The Hollow Page 0,63

a limited power of attorney for you, so you can handle the settlement. We won't be here for it."

"I'll look it over. I have to run upstairs. I'll be back in a minute."

"Your first appointment's in fifteen minutes," she called after him.

"I'll be back in one."

He was true to his word, and walked straight to her desk. He put a wrapped box in front of her. "It's not a going-away present. I'm too mad at you for leaving me to give you a present for that. It's for everything else."

"Well." She sniffled a little as she unwrapped the box, and made him smile at the way she preserved the paper, folded it neatly before opening the lid.

They were pearls, as dignified and traditional as she was. The clasp was fashioned as a jeweled bouquet of roses. "I know how you are about flowers," he began when she said nothing. "So these caught my eye."

"They're absolutely beautiful. Absolutely-" Her voice cracked. "They're too expensive."

"I'm still the boss around here." He took them out, put them around her neck himself. "And you're part of the reason I can afford them." His credit card had let out a single short scream on being swiped, but the look on her face made it all worthwhile. "They look nice on you, Mrs. H."

She brushed her fingertips over the strand. "I'm so proud of you." Rising, she put her arms around him. "You're such a good boy. I'll think of you. I'll pray for you." She sighed, stepped back. "And I'll miss you. Thank you, Fox."

"Go ahead. You know you want to."

She managed a watery laugh and rushed to a decorative wall mirror. "Oh my goodness! I feel like a queen." In the glass her eyes met his. "Thank you, Fox, for everything."

When the door opened, she bustled back to her desk to log in his first appointment. By the time he escorted the client out again, she was gone.

"Alice said you and she had said your good-byes." Understanding shone in Layla's eyes. "And she showed off her pearls. You did good there. They couldn't have been more perfect."

"Stick around a few years, you may cop some." He rolled his shoulders. "Gotta shake it off, I know. Listen, Shelley's coming in-a quick squeeze-in."

"Are you going to tell her about what happened with Block?"

"Why would I?"

"Why would you?" Layla murmured. "I'll pull her file."

"No, I'm hoping we won't need it. Let me ask you something. If you loved a guy enough to marry him, and he screwed up big time, would that just be it? Say you still love him. One of the reasons you fell in the first place was because he wasn't altogether bright, but pretty affable, and he loved you back. Or would you give him another chance?"

"You want Shelley to give him another chance."

"I'm Shelley's lawyer, so I want what she wants, within reason. Maybe what she wants is marriage counseling."

"You asked her to come in so you can suggest she might want to try counseling." Studying him, Layla nodded slowly. "After he beat the crap out of you?"

"Extenuating circumstances there. She doesn't want the divorce, Layla. She just wants him to feel as crappy as she does and more so. I'm just going to give her another option. The rest is up to her. So, would you give him another chance?"

"I believe in second chances, but it would depend. How much did I love him, how much did I make him pay before giving him that second chance. Both would have to be a lot."

"That's what I figured. Just send her back when she gets here."

Layla sat where she was. She thought of Alice's damp eyes and beautiful pearls. She thought of Fox bleeding in the kitchen, and the pain that leeched every drop of color from his face. She thought of him playing guitar in a noisy bar, and running toward a burning house to save the dogs.

When Shelley came in, eyes glittering with fury and misery, Layla sent her back. She thought a great deal more as she answered the phone, as she finished the Monday morning business Alice had begun.

When Shelley came out again, she was weeping a little, but there was something in her eyes that hadn't been in them when she'd come in. And that was hope.

"I want to ask you something."

Here, Layla thought, we go again. "What is it?"

"Would I be a complete fool if I called this number?" She held out a business card. "If