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Chapter Thirteen

Luke felt jumpy and on edge as he waited for Tracey and his lawyer at her lawyer’s office. Mr. Miles was welcoming but wouldn’t quite meet Luke’s gaze. It bugged him. Luke scrubbed at his beard. So many things were bothering him right now, and it was odd that he was focusing on a lawyer being erratic. He wished Mar was here. He felt like she’d pushed him away, and he hadn’t really reacted well. Why hadn’t he begged her to stay? Was her meeting more important than him? Did she not want to be with him because of the mess he was in? Was he being needy wanting her by his side right now?

Finally, Tracey swept in.

“Where’s Lacey?” Luke asked in way of greeting. He wanted to see her again. Maybe then he could reaffirm that she was his and that there was a very special reason why he was going through all this turmoil, especially letting Mar go like that while he didn’t have a clue how to navigate being a father.

“At my mom’s. I wasn’t going to expose her to all of this.” She swept her hand around the office. “Did he sign?” she asked Mr. Miles.

The man shook his head and started laying papers in front of Luke.

Luke started reading through them. The visitation seemed okay: one weekend a month and eight weeks in the summer, with an explanation that he could have more if he lived closer or was willing to fly to them so as not to upset Lacey’s school schedule. The child support was much less than he’d thought she would ask for, eight grand per month. Did she not have a clue what his net worth was, or did she feel guilty that she truly was only offering the opportunity to know his daughter because she needed money?

“You can sign when you’re ready,” Mr. Miles said.

Luke sat back and shook his head. “I’m sorry. I’m not signing anything without my lawyer looking through it.”

“Oh, of course.” Mr. Miles looked to Tracey for guidance.

Tracey let out a groan of frustration, but then held up her hands and said quietly, “Sorry. I’m not trying to rush you. I just don’t like being away from Lacey for very long.”

Luke gave her an incredulous look. On one hand he was glad Tracey seemed to love their daughter so much; on the other hand he was peeved that she didn’t seem to feel guilty that she’d kept Lacey from him. “I can understand that. I’ve been away from her for nine years.”

Tracey’s eyebrows arched and she said quietly, “But you don’t know her like I do.”

Luke wanted to remind her whose fault that was, but he thought it better to bite his tongue until they figured out the legal mess. “We can wait a few more minutes for my lawyer,” he said instead.

Tracey nodded, gave him a forced smile, and then pulled out her phone as if searching for something else to look at. He wanted to drill her with questions about Lacey, but again forced himself to wait.

A few minutes later, the receptionist showed in his lawyer, Doug. Luke stood and shook his hand. “Thanks for coming.”

“Of course.”

“Can you look over everything, please?”

“For sure.”

Doug was a tall, thin guy with a military cut. He was dry and efficient, and Luke trusted him. Sitting, Doug took the stack of papers and started perusing them. Mr. Miles clicked on his computer, his eyes shifting from Doug to Luke every few seconds, then back to his computer. Tracey searched through something on her phone and kept making concerned little sigh sounds.

Doug finished and said to Mr. Miles, “Can you show us to a private office where I can advise my client?”

Mr. Miles said nothing, just stood to lead the way.

“Advise him on what?” Tracey’s blue eyes looked concerned, panicked. “I think this is more than fair. I could’ve asked for a lot more child support, but I wanted to be fair with you. If you don’t sign now, the courts might make you pay a lot more and give you less visitation as you haven’t been a part of Lacey’s life.” She looked to her lawyer for confirmation, and he nodded.

Luke’s eyebrows shot up. She was right that the courts might give him less visitation and demand he pay more, but under the circumstances, the judge might give him more visitation simply because of all he’d missed. It was a gamble for sure, but he didn’t like being rushed on something this important. It felt like Tracey was trying to speed up his decision simply to save him money, which struck him as odd. Lacey was more important than money, and he wanted to make sure with Doug that there wasn’t anything hidden in these documents and that signing them was the right path.

“Excuse us,” he said, although he wanted to tell her off. How did Tracey think she could demand he sign anything? He hoped his lawyer would tell him they had a case to sue for full custody and cut Tracey out of Lacey’s life for nine years, see how she liked it. Even as he had the vengeful thought, he knew he couldn’t do something like that to his daughter’s mother. She obviously loved their little girl.

He followed Mr. Miles and Doug out of the office and down the hall. Mr. Miles opened the door to another office and nodded them in.

“Thank you,” Doug said.

The door shut, and Doug studied him. “Do you trust me, Luke?”

Luke nodded.

“Don’t sign those papers. Not yet, anyway.”


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