Second Season Read online

  She didn’t know how she really felt about her family responsibilities. If she were totally honest with herself, she’d admit that motherhood was starting to bore her. Most days she felt like an underappreciated chauffeur and tutor as she shuffled the kids to and from their various activities, then helped them with homework when she had the chance. However, she could only imagine what the world would think of her if she actually voiced her feelings. She wanted change, but hadn’t yet found the courage to make it happen so that it didn’t totally devastate the people she felt responsible for.

  In the meantime, Tully strolled through the front entrance of the hospital and waved to all the volunteers manning the desk. They were blowing up balloons to hand out in the wards. If she had to guess, she’d say the youngest of them was seventy. She enjoyed seeing people almost at the end of their road help those whom illness had stranded at the side of it.

  She waved one last time before she headed toward the clinic section, where Jessica’s nurse recognized her and stopped to converse.

  “Dr. Badeaux, have you finally come to your senses and decided to start practicing medicine instead of suing people?”

  Cathy’s remark had a bite to it that surprised Tully. “Come on, Cathy, you know how much I love suing people. You wouldn’t want to take away my fun, would you?”

  “Uh-huh.” The nurse put her chart down and stood rigidly, as if impatient for Tully to get to the point.

  Tully glanced at the rest of the people milling around, not seeing the one she was looking for. “Is Jess here? I thought I’d take her to lunch if she isn’t swamped. Lately you all have been working her to death, so I’ve come to rescue her for a while.”

  Cathy’s face remained neutral. If anyone in the hospital kept strict regular hours, it was Jessica. In by nine and gone by four. If Jessica was putting in extra hours, it wasn’t here at Children’s.

  “It’s about time, but you just missed her.” She picked up her chart again, obviously avoiding eye contact with Tully. “Said something about getting a bite to eat. I just don’t know where.”

  Tully was sure the portly woman wouldn’t have held up under cross-examination. Years of courtroom work had taught her to read people and know with certainty when they were holding something back. “No problem. I didn’t make an appointment, after all.”

  Though the sarcasm was hard to miss, Tully was sure the nurse didn’t want to be put in the middle. After all, she worked for Jessica.

  “I’ll tell her you stopped by. I’m sure she’ll be sorry she missed you.”

  Tully fought the urge to call Cathy a liar and left without another word.

  Not wanting to go back to the office just yet, she headed to the coffee shop in the lobby of her building. An hour of reading the paper and enjoying a latte sounded like the best course of action. She was surprised to find Libby Dexter still behind the counter taking orders, since she usually knocked off by ten to attend classes. Tully had been coming in every morning for the last couple of years and had conversed briefly with Libby every time.

  “Counselor, you’re running late today.” Libby pushed a stubborn strand of blond hair behind her ear and smiled.

  “So you’re still here on the off chance I’d stop by?” Tully teased in return. “I’m flattered.” In truth she really was, since Libby always seemed happy to see her.

  “How about a cup of coffee on me?”

  “How about I pay for the coffee and give you a big tip, and you can ask for your bribe anyway?” A few weeks earlier, after one of their regular daily conversations, Tully had finally realized that she knew more about the young barista than she did about her own daughter.

  Libby was a law student in her second year at Tulane, working as much as she could to cover what her scholarship did not. Their talks sometimes became a tutoring session when Tully came in and ended up helping Libby through a tough spot at school.

  Tully always tipped generously, considering what she paid for the actual coffee, because she remembered how many peanut butter sandwiches she’d eaten during law school, not having the heart to ask her parents for one more dime. Every time Tully said to keep the change when she handed Libby a twenty, the young woman could eat a little better than Tully had when she was in college.

  “Do you really have time to talk?” Libby fixed the coffee the way Tully liked it and smiled even more brightly before handing it over.

  “I have as much time as you want, since it seems I’m not needed anywhere else at the moment.”

  “It’s my contract law class. Professor Lange is a pompous ass who constantly tries to make me look like a buffoon.”

  “John Lange is one of those people who makes the old saying true, so I wouldn’t worry too much about him. Just get through the semester and you’ll be fine.”

  “What old saying?” Libby pulled her contract law book out of her ever-present bag, along with a list of questions.

  “‘Those who can’t, teach.’ John knows the mechanics of the law like no one else in the city, but what good are tools if you don’t know how to use them? In the classroom he’s a menace, but in the courtroom, he’s a buffoon. I took his class almost twenty years ago, and it sounds like he hasn’t changed a bit.” She threw her newspaper on the extra chair and examined Libby’s notes.

  During the next hour Tully explained the subject matter in a way that she hoped would teach Libby what she needed to know in a way she could remember, even under her professor’s withering questioning. As she started in on the last question, Tully could feel herself blush when her stomach growled. The night and morning with no food was starting to catch up to her.

  “Tully, when was the last time you ate?”

  “Yesterday at lunch…I believe.” Now that she thought about it, Tully couldn’t remember exactly.

  “That’s it, come on. I’m treating you to lunch as a way to thank you for all this help.” Libby closed the book and pried her notepad out of Tully’s hands.

  “You don’t have to do that. I’ll be okay, and we only have one more question to go.”

  Libby shook her head and had to retrieve a few stray locks when they came loose from her ponytail again. She really needed a haircut, but that wasn’t in her budget for the month. “I think I finally have you figured out.”

  Tully’s spontaneous laugh shed years of weariness from her face, and her eyes seemed to come alive, if only for a second. “I’m glad someone does, because lately I couldn’t begin to explain what’s going on with me.”

  “You focus on something and the rest of the world falls away, doesn’t it?”

  Tully didn’t detect any malice in Libby’s words, unlike Bailey’s similar remark that morning, so she took the comment at face value. “I’m focused, so I guess your assessment of me is correct. Years ago, when I lived alone, it wasn’t much of a problem, but I guess I should have paid more attention all this time, huh?”

  “That’s not a bad trait, Tully, but I want you to start taking better care of yourself. If something happens to you, who’s going to help me through law school?” She put her hand on Tully’s forearm and smiled again.

  At times like these the walls in Tully’s heart crumbled for the briefest of moments, and she felt lonely. “Come on, let’s get something to eat.”

  Despite Libby’s objections, they ended up in a nice restaurant with linens and fine china on the tables, since Tully insisted on treating. And after the waiter told her they didn’t do takeout, Tully ordered five lunches. Libby walked out with dinner for the next three nights and told Tully that her inventive way of getting around firm, set rules was what made her a success when it counted.

  After they parted, Tully called the office to inform Roxanne she was taking the rest of the afternoon off and headed home. Not much of a cook, she stopped and bought Chinese, making sure the selections included everyone’s favorite dish. She changed into a pair of shorts, set the table, and looked forward to a nice family dinner once her wife and children actually arrived. She fig
ured the only way to change things she didn’t like was to start trying something different.

  Four hours later, the back door opened and Jessica entered, issuing orders about homework and chores to Bailey and Ralph, who trailed her. They all stopped abruptly and stared from her to the table, since Tully didn’t usually get home for another hour or so.

  “I didn’t know you’d be here.” Jessica looked at the containers in the kitchen. “We stopped for something after Ralph’s practice.”

  “I could eat again, Mom.” Ralph winced when Bailey slapped him on the back of the head.

  “Stop being such a suck-up,” Bailey muttered before heading up the stairs to her room. A minute after the door to her room slammed, the music started.

  “It’s okay, Ralph,” Tully said. “Go on up and do your homework. Just let me know if you need any help.”

  The hug her son gave her before leaving the room made her feel like crying for some reason, but she put the feelings aside and hugged him back.

  “I’m sorry. If I’d known, I would’ve brought them home for dinner.” Jessica had yet to put her bag down, but she looked like she wanted to bolt from the room. “Why don’t you fix yourself a plate? No sense in letting it go to waste.”

  Something was different about her, but whatever it was hadn’t jumped into Tully’s focus. The woman standing fifteen feet from her wasn’t the woman she’d fallen in love with, and hell if she knew when that had changed. She still loved Jessica, but plainly Jessica no longer felt the same.

  “Is there something you want to tell me?”

  “What do you mean?” The leather strap of Jessica’s purse creaked from the pressure she was putting on it.

  “I stopped by to take you to lunch today.”

  “Oh yeah, Cathy said she saw you. I was having a bad day and decided to skip out for a little while and grab something somewhere quiet.”

  Under Tully’s scrutiny Jessica’s intense focus on the stack of egg rolls gave her away. She was lying, but this wasn’t the time to get into it. Their kids were upstairs, and Tully didn’t want them growing up in a war zone. When she and Jessica had their talk, they would be alone, and she wouldn’t give up until Jessica came clean.

  As Tully rounded the breakfast bar wearing shorts and a T-shirt, she remembered her med-student days when Jessica had admired her tan skin, bare feet, and visible muscles from hefting nets from the water and carrying buckets of ice on her father’s boat. In fact, Jessica had pursued her until Tully took an interest. Those long-past days had been full of love and affection.

  She strode past Jessica and into her office, the food left opened and forgotten, her appetite lost to hurt feelings.

  Chapter Three

  The next morning Jessica was surprised when Tully didn’t mutter as much as usual in the bathroom. And she didn’t have to invent an excuse why she didn’t want Tully to touch her because Tully made no move. She simply dressed, picked up her coat, and folded it over her arm before leaving. Jessica felt relieved in a way, but the new attitude told her that Tully had finally taken the hint and given up, which saddened her more than she would’ve thought. Now if Jessica wanted the situation to change, she’d have to make the first move.

  Tully walked to Bailey’s door first again and knocked loud enough to be heard over the music. When Bailey opened it, her hostile glare killed any greeting Tully might have offered. “If you want a ride I’m ready to go. I have court today, so I’d appreciate it if you meet me in the kitchen in five minutes.”

  Bailey opened her mouth, but for once the rude comment died in her throat. Her mother looked different and it wasn’t a good change. Tully had been many things to her in her short life, from hero to punching bag, but one thing she never associated with her was defeat. Not the kind of defeat she was witnessing now.

  “Ralph, you ready?” Tully called through his door.

  In the kitchen she handed them what they had asked for the morning before and held the door open for them to head to the car. When Tully started the engine she turned on the music they had listened to the morning before and seemed to drive to their school on autopilot. She didn’t comment on the language or attempt to make conversation.

  “Have a good day,” Tully finally said when she stopped in front of the school.

  “You too, Mom,” Ralph said. He got out and stood next to the car, waiting for Bailey.

  With her hand on the door handle, Bailey stopped when Tully asked her the last thing she ever expected. “You don’t like it here, do you?”

  “It’s not totally lame, I guess.”

  “Sometimes, Bailey, I ask you things because I really am interested in an answer and not because I’m setting you up for a lecture. What about this place don’t you like? How about if I phrase it like that?”

  Bailey’s anger receded a bit and she stared at her mom. “Why do you want to know?”

  “Because eventually you’re going to see that high school is a blip on the radar, but when you have to live it every day, it’s miserable if you don’t like it.”

  Tully never took her hands from the steering wheel because she didn’t want to set herself up for another rejection, but she ached to engulf Bailey in her arms and take the sad face away. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want, but if you ever do, I’ll listen and try to come up with a solution that’ll make it better.”

  “Thanks.” Bailey hesitated before getting out. She didn’t say anything else, but she smiled a little when Tully nodded.

  “Anytime, Bailey Bean.” The nickname made Bailey’s smile broaden, and for once she walked away from the car as if she wasn’t facing execution.

  “You were due in court in an hour, but Iverson’s clerk called and said the judge had to move us back to tomorrow.”

  As Roxanne followed Tully down the hall to her office, Tully knew she was wondering why the front of her shirt and pants was covered in coffee and she’d been cursing under her breath from the minute she’d walked in.

  “Lady Luck is smiling on you today,” Roxanne continued, “so stop cussing before you work yourself into a coronary.”

  The closet in her office usually held a set of clean clothes, but when Tully opened it, the bar was empty. “Shit, I forgot to bring the damn things back after I took them to the cleaners.”

  “Go home and change and get back here as soon as you can. I just got off the phone with some potential clients I think you’re going to want to take. They’re coming in this afternoon at three.”

  “I’m already working two cases, Rox, so we wouldn’t be doing them any favors if we stretch ourselves too thin.”

  “Just listen to their story, and if you don’t want to take them, I’ll find them a new attorney myself.”

  “All right, let me get out of this and I’ll be back in an hour.”

  They headed back to the elevators.

  Roxanne surveyed Tully’s shirt. “How did that happen, anyway?”

  “Some idiot elbowed me when I started to take a sip because he thought I was talking to the server too long. He was in a hurry, I guess.”

  “Were you?”

  Tully punched the button for the elevator three times, though she knew it wouldn’t make the cars move faster. “Was I what?”

  “Talking to the server too long?”

  “Libby was telling me how her class went last night after I gave her some pointers yesterday. She wasn’t that long-winded.” Spending time with Libby provided her a guilty pleasure every day, so an occasional miffed customer was a small price to pay. Libby fawned over her and seemed to enjoy her company, and, absurdly, Tully kept hoping that Jessica would feel the same way about her once again.

  “You better stay out of coffee shops until you get back. We have a lot to do and you need to look the part.”

  Tully was still laughing about the comment when she turned into their driveway thirty minutes later. She had to slam on her brakes when she found a car parked in her spot. Her first thought was to call the police, b
ut she decided to investigate the situation herself. Since the sticker on the front windshield read Children’s Hospital, it was a safe bet that Jessica had invited a friend home for an early lunch.

  The container of imperial chicken from the night before was sitting open on the bar with a spoon sticking out of it, as was the container of egg rolls. The only things missing were plates or any sign of Jessica. For once, Tully was glad their house still had carpet up the stairs and on the second floor. They’d meant to put down wood but never gotten around to hiring someone.

  She walked down the hall to the open door of the master suite and, when she reached it, felt like someone had twisted a knife in her gut. What she’d found different about Jessica the day before hit her like a two-by-four across the forehead. The top two buttons of her wife’s blouse were missing, probably because the redhead who was going down on her was too impatient to open them the old-fashioned way.

  As Jessica’s moan reached Tully’s ears, an overwhelming wave of nausea hit her. Jessica had her eyes shut, obviously enjoying what her lover was doing so much that she didn’t hear Tully. That changed in an instant when Tully grabbed the woman by the back of her head and jerked her off the bed.

  “Tully, don’t,” Jessica screamed as she tried to cover her nakedness.

  “Tully, don’t?” she roared. “You fuck some piece of shit in my bed and I’m just supposed to walk out of here and let her finish?”

  The naked woman cocked her fist back and connected with Tully’s eye before she could complain about anything else. The blow was so hard that her eyebrow started to bleed instantly, but Tully wasn’t about to retreat. She hit back, throwing the woman into the dresser.

  “It’s my fault she’s here, so take it out on me if you want.” Jessica held the sheet up around her. “Don’t hit her again. Just tell me what you want and I’ll do it.”

  “What I want?” The movement behind her made Tully turn around, only to get hit two more times. “What I want is to kill this piece of shit, but I’ll settle for this.” She felt some deep satisfaction when her blow connected, making the woman’s head fly back. The redhead landed in a heap, in no shape to get up again.