Suzanne Cox: One Man To Protect Them

He whipped his head around, looking toward the fence where the parents sat in lawn chairs waiting for practice to begin. He didn’t breathe, then he took a gasp of air and let it go. Pete glanced at him in mid-sentence but kept talking. Sitting in a chair next to Pete’s wife was the object of several recent late-night dreams, Elliot and Garrett Casio’s aunt.

Pete finished his speech, and Luke realized it was time to start the practice. He made a mental note not to let Jayden Miller distract him as he instructed the boys on what positions they’d be playing.

A FEW HOURS LATER, Luke waited at the front of his sprawling single-story house. It was way more than he’d expected when he arrived in Cypress Landing. It wasn’t a restored antebellum like a lot of the homes in the area, but its wide porch with huge columns and multiple French doors across the front made it a nice mix of old South and old Acadian. He passed money to the pizza-delivery boy and, with Pete’s help, hauled the boxes to his patio, spreading them onto several tables he’d arranged poolside. The late sun still had plenty of summer heat left in it, and the boys were enjoying what would probably be their last swim of the year.

“So, this is tradition for you, huh?”

Jayden appeared beside him, dropping a piece of pizza onto her paper plate.

“I guess. We do it every season.”

“A heated pool, too. The public-defender business must be booming—or were you an ambulance chaser before you came here?”

He glared at her. Nearly everyone in town knew this house had been repossessed by the bank because the owner had gone to jail on a drug conviction, which explained how he had acquired such a nice home.

“I defended a guy and got him off. He started a business selling solar panels. He came and put this system in to heat my pool for free.”

She didn’t respond immediately, but picked at her slice. General bedlam surrounded them, fifteen boys yelling over the pizza as their parents tried to talk loud enough to be heard. Gradually the noise faded to a low hum. He noted the dark circles under her sea-blue eyes.

“I’m being rude, aren’t I?” she asked.

“Yes, you are, but I get that periodically.”

She shook her head. “My mom would have a stroke if she knew I’d talked to you like that. She says what happened with my sister isn’t your fault.”

Luke grinned. “If you promise to be nice, I won’t tell her.”

“So you know my mother. I should have guessed. She makes it a point to meet everyone in town.”

“And she comes to most of the games.”

Jayden took a bite of pizza and chewed for a minute, washing it down with a drink of soda from the can she’d set on the table next to them. “I didn’t think of that, but I should have.”

“She also cuts my hair.” He fingered the slight curl above his ear. “I’m due for a cut, too. I haven’t been to her since before…” He stopped himself, not intending to lead the conversation to that topic.

She must have noticed the flash of panic on his face because her lips swept into a slight smile. “Since before the accident, it’s okay. We don’t shy away from discussing it, especially since we didn’t feel like justice was done.”

Swallowing the groan that rose in his throat, he wished for the millionth time he hadn’t been assigned to represent the guy who’d caused the Casios’ crash.

“Your sister and her husband were good people and I hated that it turned out like it did, but I had no control over what happened to the evidence.”

“It’s still kind of hard to stomach.”

“I don’t like it any better than you.”

She eyed him skeptically, then turned her attention to her soda.

“I’ve heard rumors that you get a lot of people off using questionable tactics.”

Luke didn’t want to guess what gossip around town had fueled her anger with that statement. “I imagine a few people think that. I do my job and I do it well because I owe it to the client.”

“No matter what they’ve done.”

“I don’t get to pick and choose.”

“I guess not.”

“Elliot and Garrett are good boys, and I wouldn’t have done anything to hurt them, if I’d had a choice. I hope they know it. The sheriff’s office should take better care of their evidence.”

“You’re right about that. And don’t worry, the boys don’t hold what happened against you.”

“So you’re the only one.”

She shrugged. “Guess so.”

They watched the kids playing back in the pool. For now he could forget his purpose here and enjoy being part of the community. He found himself thinking again that if his life were different, Cypress Landing would be the kind of place he’d want to stay, to marry, to raise a family. Too bad his life wouldn’t ever be like that.

“So, my mom cuts your hair.” Jayden studied him as she tapped her empty plate.

“Yep, I met her a week after I moved here, and she informed me I needed a haircut and told me to be at her place at four that afternoon. I’ve been going ever since.”

Jayden laughed aloud. A sound that made his body hum.

“Leave it to her to get the business of a good-looking man when he comes to town.”

Luke’s grin widened. Did she realize what she’d said?

“So you think I’m good-looking, huh?”

No, she hadn’t realized, until now. She colored a light shade of pink and her eyes darted downward, refusing to meet his.

“I’ve got to throw this away.” Nearly stumbling in her haste to leave, she tossed the paper plate in the garbage then hurriedly pulled an empty chair next to Leigh Fontenot. Jayden Miller thought he was good-looking. He tried not to puff out his chest and grin as he sauntered to the edge of the pool to join Pete.

“What do you think of Elliot’s coach?” Leigh Fontenot tilted her head expectantly toward Jayden, awaiting her reply.

“You know I like Pete. I told you that when you first dated him and when he proposed, and when I came home for your wedding, and fifty other times.”

Jayden ignored Leigh and tried to get comfortable in the lawn chair, but knew she never would. Not because the chair was too firm, but because she wanted to melt into the concrete beneath her feet. She’d admitted to a man she fully intended to dislike, that she thought he was attractive. A fact he’d probably heard from most of the women he’d come in contact with. Since he was Elliot’s coach, she couldn’t completely dislike him, but she had no business getting silly over him.

“Jayden.” Fingers snapped in front of her. “I’m talking to you, okay?”

She focused on Leigh. “I’m listening.”

“What did I say?”

“Fine, I wasn’t listening, but I am now.”

Her friend laughed. “Don’t worry. Luke has that effect on most women, maybe all women. And he’s the coach I wanted your opinion of, not Pete. But I’m sure you knew that.”

Jayden squirmed again, sliding lower in the chair. “I don’t have an opinion of him. I just met him, except of course he makes his living setting criminals free. I don’t know how Pete can coach with him.”

Leigh feigned shock. “And here I thought he was responsible for defending people who couldn’t afford to pay for their own council.”

“Well that, too, but don’t forget he’s the one who let Caitland and Robert’s killer go.” Jayden couldn’t let that rest, not yet.

“Come on, Jayden, it wasn’t like that. After the police report and lab work went missing, there was no case.”

“And I’m to believe he didn’t have anything to do with those things mysteriously disappearing.”

“Of course he didn’t. Luke’s a nice guy. He and Pete have agreed to disagree on a few cases, but in the end, he’s only doing his job.”