Vanessa’s words came back to her, along with the faintly queasy feeling Leigh had been battling all day. She didn’t like this situation one bit. She understood, probably better than anyone, Vanessa’s fervent desire to hit reset on her life and create a clean slate. How many times had Leigh wished for that exact thing? But it was a fantasy. It couldn’t happen. Unfortunately, her attempts to persuade Vanessa of that fact had failed miserably. It had been like giving legal counsel to a brick wall.

Leigh towel-dried her hair and ran a wide-tooth comb through it, all the while racking her brain for that magic argument that had eluded her while she was sitting around the Roadhouse Motel with Vanessa and Cooper and a hyperactive ferret that kept burrowing in the sheets. Why couldn’t she have normal clients, like other lawyers? Clients who came in with straightforward problems and wanted straightforward solutions? Over her five-year career, Leigh had had precious few clients like that—mostly when she’d been working for Thornton & Davis. They were the exception. Much more often, Leigh attracted people who had an uncanny knack for making their problems worse, not better. Clients who seemed intent on acting as their own worst enemy.

She’d somehow known Vanessa was going to be one of those from the very first day. She’d had a feeling about it, a strong one. And now, lo and behold, exactly two meetings into the attorney-client relationship, she and Vanessa were neck deep in a quagmire of lies and deceptions.

Leigh smoothed lotion on her arms and legs and then rubbed a few drops of lavender oil onto her temples, hoping against hope to nip her headache in the bud.

The sound of her doorbell made her freeze.

She checked her watch. It was 4:40. She wasn’t expecting anyone, and her shoulders tensed as she threw on a sweatshirt and jeans and hurried to check the peephole.

Brandon.

Leigh closed her eyes and cursed softly. She’d known. The instant she’d heard the bell she’d somehow known it was him. Who else would it be besides the one person in the universe she needed to avoid having a conversation with right now?

She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders before opening the door.

“Hi.” She forced a smile.

“Hey. I left you a message.”

“I got it. Sorry.” She stepped back to let him in. “I was planning to call you, but my afternoon got sidetracked.”

He rested a hand on her shoulder and kissed her softly on the forehead. The sweetness of the gesture made her chest hurt.

“How do you feel?” he asked.

“So-so. I got rid of my headache this morning, but it seems to be coming back.” Guilt needled her as he gazed down at her with concern. “How are you?”