Page 15 of Fallout
“Do you mind if we record this meeting?” he asked.
“No. Why would I?”
He smiled at her. “Just checking.”
“You said your partner was joining us?”
“He’s on a call. Part of the reason I want to record this.”
“Okay. Let’s get started then. The sooner we can be sure Renee does not get her conviction overturned, the better.”
5
Jake hung up the phone and shoved it in his back pocket. “All right, Madman, we need to get you cleaned up so we can go find a house.”
Maddox babbled a few milky words in reply before shoving his empty bowl off the highchair tray and holding his arms up.
“Um, yeah, not the type of cleaned up I was thinking about, little man.” Jake chuckled as he ran a face cloth under the tap. He needed to make this quick. Luckily he’d laid out a tablecloth beneath Mad’s chair before he’d given him his breakfast so once he picked up the bowl, he could roll it up and dump it in the washer with their dirty clothes and run the load while they were out.
By his calculations they should be back before Ry and Maz arrived home from the hospital with Zane late this afternoon, but just in case they weren’t, he wanted to make sure they came home to a clean house. He’d spent most of last night and this morning tidying up.
He didn’t know what they had planned for dinner and he doubted either of them had thought about it, so he’d stop at the store once he finished looking at the houses Mrs. Russell was lining up for them to view. He’d grab the few things he needed as well as something quick and easy for dinner.
Jake had already had an argument with Ry last night about getting out from under their feet and, while he believed his friend when he said neither he nor Maz wanted him to rush into buying a house or felt as though they were intruding staying here, he just couldn’t shake the lingering guilt from the last few years.
He knew he needed to work on that. Ry and Maz had both made it clear they didn’t blame him or Maddox for anything that had happened. In fact they’d opened their house and their arms and strongly encouraged Jake to make the move to Sunnyville.
Having no blood relatives left alive, Ry was the closest thing to family he and Mad had so Jake hadn’t needed all that much encouragement to relocate. He wanted to be close to Ry again. He’d missed their closeness when they hadn’t lived near each other in the years after Jake had left the military.
And those months of silence after Ry’s accident had been some of the worst of Jake’s life. He was ready to put the past behind him and part of that was finding a house. If he couldn’t manage to locate one close to Ry’s, at least they would finally be in the same city.
“C’mon, Madman, let’s get you dressed and ready to go,” he said while wiping his son’s sticky hands and face.
Mad didn’t give him any trouble. He’d never been one to misbehave, not like Jake had seen other toddlers do. Even before his mother had taken him, Maddox had been an easy baby to deal with, but since then he’d been extra compliant. Jake hoped it was just his son’s nature and not a result of his kidnapping.
Lifting Maddox from his seat, Jake pulled him close, ignoring the wet patches on Mad’s pajamas that were pressing against his own clothes. He’d change his shirt after he dressed Mad; it was worth the extra washing to get a cuddle from his boy.
And with the dark thoughts swirling in his head, a snuggle was just what he needed to remind himself they were okay—Maddoxwas okay.
He’d been thinking more and more about Renee and her destructive behavior in recent weeks and in spite of his hope that the move to Sunnyville would lessen the influence of those memories, Jake couldn’t seem to shake them.
He was sure a shrink would tell him he needed to face the fears and anger the past invoked, except he couldn’t. He’d never hated anyone the way he now hated Renee and he wasn’t sure what he’d do if he was forced to dredge through the things she’s done to him, Maddox, and Ry.
They should probably all get therapy. Hell, even Maz had been subjected to Renee’s venom before and during her trial. The trial Jake hadn’t been able to bring himself to attend. Instead he’d sat in a room at the courthouse watching on a closed circuit TV with Maddox playing at his feet.
He’d given his own testimony against Renee the same way. There was no way he could leave Mad alone with anyone at that point and the prosecutor and judge had agreed to allow him to talk by video feed.
It had surprised him during the whole thing that Mad didn’t react to Renee’s voice once. He barely looked at the screen and when he did, it had only been when Ry or Maz had been speaking. Then again, he’d only been nineteen months old at the time.
The other surprise had been how quickly Renee’s case had gone to court. He’d expected months of waiting. He was pretty sure the only reason she’d already been convicted and sentenced was because of Ry’s friend Jack.
And Jack’s friend Keaton.
Ry had introduced him to Jack at his and Maz’s wedding and explained who Jack was and that he wanted to offer legal help. Help Jake could never repay and it had nothing to do with money. He had enough of that to pay for a lawyer, any lawyer. Except Jack’s friend Keaton refused to take payment.
Keaton was the one dealing with stripping Renee’s parental rights. He told Jake that if they couldn’t manage it during Renee’s appeal, they’d go to court separately and get it done.
Everyone had assured him they’d do everything they had to to remove Renee from their lives completely. As far as Keaton was concerned—and Jake had to agree with the man—the court order forbidding her to contact Maddox until he turned eighteen wasn’t nearly enough.
