Page 40 of No More Secrets
“Thanks again, sweetie,” she called over her shoulder. “We’ll see you next week.”
Ellery waved them off and the second they were gone poured two fingers of scotch into a rocks glass. “Here,” she handed it to Summer. “He’s going to need this.”
Summer took the glass and knocked on the open door.
Beckett was seated at a long library table, head in his hands. “I’m not here,” he said without moving his hands.
Summer set the glass in front of him. “How about now?”
A gray eye peeked through fingers. “They don’t tell you about these things when you’re in law school.”
Summer took the seat opposite him. It was a good room. Shelves lined with bound books rose to the ceiling with its original chandelier. A bow window overlooking the backyard let in the midday light.
“Rough day?” she asked.
Beckett picked up the glass and sipped. “I’d tell you that it’s attorney-client privilege, but they aren’t clients. I’ve never actuallydoneanything for them.”
“See, now you have to tell me,” Summer insisted.
“The Buchanans came to me once right after I started the practice to help with their divorce settlement. Apparently I mediated so well that they changed their minds and decided to stay married. Now they think I’m some kind of marriage counselor. Every time there’s an argument about the in-laws or the butter dish, they make an appointment. This time it was what cable package they should get.” He scrubbed his hands over his face.
“It sounds like you play an indispensible role in their marriage,” Summer said, trying not to laugh.
Beckett downed the contents of the glass. “Sorry for dumping all that on you. Please don’t —”
“Write about any of this?” she finished.
“Sorry. Again. It’s the lawyer in me.”
“Understood. Well, the writer in me is curious. Why a lawyer?”
Beckett shrugged, a spitting image of Carter’s habit. “You grow up with two brothers and Phoebe Pierce, and you learn to love arguing.”
“And you stayed close to home?”
“Carter was off to the Army as soon as he graduated high school, and when Jax lit out of town a few years later it was just my parents and me. Dad needed help on the farm, and Blue Moon was always home. Later, when Dad got sick, Mom and I took on everything we could with the farm and the town stepped up. For the six months leading up to Dad’s death, there were an extra half dozen hands every single day. And they were all there because in some way, shape, or form John Pierce had done the same for them.”
“You were still in law school and running the farm?”
“It wasn’t pretty,” he grinned.
Summer shook her head. “I just can’t wrap my head around that kind of community. It’s amazing.”
“It really is. Even after his death, when Mom and I were having serious thoughts about selling, they were there for us. Sometimes from sun up to sun down. It was a smaller operation then. Carter has really scaled it up since he came home.”
“And now you’re mayor.”
Beckett nodded. “After everything this town did for me and my family, I owed them. Still do.”
Ellery came in with a tray of boxed lunches and waters. “I picked up lunch for you two from Over Caffeinated. Mind if I head out now?” she asked Beckett.
“Thanks, Ellery. Did you —”
“I left a message for Mr. Goodloe about coming in to sign the papers.
“Great, how about —”
“I re-drafted the settlement agreement for the Hadwens and put it on your desk.”
