Page 10 of Homecoming

Bertha and Buster were long gone.

Dan wasn’t looking forward to dealing with Kara’s brothers, but he was more than happy to take one for the team to keep his beloved out of the scrum. He’d already figured out that her parents were using him before she said it last night. But he didn’t fault them for calling him. In their position, he’d have done the same thing if he had a lawyer of his caliber in the family.

A lawyer of his caliber.

He chuckled. Kara would roll her eyes to high heaven if she heard him describe himself that way. It was true, though. If his sons stood accused of a heinous crime, he’d want someone like him, too, not that his sons would be anywhere near such a thing. People had no clue what to do when a situation blew up their lives. Often, they did the wrong thing, such as allowing the accused to speak to police without a lawyer present, which only added to the jeopardy when the wrong thing was said to the right person.

He hoped Judith had passed along his advice that Keith and Kirby not talk to anyone before they had legal representation. Although, he wouldn’t put it past Keith to spout off and make everything worse.

Dan recalled his first impression of Keith: sleeve tattoos on his arms and chips on both shoulders. He’d bristled at Gansett Police Chief Blaine Taylor’s order to make restitution to the Rusty Scupper, the bar they’d busted up the night before the wedding in a drunken fight. They were also ordered to stay outof trouble for the remainder of their time on the island or Chief Taylor would toss their asses on the first ferry out of town.

Kyle’s attitude had been similar to Keith’s, but Keiran had seemed somewhat humbled by his night in jail. Thankfully, they hadn’t caused any trouble during the wedding, and as far as Dan knew, Kara had never caught wind of the incident.

He despised the way her family upset her. Bringing her here, seven months pregnant, certainly wasn’t ideal. His goal for today was to quickly assess whether the situation was a matter of a local police department jumping the gun on arresting suspects without sufficient cause or whether he faced a long, drawn-out battle to defend two brothers-in-law he barely knew.

Coffee in hand, he went down the hallway to look in on Kara, who was still asleep. He picked up his phone off the bedside charger and brought it with him to the kitchen. Before he checked his phone, he lifted the lid on a pan on the stove to find eggs, potatoes and bacon. The scent made his mouth water.

He’d worry about his dad bod another day.

Sitting at Bertha’s well-worn kitchen table with a second cup of coffee, he ate his breakfast and scrolled through his messages. Two from Judith already.

What time will you be seeing the boys?

What can we do to help?

Dan replied to her.I’ll be there by nine and no help needed right now. I’ll check in later. Please remind every member of the family again not to talk to the media or anyone else about the case. That’s critical. ALSO DO NOT contact Kara about this. That’s my line in the sand, Judith. Keep her out of it, or I’m gone.

He could see she was already replying, but it took a few minutes for her text to arrive.I understand.

“You’d better believe I mean it,” he muttered.

“Who are you talking to?” his beloved asked when she appeared in the doorway, disheveled and rosy cheeked from sleep.

He held out his arms to her.

She sat on his lap and snuggled into his embrace.

“I was talking to myself.”

“You sounded annoyed.”

“Work stuff. Nothing to worry about.”

“Is my mother already harassing you?”

“Define harassing.”

She groaned.

“Don’t sweat it, babe. I can manage her. She’s not going to push me around or tell me how to do my job.”

“Sexy.”

“What is?”

“You. Managing my mother.”

Dan choked out a laugh. “Seriously?That’ssexy?”

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