He gasped and pointed at his face. “That won’t work at all. Look at this mug. It can’t get messed up.”
“You mean it can’t get more messed up than it already is?” I joked.
Hunter started lifting his middle finger but then quickly dropped it and pasted a wide smile on his face. “Hey, look. It’s the A-Team. Hi, ladies. Come to help us brainstorm names for a renovation business?”
I looked up to see April and Adi walking in, and my heart jumped at the sight of them. April’s brow furrowed and she tucked her chin closer to her chest. “You and names for a renovation business when there are tools involved? I’m sure you don’t need our help to come up with a good one.”
“Great minds think alike,” I said, getting to my feet and going over to pull April into my arms. “You should hear what he’s already come up with. If we use those names, we’re going to have angry husbands targeting us for the rest of our lives.”
She laughed. “Okay, now I want to hear it, but later. Can I talk to you for a minute first?”
My stomach turned to steel as I released her. “Sure, what about?”
Opening her purse about an inch, she showed me an envelope wedged inside. “Outside?”
“Yeah.” I ran a hand over my head. “Sure. Let’s go.”
I glanced at Adi, winking before I pointed at Hunter. “I did most of the flooring, so he promised to clean up. Mind keeping an eye on him while he sweeps so we know he hasn’t just swept everything into the corners?”
She giggled, bouncing her head up and down. “I’ll make sure he does a good job.”
Hunter pretended to be offended but then stepped back as he grabbed two brooms. “You know, you’re moving so well again now it’s like you were never even hurt. How about you sweep with me?”
Taking the broom from him, she moved like she was about to start sweeping but then suddenly wielded the broomstick like a sword. “Think you’ll be able to keep up with me?”
He laughed and mirrored her pose. “Bring it on, little one. I can sword fight for days.”
Adi leaped into action like she was a champion on a mission to defend her title, her laughter echoing in the mostly empty cavernous space. Hunter looked taken aback at first but quickly realized he’d underestimated her.
“She gets better every time I see her,” I said to April, reaching for her hand. Adi knew we were together now and was thrilled about it, but we still tried not to be overly affectionate in front of her.
Not that we’d do anything inappropriate anyway, but with the court case still hanging over our heads, we had to assume our every move was being watched. Howard had warned us that people often hired private investigators against their exes during custody battles and that even one picture of us kissing could be spun as something much, much worse.
Until the hearing was over, which would only be in another two weeks at the earliest, we were unable to really move on. I wanted them to move in with me, but I couldn’t even bring it up right now. Adi wanted me to go to her school’s career day, but Howard said it might look too much like I was trying to muscle Craig out of her life.
April desperately wanted to go away for a weekend, but we couldn’t even do that in case something happened with the case while we were away. Technically, we could do all those things. We just didn’t want to take any chances.
None of what we wanted was worth the risk of losing Adi. I’d had several meetings with Howard by myself. Our back-up plans had back-up plans, but he’d assured me that going through with this hearing was the best possible first step.
Craig had been quiet since his accident. He’d spent over a week in the hospital and had a long road ahead of him in terms of recovery, but he was also still staring down the barrel of criminal charges. Adi never had been his first priority and I was pretty sure keeping himself out of prison had taken precedence over his fight about her.
Howard had been in touch with his lawyer on my instructions. At first, the man said they planned on going ahead with the custody suit. But Howard had assured me he was on it and had been keeping me in the