He glanced at the top paper she handed him and studied the name a moment. “Lindsay…Kim Lindsay? It doesn’t ring a bell. Did she say what it was about?”
Amelia shrugged. “Listen, I just take the messages, I don’t get an autobiography. You probably met her at a bar last week and have forgotten her already.”
“The only bar I attended was a Bar Mitzvah for Mark’s kid.”
“Funny, Larry.”
That was the thing about Larry Mackenzie—he thought he was funny.
Come to think of it, most people agreed with him. But Amelia didn’t, although she could think of a number of descriptions she did feel suited him.
Annoying.
Egotistical.
Frustrating.
Cavalier.
Annoying…oh, she’d already thought that.
Gorgeous, if a woman was into superficial looks…which Amelia wasn’t. It’s just sometimes she forgot she wasn’t and couldn’t help but enjoy the view.
Like right now, as he stood, laughing because he thought he’d verbally bested her with his Bar Mitzvah comment…if he was anyone else, she’d have to say that twinkle of humor in his eye was endearing.
But endearing wasn’t one of the words she’d ever use to describe Larry Mackenzie.
To clear her head of such inappropriate thoughts, she stared at the puddle he left on the floor with his unstomped shoes.
There. She felt better.
Larry was annoying.
Egotistical.
She sighed as she realized that she was just recycling terms. She’d just have to spend the rest of her day thinking up other appropriate adjectives—non-gorgeous ones—to describe Larry Mackenzie. It wouldn’t do to run out of them if she needed them.
“Listen, if you can’t manage calling me Mac, maybe you should call me Mr. Mackenzie?”
“Or maybe I should simply call you—”
She couldn’t think of a barb to end the sentence with, but thankfully, Larry would never know because at the moment, Elias Donovan, the firm’s newest partner, walked into the building and said, “Tsk, tsk, tsk, kids. If you’re going to fight, I’m going to have to put you in separate corners.”
He’d kicked off most of the snow outside on the steps, which was considerate, unlike some people who didn’t care how much work they made for others.
“Separate is always good, at least when it comes to Larry and me,” she said.
Mac, without saying another word, stalked up the stairs toward his office.
“Do you have to pick on him like that?” Donovan asked.
“No. I also don’t have to floss every day, but I like my teeth and hope to keep them, so I do. Just like I enjoy needling Mac and would hate to lose my edge.”
Donovan laughed as he started up the stairs to his office. He turned and added, “In case I forget later, call me if you need a ride Monday, okay? Your car won’t make it out of the drive if the storm hits.”
“Thanks, Donovan,” Amelia said.
Donovan was a nice guy…unlike some other people in this firm.
Why, Mac wouldn’t care if she got stuck somewhere between home and work, but Donovan did. He’d just purchased a new four-wheel-drive truck last fall and had given her rides on a few of the worst days between then and now.
Of course, it helped that she was good friends with his wife, Sarah. Sarah worried about her and probably told Donovan to ask. But it didn’t matter who told him, Donovan was a nice guy who was right, her car wouldn’t make it if the storm hit.
Amelia’s old car was on its last legs—or tires as the case may be. But she’d just paid her brother’s last tuition payment, and as soon as she could save up a down payment, she was going to celebrate by buying a new car.
Brand new.
Something that had that new car smell.
Cloth seats at the very least.
Maybe even leather.
Her friend, Libby, had just bought a new car with automatic ignition and electric seat-warmers. Just push a little button from the warmth of your house, and then walk out five minutes later to a warm car and warm seats.
Oh, the utter decadent luxury of it all.
Soon Amelia would save enough money to get something like it. After years of taking care of other people, she would finally be able to concentrate on what she wanted.
Their dad had left them when Amelia was young, not that he’d ever really been with them, even when he still lived at home.
She hadn’t mourned her father’s leaving. But her mom…when she had died, Amelia thought her heart would break. She was only twenty-one, but knew what she had to do. She dropped out of college and took over as head of the family. Her brothers deserved all the breaks she could give them.
After scrimping and scraping for the last six years to get both Marty and Ryan through college, she was now a financially independent woman. She’d spent her life looking after people, now all she had to do was look after herself. She could do all the things she’d always dreamed of.
At least, she could if she could figure them out.
Maybe she’d go back to school. Maybe she’d take up skydiving. Maybe…
There was a world of opportunity out there. A new car with seat-warmers was just the start. Life was just waiting for Amelia Gallagher to discover it.
No, not Amelia.
That was a name that sounded weighted with responsibilities.
Mia.
Her family had always called her Mia when she was younger. When she was carefree. Somewhere along the line they’d stopped and she’d become Amelia.
Amelia. The responsible one. The one who took care of things…who took care of the rest of them.
Well, she was carefree again and she would soon discover what that meant. She was Mia again. Amelia might not know just what she was going to do, but Mia was going to figure it out.
Annoying attorneys forgotten, Mia continued to fantasize about all the things she could do now, starting with the car she was going to buy soon.
Very soon.
“This is just a stop-gap measure, Mr. Mackenzie. You’ll have to decide soon, very soon.”
“Legally, it’s my right.” Mac didn’t know many things—and at this moment, the biggest thing he didn’t know was what he was doing—but he knew the law.
“I don’t know if exercising that right is in the best interest of the child, and that’s all that concerns me,” Ms. Lindsay said, giving him a look that clearly stated that she was positive Mac couldn’t handle the job.
“Her mother named me guardian, and as such, it’s up to me to worry about Katie’s upbringing.”
He was responsible. The thought scared Mac to the very core of his being, and he was man enough to admit it. At least to himself.
He was responsible for a baby.
He wasn’t sure what he was going to do about her, but he was sure he wouldn’t drop the ball…not like his parents had.
He slammed the door shut on that thought.
He wouldn’t mess things up for this baby like his parents messed things up for him.
It wasn’t