “There. That’s the drive. A schoolteacher rented it, but she got married and moved out of town. I haven’t heard about anyone else moving in, presumably because the Posts died and no one knew it was here?”
In the backseat, Loretta didn’t protest the mention of her parents being dead. She just watched out the window and held her plush toy.
“My father handles the property and investments. He didn’t mention rental property.” Jax wore his suspicious expression as he reached the drive Evie pointed out.
The house wasn’t visible from the road. But as Jax drove down a curved gravel lane, a sprawling bungalow with a long, covered front porch and a single attic gable appeared behind a wilderness of pines and vines. The lawn still looked lush from the winter rains, and the kudzu hadn’t run rampant over the shrubbery yet.
“Can we go inside?” Loretta asked.
“No key. It will be empty. But someone needs to rent it soon or it will go to rack and ruin.” Evie waited expectantly as Jax studied the brick-and-board cottage.
“There was no mention of a house on this property. I was told this was all undeveloped farmland—and that it extended to the pond.” Jax looked grim. “I should have looked for myself but Stephen was handling it and said the firm had buyers.”