LITMIR.BIZ

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      Chapter 7

      “Why didn’t you tell me?” Hayley asked.

      Laney looked at the woman who had so quickly become more than just a client since she’d first brought Cutter to her several months ago. She had stopped in just after Laney had opened up this morning, and had obviously talked to Quinn.

      “You seemed really distracted yesterday,” she said.

      Hayley made a face. “Well, you’re right about that. I’m a wreck about meeting the boss for the first time. Somehow I got it in my head the right clothes would make a difference, make me relax. Didn’t work.”

      Laney stifled a laugh, then said, “And I thought Quinn was the boss. Teague said Charlie’s the organization, logistics and money side.”

      “Genius burns,” Hayley said wryly.

      “And you’ve never met before?”

      “No. Charlie’s headquartered in St. Louis, near where they grew up, and prefers to stay there. Quinn’s only here because he loves this part of the country.”

      “Well, and you.”

      Hayley smiled then, a bright, flashing smile of pure and utter happiness. “Yes. And me.”

      Laney felt a stab of...not envy—she liked Hayley too much for that—but perhaps longing. She supposed most women dreamed of having what Hayley had found, a strong, steady man like Quinn who would go to the ends of the earth for her.

      And that’s what gets us into trouble, she thought. Like Amber.

      “We’ll find her,” Hayley said, accurately reading her thoughts. “I promise. Nobody’s better at this than Foxworth.”

      “I didn’t give you much to go on,” Laney said ruefully. She’d spent most of last night trying not to get her hopes up. “I know so little about the guy.”

      “We have an amazing research team that can find darn near anything, or anyone. They can look in places most people don’t even know exist.”

      “That sounds a bit...something.”

      Hayley laughed. “Foxworth’s built up a lot of goodwill in a lot of different places over the years. It pays off.”

      “What a strange operation,” Laney said. “You help anybody who needs it?”

      “No,” Hayley said. “Not just anybody. People on the high road, who tried to do the right thing in the right way, but ran up against a roadblock they couldn’t get over or around, a block that shouldn’t be there in the first place. Sometimes groups, but individuals mostly, who have fought hard on their own but can’t keep going, financially, physically or emotionally. People fighting decisions made against them for no better reason than political expediency. Or stupidity. The powers that be, or petty tyrants throwing their weight around, or bigger types of corruption. That’s what Foxworth fights.”

      Laney couldn’t miss the passion in Hayley’s voice. She might be the most recent to join Foxworth, through Quinn, but she was clearly as dedicated as the rest of them. And if that was truly their cause, she could understand that.

      “Sorry,” Hayley said with a smile. “I didn’t mean to launch on you.”

      “You don’t have to apologize for believing in what you do,” Laney said, meaning it. “Teague said you worked on referral only, though.”

      Hayley nodded. “Word of mouth is the best advertising, and the only kind we rely on. Well, and now Cutter, since he seems to have such a knack.”

      Laney laughed. “I still can’t believe Quinn really decided to help me because of what Cutter did.”

      “It took us all a while to realize the dog knows what he’s doing. And the Foxworth crew is an unlikely bunch to put their trust in four paws, but they’ve learned he’s usually right.” Hayley shook her head. “Sometimes I think he’s not really a dog, but some magical being in disguise.”

      “He certainly communicates better than any dog I’ve ever known.”

      “He knows a lot more human than we know dog, that’s for sure,” Hayley agreed with a laugh.

      Laney picked at a thread that had worked loose on her shirt. “Teague was very kind.”

      “He’s a good guy.”

      “He really seemed to understand how I feel. Because of his sister.”

      Hayley went still. “He told you about Terri?”

      Laney nodded. “How she vanished while he was deployed, and was never found. And how he feels guilty for not being here to protect her. Of course, his parents didn’t help, blaming him.”

      For a long, silent moment Hayley just stared at her.

      “What?” Laney finally asked.

      “Teague,” she said, “never talks to anyone about that. I don’t think even Quinn knows as much as you just said. I certainly didn’t.”

      Laney stared in turn. “You didn’t?”

      Hayley shook her head. “I knew his sister had disappeared, but I had no idea he felt like that, or worse, that his parents blamed him. No wonder he’s not close to his mother now.”

      “I think she was the worst,” Laney said. “I got the idea his father just shut down after.”

      Even as she spoke, her mind was racing. She believed Teague never talked about his sister, it would explain the painful sound of his voice. She’d had the feeling then he hadn’t talked about it in a while, but she hadn’t realized “a while” meant never.

      And yet he had told her.

      It was disconcerting, to say the least.

      “Teague is the most cheerful guy I know,” Hayley said. “Always with a quip, the one who lightens the mood. I knew there was another side to him, deeper, but he hides it so well....”

      She focused on Laney. And the speculation in her vivid green eyes was hard to miss.

      Oh, don’t go there, please!

      Her sudden internal recoil startled her. Shouldn’t she be flattered that the guy let down enough to share an awful, painful story? That he felt enough empathy for her, and her situation, to do something he never did, share a part of himself he always kept hidden?

      If she was honest, she had to admit she was flattered. Problem was, maybe she was too flattered. Teague was an attractive guy, she’d been alone a long time now, and he came with as much of a guarantee as you could get with a guy these days; the benefit of a thorough background check by Foxworth.

      Instead of a casual, thoughtless “he seems like a nice guy, go for it” tossed off by an unthinking friend.

      It stabbed at her again, the guilt, sharp and merciless. How on earth had Teague survived this for so long? Hayley said he was the most cheerful guy she knew; how did he do it? Was it just a facade, or had he really found a way to...obviously not forget, but live with it?

      “It’s that guy thing,” Hayley said, shaking her out of her thoughts. “Compartmentalization. They really are able to do that, much better than I am, anyway.”

      Laney drew back, eyes wide. How had she known exactly what she was thinking? “You are as perceptive as your dog. And I trust you to realize I mean that as a compliment.”

      Hayley laughed. “Oh, I know. And it is a compliment, to be compared to that rascal in the perception department, since he’s uncannily good at it.”

      Hayley’s cell phone rang, and from her instant smile Laney guessed the lilting, lively bit of music was assigned to Quinn’s calls. She answered, and Laney tactfully turned away, giving her some privacy. But Hayley mostly listened instead of talking. When she finally spoke, it was only

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