| Chapter 1 |
| Another red X crossed out the day before in Luis� day planner. Sami had taken to checking off the days every night when he returned home, a ritual he had refused to deny her of in the nine months since her mother passed away. At least she was attempting to communicate with him, that�s more than he could say about his daughter Hope. His little angel hadn�t said a word since Beth�s casket had been covered in the six feet of dirt that hid her from the world that missed her dearly. Closing his eyes, he pinched the bridge of his nose to ward off the impending headache that he didn�t have time for. Besides having a meeting with a client, he was due at Hope�s school to meet with her teacher. January was the end of a marking period and Hope�s grades from before the Christmas holiday were terrible. Then again, everything in the last nine months had been terrible, especially Christmas. His girls hadn�t rushed to the presents that were lovingly wrapped by his hands the night before. They hadn�t even wanted to open the pretty papered gifts that awaited them. The gifts didn�t replace their mother; nothing ever would. The image of his two daughters, pale and depressed as they forcefully opened their gifts would forever be burned into his memory. An annoying buzzing noise to his right alerted him that his secretary, Amanda, needed him for some reason or another and he wasn�t exactly in the mood to deal with the ditzy blond. Hank had once commented that her bra size was probably higher than her IQ and at times Luis was inclined to agree. Opening his bloodshot eyes, Luis glared at the black box that was begging for him to hit the intercom button. Slamming the button down with his thumb, Luis gritted out, �What the hell is it, Mandy? What part of �no interruptions� didn�t you understand? I�m busy!� So he wasn�t busy, per se, but she didn�t need to know that. He needed time to himself and his office was the one solitary place he had. He didn�t have to be strong for his daughters and he didn�t have to muddle through for friends. He could cry all he wanted and no one could take that one gift away from him; no one except Amanda and that blasted intercom! �I�m sorry, Mr. LoFitz, but Ms. Crane wouldn�t hear no for an answer. She said that it was imperative she see you immediately,� she replied in the sickeningly sweet, high pitched squeal before cracking her chewing gum, which made Luis cringe. Who knew that the forty-year-old woman he had hired in a moment of weakness would turn out to be a seventeen-year-old valley girl trapped in another woman�s body? That woman was heading for the road to the unemployment office and fast. She never took a message in completion and she was almost always filing her nails and never doing what he asked. She took more coffee breaks than spent time on work and he often found her doing the crossword puzzles in his newspaper. Yet he couldn�t fire her without going through the trouble of getting another secretary and he didn�t have the time or the patients for that now. Sighing, he realized the last thing he needed that day was those icy blue eyes glaring at him from across the desk as he handle whatever problem the ever lovely and always incompetent Miss Sheridan Crane needed. Usually it involved his saving her scrawny butt because she offended another circuit court judge. He didn�t need this today; the headache was strong enough as it was and aspirin wasn�t an option at the moment. Pressing the intercom button again and closing his eyes, he prayed the headache would calm after he took care of his secretary. �Look, Mandy, no interruptions applies to Ms. Crane especially. The last thing I need is�� Before he could even begin to complete his thought, the large oak office door swung open and the woman whose eyes had haunted him for months strode into the office. His eyes met hers and again their gazes met in and unbending stare. �Is what?� Sheridan asked, striding into his office like she owned the place, her heels clicking on the marble flooring. �Do you have a problem with me, Mr. Lopez-Fitzgerald?� She pushed a lock of her blond hair behind her ear. He broke the stare, taking a moment to look over her attire, mentally checking to see if she met the standard of an Assistant District Attorney. It did: her black patent leather heels and dark black pantyhose hid her long legs. She wore a gray and white pinstripe business suit, the skirt about three inches from her knee. The white button up blouse was made of silk and finished off her ensemble nicely. Shaking his head, he fixed his gaze on another point in the room, which happened to be the photo of his darling daughters at home with Beth. Not exactly the best choice, but then again he wasn�t exactly batting a thousand today. �Ms. Crane, as your boss I have the right to say that I am not willing to see you today�tomorrow or any damn day I so choose. What gives you the right�� She held up her hand, trying to silence his tirade. This wasn�t the first time she was in this situation with him; she knew it wouldn�t be the last and she didn�t have time to start an argument they couldn�t finish. �Save it, I�ve probably heard it before and I�ll probably hear it again, nine or ten thousand more times in fact. But before I can take care of this case,� she waved the manila folder in the air, �I need you to look over it. You demanded I show you it *before* I planned by opening remarks and I would really like to get my work done and go home before tomorrow�s daylight comes,� though she ended her own rant with a sweet voice, the sarcasm wasn�t lost to either of them. Neither of them appreciated this situation, her especially, and the sooner she could leave the office, the better. �Well, Miss ADA, you�re learning,� he teased her, glancing at the manila folder in her hands and using the nickname he had made for her when she ticked him off months ago, �but I have a full schedule and won�t be able to look the case over until later this afternoon. I have a meeting with a potential client over a civil rights case and�wait, why the hell am I telling you my schedule?� He shook his head, returning to the file in front of him. She unnerved him, especially when those icy blue eyes softened as they watched him and they always softened. He hated the feelings he had when she was around, because he shouldn�t be feeling anything without Beth. �I could ask the same damn question, sir,� she rolled her eyes and placed an obscene amount of sarcasm on the word sir, stepping closer to the desk and throwing the folder under his nose, �but I have a meeting with the clients at seven am tomorrow and I would really like to have this finished up today.� She was persistent, he would give her that, but he didn�t have the time to play babysitter to the rich debutant that took the job as Assistant DA because her nephew was placed in the only law position with Crane Industries. He was hired as Assistant District Attorney because of his strict belief that they were in this for the people and not to prove to anyone that they could do the job. He didn�t have time to solve her petty problems. �Look, Ms. Crane I said�� �I know what you said, LoFitz,� she growled, staring right into his hazel orbs and ignoring the emotions there, �but your damn personal life shouldn�t interfere with the fact that the rest of us have work to do! It is imperative that I have this done before closing today if I want to meet with them tomorrow. Now either you OK it or I go on without your input! And I *will* do it, so don�t say I won�t!� The tension was high and their eyes remained connected, but she could see the anger pooling in his eyes. Just before it completely filled them, Sheridan swore she saw other things among then vulnerability, but mostly pain and regret. That was something she wasn�t prepared to see, but it was soon gone and the anger boiled to rage. Sheridan had struck a nerve; she knew it the second the vein in his head began to throb, causing a twitch in his cheek. It was subtle, but there, and she knew she should have never mentioned his private life. She had been at the funeral, watching as the two girls clung to their father while they closed themselves to the world. Sheridan knew he was having problems with the youngest, Hope, who hadn�t spoken in nine months. It wasn�t news to her that Sami, the eldest, was getting into fights at school even though she was a sweet kid. �Nice going, Sher,� she mentally scolded herself, �the man�s wife is dead and his kids aren�t far from becoming psych patients and you go off on the fact that his kids need him as much as the office does. Congratulations for once again putting your foot in your mouth!� �Are you quite done, Ms. Crane?� he asked all too calmly, pushing himself to a standing position with his hands flat against the redwood desk. He looked positively rigid standing there in his well-tailored suit, his muscles tense as he fought to control his temper. This was coming for a long time and Sheridan realized there was no turning back this time. She hadn�t just come up to the line but took a flying leap over it while ignoring all the warning signs. If she didn�t lose her job for this she was damn lucky. �I�m sorry,� she apologized. �I shouldn�t have�� she rushed to get the words out before Luis could possibly say something to make the situation any worse that it already was, but they didn�t come fast enough as he cut her off and put her in her place at the same time. �No, you shouldn�t have, but you did,� his teeth were gritted so closely, Sheridan was shore his jaw would snap. �You need to have that paperwork completed by five o�clock, without my assistance I add. You will meet me in the lounge downstairs at five fifteen and so help me God if you are even a minute late you won�t have a job on Monday morning. I *will* see to that as your boss. Are we clear, Ms. Crane?� �Yes, Mr. Lopez-Fitzgerald, crystal clear in fact,� she backed down, knowing he meant what he said. She was immediately reminded about their soon-to-be link in heritage, her nephew and his sister. There was to be a party for them this evening at the mansion and neither could possibly miss it without something being said. She decided to bring it up and hopefully get his attention off of her stupidity. �But Ethan and Theresa�� �Don�t say it. I seriously don�t want to know what your nephew and my sister have planned this time. I have things to take care of and you will have your chance for my attention. Good day, Ms. Crane.� He returned to his seat without another word, his fingers automatically going to his temples to massage away the constant throbbing that had formed from their battle and the stress her words had caused. She opened her mouth to say something else, but he looked up at her daring her to try. Instead she sighed and nodded, admitted defeat. Without another thought to replying, Sheridan grabbed her file and left before he exploded again. As she pulled close the oak door, their eyes met one more time and she noticed tears in them. She was surprised to feel a tug at her heart, a heart that had been closed off to feeling since her last engagement fiasco. Yet this man, a man that had stolen her job and pushed her into one of the subordinate positions, was able to inspire some emotion from her and that couldn�t be allowed. She would have to learn to keep her distance from him and his damn children. With a nod, she pulled the door closed and headed back to her own office to do her paperwork. Luis waited until he heard the door click shut before he lifted the framed photo of his family from the desk and allowed the first tear to fall. Leaning back in his leather swivel chair, he put his feet up on his desk and leaned back looking at the photo. It was taken the summer before Beth passed away on the beach near Harmony Cove. They had been building sandcastles, trying to outdo each other with their sand sculptures. In the photo, the three women in his life were building a sand turtle, their arms covered in the sticky sand and their eyes bright with laughter. It had been a good day for Beth, no pain or suffering as they sat along the shore and watched the waves crash against nearby rocks while the girls collected shells from tide pools. It had spiraled downhill incredibly fast from there. Sighing, Luis straightened the chair again, his feet planted firmly against the floor as he placed the photo back on the desk where he could see it again, trying to remember the feelings from that day on the beach instead of the pain he was feeling now. But he couldn�t seem to dig up that happiness, that feeling of freedom from the beach that one day. He couldn�t remember it at all and that made him feel more miserable than before. Checking the time, he realized he had an hour before he was to go meet Hope�s teacher at Harmony Elementary. He wiped away the lone tear that rolled down his cheek and looked at the folder on his desk. �Guess it�s time to get to work,� he grumbled, returning to the file he was starting on the clients he planned on meeting that afternoon. At least it should take his mind off of other things, like how right Sheridan Crane had been when she demanded his attention for her work or how much those blue orbs still haunted his every thought. |