“I hear you,” Michael said, agreeing with the mystery of all relationships. “You must be desperate if you’re willing to ask help from the man who seduced Mom.”
Shane sighed. “
Don’t remind me of that when I need his help
. And we don’t know for sure he seduced her away from Dad. For all we know, Mom did the seducing—and I seriously don’t want to think about anything about their relationship right now.”
“Stop—sorry. My bad for bringing it up,” Michael said, snickering. “You scare me into babbling when you’re this pissed off. I could just see you lifting the couch and heaving it through a wall before I could think of how to stop you.”
Shane sighed. What Michael described was exactly why he rarely let himself get this angry. He was too big a man to be losing his grip on his physical body.
“I think I scared Reesa too,” Shane admitted, suddenly regretting his hasty departure with angry words hanging in the air between them. “She was practically crying when I put on the bike helmet and walked out. I saw her concern, but I was too hurt to play nice. I just wanted to get away from her.”
“Holy hell, Shane. You rode your bike in this mood? You text Reesa right now and tell her you’re okay,” Michael ordered. “Do not make that woman worry about you dying. That’s cruel and immature, no matter how mad you are at her.”
“You’re right,” Shane said, wincing and feeling ashamed as he took out his cell phone. “She’s just so damn stubborn. Since we’re going to be debating things for the rest of our lives, I need to find a reasonable way to fight with her that doesn’t make me crazy.”
“Now
there’s
a subject that would make a good book,” Michael teased.
Shane laughed softly and sent a text telling her he was sorry for scaring her and would talk to her later, wishing he’d done it hours ago when she texted back thank you immediately.
“I guess I’m a hot-heated SOB when I get this mad,” Shane said ruefully, as he read her brief message and felt even sorrier.
“Yes you are, but you don’t do it often. Fortunately, I married a woman with a mean temper so I have experience in talking people down in your condition. Now call Luke,” Michael ordered. “I’m committed to helping. Then let’s go get lunch so I won’t keel over from hunger this afternoon.”
Shane nodded and lifted his phone to his ear.
Chapter 19
Luke met Shane and Michael just outside the elevator and escorted them back to his office, which was plush, comfortable, and full of soft leather chairs.
“Nice digs, Luke. Do you know if they make furniture like this for houses?” Shane asked, stroking the dark burgundy leather with pleasure, trying to make polite conversation in order to resist launching into a tirade about Reesa.
Luke laughed. “I’m sure they do. I’d like to take credit, but the law firm came with the office and the partnership. I do appreciate the ambiance it creates. So tell me what’s going on, Shane. You sounded pretty distressed on the phone.”
Shane took a deep breath and poured out the story, ending with a blow-by-blow of the fight he had with Reesa that morning. He left out the part about riding the motorcycle mad so Luke wouldn’t think he was as immature as Michael had made him feel earlier.
As Luke turned to his computer to do some research, Shane looked around the office and sighed. He had to admit that he was a long way from understanding this kind of professionalism. Plus he didn’t even think he wanted this level of success, except maybe for the deep leather chairs. The chairs were nice.
“Okay, I think I found the court documents. Yes, here’s the order. Your girlfriend is right, Shane. The court order reads that she has to show
legitimate household income
, meaning she has to show she’s earned it or that it’s due her,” Luke said. “At best, your money would be considered a gift. The judge could choose to either include it in calculations or exclude it. The safest recourse for her is to do her best to show enough earned income through employment or employment related activities, such as her retirement.”
Admiration of his cushy seat forgotten, Shane rose to pace at hearing Luke confirm what Reesa had said. “So I really can’t give Reesa the money?” he demanded, standing in the middle of all the signs of wealth and still feeling like he didn’t understand anything about how it worked.
“Let’s just say making a gift of the money wouldn’t accomplish what you want it to accomplish. If she worked for you and you were paying the money to her, that would be a different story,” Luke said softly.
Shane’s distress over the news was as surprising to Luke as the fact he wanted to give the woman such a large sum of money in the first place. “Tell me about your girlfriend. How long have you known her?”
“What difference does that make? I’ve know her long enough to know my own mind about what I want for us,” Shane said, lifting his chin.
“I didn’t say you didn’t. Calm down and answer my questions. I need more information to help you. What’s the deal with her?” Luke asked.
Shane came back and lowered himself slowly back into the chair. If there was ever a time for calm, dealing with this matter was it. But even the idea of Zack and Chelsea having to live apart from the rest of the family made him as crazy now as it did Reesa. Hearing about the loss of her first family had tipped him over the edge along with her.
To keep his ego from ruling his mouth, Shane sat quietly for a few moments, not answering until he was steady again. When he finally did speak, his voice didn’t break or shift in tone as he told Luke his story.
“I fell in love with Teresa Callahan the first time I met her. Yes, it was less than two months ago, but I’d marry her today if I could get her to agree to it,” Shane said.
“Well, getting married would certainly solve your dilemma nicely,” Luke said with an agreeable nod. “Since you’re here and not heading to Tennessee to elope, I take it she’s not open to marrying you?”
Luke liked Shane Larson, not just because he was Ellen’s son and looked just like her, but because he just really liked the man. In his experience, good men were always the ones that got into the worst situations with women.
“I told her she should marry me,” Shane said, rubbing his jaw, even madder at her stubbornness now.
“I bet that went over well,” Luke said dryly, holding the younger man’s gaze while he nodded his head in Michael’s direction, who was for once sitting quietly and saying nothing. “You can’t make someone marry you, Shane. Michael got damn lucky Carrie opted not to exercise her prenuptial escape clause.”
“Hey now,” Michael said. “Carrie has always had a choice. The prenuptial agreement won’t expire for two years. Technically, she can leave any time she wants.”
“Since there’s no way in hell you’d let her go, I think that’s debatable from a moral standpoint,” Luke said, grinning. “It was wise to seek legal rights to your child, and I’m glad everything worked out for you, Michael. I just don’t think coercion is going to work as well in Shane’s situation.”
Shane sighed. “Tell me about it. Hell, I don’t even have time to get Reesa pregnant and give her a reason. The hearing is next week.”
Michael looked at his brother and shook his head. “Shane, we talked about this. Reesa doesn’t need more children to take care of in her life.”
“Give me a break. I’m under a little stress here. It was just a bad joke, Michael,” Shane said flatly, leaning forward and putting his face in his hands. “I need to find a real way to help her.”
The insistence in Shane’s words and the seriousness in his eyes told Luke far more about the situation than any amount of discussion was going to do. He sighed and pulled himself into business mode.
“Okay, let’s brainstorm out of the box a little. What kind of business expenses do you have in your work?” Luke asked. “The first thought I have is that maybe you can pay the money to Reesa for some work she does for you.”
“I don’t exactly make the kind of income that would justify paying a freelance accountant fifty thousand dollars to do bookkeeping and file my taxes,” Shane said sardonically.
Luke shrugged and leaned back in his executive chair to better study Shane’s defeated expression. Ellen had described Teresa Callahan as “cute”. Luke had the sense that Shane saw her as a hell of a lot more than just attractive. “So what’s this mystery woman like, Shane? And why haven’t I met her?”
“I’m surprised you didn’t come along when Mom surprised us Saturday evening,” Shane said with a grimace. “I blew that one. I swear I was going to tell Mom. I literally forgot I hadn’t.”
“Your mother’s over it,” Luke said, grinning. “All
Queen Melon
talks about is Princess Sara. And I would have come along if I had known what she was planning to do after her emergency shopping trip.”
Shane laughed, loving the fact he had been right. “Sara’s flat adorable. Reesa’s doing an amazing job keeping all the kids on an even keel. Wait—I do have one picture of her.”
He pulled the folded paper out of his back pocket and handed it to Luke. “It’s not actually a photo. It’s a drawing I made of Reesa the morning after I was with her the first time.”
Luke’s eyebrows rose as he studied the woman in the super hero costume, her full breasts peeking above the vee of her shirt.
“Nice chest muscles,” he said finally, smiling when Shane and Michael both laughed. They were both good men and he was glad they’d let him into their lives enough to be friends. Plus it helped Ellen that they all got along.
Luke stared at the picture for a couple more minutes, and then had a brainstorm about how to help. “Tell me Shane, did you use this image of your girlfriend in a graphic novel?” he asked, his gaze laser sharp as he met Shane’s innocent one.
“Are you kidding?” Shane asked with a grin. “Her image is in practically every panel of the one I just finished.”
“So what were you intending to pay Ms. Callahan for use of her image and likeness in work that will undoubtedly provide you income?” Luke asked, laying the drawing in the middle of his very clean desk so they all could look at it.
Luke could practically see the light bulb coming on over Shane’s head as he sat up straighter to think about the question. “Mr. Larson—as your attorney, I have to advise you that if you use a likeness of someone, you have to at least have their written permission. In the best of cases, you should pay them a fee, especially if you’re going to be making money off them.”
Shane studied the drawing, his eyes twinkling as he answered. “I was just going to say thank you and give her a preview copy.”
Luke grinned back. “No, you’re not. You need to legally compensate Ms. Callahan to avoid potential lawsuits in the future.”
“Really?” Shane asked, his smile feeling genuine for the first time in days. Luke’s idea was brilliant, absolutely brilliant. There was no way Reesa could turn down such a legitimate offer. It would definitely count as income.
“So how much do you think I should pay her?” Shane asked.
“I’m sure you could do a calculation of potential profits of your work. Maybe do some research to see what others are paid for this kind of thing. We could eventually come up with a fair amount,” Luke said.
“No time for all that. Is fifty thousand okay?” Shane asked.
“I’m sure Ms. Callahan would consider that very generous,” Luke told him calmly. “I’ll draw up a contract this afternoon, but—can I make another suggestion?”
“Sure, I wouldn’t want to do anything illegal,” Shane said, nodding and waiting to see what else Luke said.
“Take the payment contract to court next week. Have your attorney inform her attorney about the fifty thousand additional income shortly before the hearing begins. It’s going to be a lot harder for your girlfriend to say no with the custody decision on the line for real,” Luke told him, knowing it was sneaky but that it also would probably work. “Trust me, Shane. Her pride will go away really fast when she’s standing in front of a person who is about to make a big decision about her and the children’s life.”
“I can only imagine,” Shane said, thoughtful. “Are you willing to be my attorney? I’ll pay you.”
“Of course I will help, but no, you won’t pay me,” Luke said firmly. “We’re family. I’ll be there for that reason.”
Shane nodded. “Thank you, Luke,” he said sincerely.
“You’re welcome,” Luke said. “Actually, I’m pretty proud of myself for coming up with that solution. It’s a totally legitimate way to give her the money.”
He handed the drawing back to Shane. “She’s a very nice looking woman. I think it says a lot about her character that she’s willing to fight in court to keep all the kids together. That picture of her as a superhero isn’t all that far off the mark, is it?”
“No. It’s exactly right,” Shane said firmly.
“Shane drew that picture of her before he even knew her real name,” Michael said proudly, relieved that Shane didn’t look maniacal anymore.
“I’m the last man you would ever have to convince about love at first sight,” Luke said, then zipped his lip before he said more to Ellen’s sons than they probably wanted to hear about him and their mother. “Shane, I think what you’re doing is admirable too. You’re a good match for her. ”
“Reesa shouldn’t be losing the kids over money. Unfortunately, what I’m giving her is only half of what she needs. Her part-time work might be another quarter of it. I think she’s still going to be short of the court’s income goal,” Shane said, running a restless hand through his hair. “Got any more ideas?”