Sara. I am the one who drew up his power of attorney. It was the first one I had ever done. Dad stood over me. I wish to God that that had never happened. Water under the bridge, as they say.
“But to answer your question, sure you can take the folder but be sure to return it. I hate to rush you, but I have to leave now.”
Avery looked up at the tall, lanky man with the infectious grin and thanked him. Ellison laughed out loud. “You’re wondering how someone my height, my weight could have played varsity football, right?” Snowden nodded. “Speed. I was also on the track team. Fleet of foot and all that. I wanted to go the pro route and I had a good chance at it, but then I blew out both my knees, and that’s how I ended up being a lawyer. Listen, call me and keep me updated, okay? I feel like I owe Andy my best, so if there is anything I can do to help you, I will, and there will be no charge.”
The two men shook hands; then Snowden was sitting in his rental staring at the accordion file. He’d actually seen Sara Windsor and hadn’t even known it. He wondered what he would have done had he known it was her when he first laid eyes on her. He made an ugly sound in his throat at where his thoughts were taking him.
Snowden warned himself not to go there, not yet anyway. Soon, though.
Chapter 13
Sara Windsor Nolan, also known under dozens of other aliases, sat down at the kitchen counter on one of the tufted, luxurious stools she’d bought on a whim for $900 a pop. Were they worth $900 each? Probably not. The only reason she bought them was because she could. These days, she could buy anything she wanted anytime she felt like it. She had what she believed was unlimited money, so why not spend it and try to make herself happy? Why not indeed.
But the money did not make her happy. She knew that even if she were the richest person on the planet and had a trillion dollars sitting in a box next to her, she still wouldn’t be happy. The only thing that would or could make her happy was Andy Nolan, and that was never going to happen because Andy Nolan was dead and buried.
Andy had shared his body, his love, his passion with that twit Bella Ames. How was Sara supposed to forget that? There had been other twits before the twit he had married, but they didn’t matter. A series of one-night stands didn’t mean a thing to him, and that’s precisely what Andy had told her. And she believed him. Andy had never lied to her. In fact, Sara doubted that Andy even knew how to lie. He had gone on to explain that every guy had one-night stands. Everyone knew that. Here today and gone tomorrow. They meant nothing.
She let her mind take her back to that week when Andy had visited her in San Francisco and how wonderful it had been. Until the last day when Andy went out to buy some shrimp to cook for dinner and forgot to come home because, as he put it, he’d met the girl of his dreams. She was the one for him. The one he was meant to meet. In a fish store, no less. His soul mate. And wouldn’t you know it was on the day before he was to leave to go to Oklahoma. He was devastated.
All he kept saying was, “You have to meet her, sis. You’ll love her. I love her already, and I just met her a few hours ago. I got her phone number and address. I’m going to try to get back this way before I get my final orders.” He kept gushing about Bella, and all she could do was paste a sick smile on her face as she prayed for Bella whatever her name was to drop dead. That night, though, after Andy fell asleep, she went through his wallet and copied down Andy’s new love’s address, name, and phone number. Information was power.
Even though she had not planned to go to Oklahoma with Andy, she changed her mind at the last second after she learned about Bella from the fish store. Together, they left San Francisco for Oklahoma because there was no way she was going to let Andy