“Well, it’s my job to make sure that doesn’t happen.” Fisher swung the laptop back around to face herself. There was a kind of determination in every move she made, an announcement that she didn’t put up with any BS from anyone. She kept her eyes on the video as she scrolled through the comments. She paused to dig in her desk drawer and withdrew an orange, which she peeled in silence as she read her screen. The mouthwatering smell bloomed between them. At last Fisher drew the membranes of orange apart and held a couple out on her palm. “Want one? I just washed my hands.”

“No,” Asher said with more exasperation than he intended to reveal.

“But I need you to know right now that you’ll never get equal custody, Mr. Sharp,” she said, the chewed orange flashing on her tongue. “It doesn’t work that way. Even under normal circumstances a man rarely gets that unless the mother has been proven to be on drugs or to be abusive. And mostly with good reason.” She took the glasses from her face and looked at Asher. “The deadbeat dads make it bad for the occasional good ones. Unfortunately, there are plenty of those.”

On the other side of the door the receptionist had turned up her country music.

“She’s petitioning to be sole custodian—”

“What does that mean, exactly?” Asher asked.

“Well, if she gains that she won’t have to consult you to choose medical treatment or to make decisions about school, religion. She would even have to give special approval for you to see his grades. It pretty much gives her complete control.” Asher could see that the attorney was in her element now, lining all of this out. “So, what we want is joint custody, which would give you these same rights, and more time with your boy. But there’s no way you’ll get him equal time, alright? I want to be clear about that. Not unless the two of you come to a mutual decision about that. And maybe she’ll come around to that someday. People calm down eventually. Time works wonders in a divorce case.”

Asher felt disappointment running over him.

“The good news is that most of these comments are calling you a folk hero.” Fisher shut the laptop and pushed it to the side of his desk. “The bad news is that it looks like those comments aren’t coming from people ’round here.”

“So you’ll take the case? You’ll help me?”

Fisher didn’t crack a smile. “Hell yes I’ll take it. I’d be crazy not to.”

“Why do you say that?”