Fireside by Susan Wiggs (pdf e book reader txt) 📗

story. Her husband left her, and she got in trouble with the INS.”

“You mean, the Immigration and Naturalization Service.”

He nodded, pressed the tips of his fingers together. “She was sent immediately to a temporary holding center in Houston. No advance warning whatsoever, and there was no one to take care of AJ. They’ve got no other family in this country, no friends or neighbors who could help. See, she’s an only child. After her father passed away, her mother moved back to Nuevo Laredo. That’s in the Rio Grande valley, on the Mexican side.”

Kim’s heart lurched. “You mean, his mom just went to work one day, and wasn’t allowed to come home?” She could scarcely imagine what that had been like for the boy.

“That’s right,” said Bo. “So I wasn’t about to let him be sent to foster care. But I’ve been living in an apartment above the Hilltop Tavern. It’s too noisy there for a kid. We came here because I wanted him to be in a place that felt more like home. And here we are.”

“In a place that feels like home,” she said quietly. And for the first time, she understood her mother’s enthusiasm for this new enterprise.

“That’s right. If I hadn’t been around, AJ would’ve had to go into foster care. And believe me, foster care is a total crapshoot. It can be the best thing that ever happened to a kid, or it can be a nightmare.”

Her expression must have been easy to read, because he said, “Yeah, I know the system from direct experience.”

She flashed on her own childhood, secure and predictable. Despite her father’s financial missteps, she had never for a moment had to worry about being abandoned. “You were in foster care?”

“A couple of times. The first time it was straight out of a Stephen King novel. After that, another couple took me in, and it was the best thing that ever happened to me. Sometimes, when my mama hit a rough patch, I’d go stay with my coach, a guy named Landry Holmes. We didn’t have much when I was a kid, but Coach Landry taught me to focus on what was important.”

Kim couldn’t help being intrigued, and she caught herself thinking like his publicist. He had a strong personal story. It was a little messy, but that was all just part of the challenge. His matter-of-fact honesty reminded her of the kind of clients she’d started with before she was saddled with guys like Lloyd. She much preferred the ones who deserved a shot, as opposed to the ones who believed they were entitled to one.

The jerk from the airport was fading fast, obliterated by a flesh-and-blood person. AJ’s situation made Kim’s troubles pale in comparison. “He’s just a child. I can’t believe they can separate a mother from her child.”

“Happens a lot apparently. More than you or I know.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“I’ve got a lawyer on it. Sophie Bellamy-Shepherd. You know her?”

“I know the name Bellamy, but no. Not Sophie.”

“Married to a friend of mine, Noah Shepherd. She’s already found an immigration specialist, and they’re filing paperwork with the Board of Immigration Appeals. Someone’s doing a records search on Yolanda’s family, but Sophie warned me that this could take some time.”

“Meanwhile, AJ is with you.”

“That’s right.”

“He must be so worried about his mom,” she said. She also assumed this turn of events was wreaking havoc with Bo’s plans to devote the off-season to preparing for the Yankees. Either the guy was in denial about that, or he was hiding his agitation for the sake of the boy.

“He’s worried, all right,” Bo assured her. “How can he not be? He’s keeping it all inside, though. At least, that’s what I think he’s doing. Wish I knew him better.”

The situation of this man and his son didn’t just intrigue Kim; it moved her. She hadn’t expected that. But sometimes people clicked on a deep level right away, and it wasn’t a matter of how long they’d known one another. It was a matter of interest. She wondered if he was sensing that from her.

“So in the meantime,” she said, “you plan to stay here.”

“Yes, ma’am. He’s going to have to enroll in school, right here in Avalon. Starting Monday.”

“Maybe he’ll be glad about that. Some kids like school.”

Bo sent her a dour look. “It’s midyear, he’s from a different state and he doesn’t know a soul.”

“All right, perhaps that was a little optimistic.”

“I reckon I’ll tell him tonight. Maybe after dinner.” He looked around the room, seeming shell-shocked. “Anyway, thanks, Kim.”

Well. She’d been upgraded from ma’am to Kim. “For what?”

“For not freaking out when you saw me.”

“Why would I freak out?”

“When you answered the door, I thought I was totally screwed.”

She was not exactly flattered by this. “About that…the way I behaved at the airport that morning. That’s not me.”

“I figured you were probably having one of those days,” he said.

“One of those lives,” she replied, then shook her head. AJ Martinez was proof positive that there were worse things in the world than Lloyd Johnson. In the wake of her sudden departure, there had been a flurry of calls from her former colleagues, but the calls had already tapered off. Soon—probably before the end of the day—they would cease altogether. That was the nature of this business. It chewed people up and spat them out, all used up and worse for the wear. She used to have the stomach for it, but not anymore.

“That doesn’t sound good,” Bo Crutcher observed. “So what were you doing at the airport, all dolled up like that?” he asked.

“I had to leave L.A. in a hurry. There wasn’t time to change.”

“You on the lam from something?” He was checking her out closely.

She offered a brief, humorless laugh. From my own life, she thought. “You ask a lot of questions.”

That smile again. She could almost swear he was flirting with her. “But you don’t answer many,” he said. “Everything okay?”

She thought about