Courting Trouble Read Online Free PDF Page B

until she felt that she was finished.
    “Why don’t you work,” Tulsa said. “I need to find a tow truck.”
    Set free to do what she loved, a wide smile broke across Savannah’s face. She settled onto her work stool, her fingertips finding their home within the clay, amongst the wires.
    “Maybe I’ll start dinner,” Tulsa said softly. She pulled open the refrigerator door. A sour odor wafted out of the refrigerator. Tulsa wrinkled her nose. Milk? Eggs? Bad cheese? She lifted out the milk carton that contained an expiration date from three weeks prior.
    “Or maybe we could order in,” Tulsa said.
    Tulsa covered her mouth and braced herself against the sour smell. She turned the water on and poured the clumpy milk down the kitchen drain.
    “What?” Savannah looked up from her mound of clay. Caught in the world of her work, her myopic focus glazed over her eyes. “Dinner? Did you say something about dinner?”
    “I’ll pick something up.” Tulsa pulled open a kitchen drawer reserved for takeout menus.
    “How about Chinese?” Savannah mumbled, again consumed by her work. “Ash loves Chinese food.”
    Tulsa rifled through the newspaper clippings, a past review of Savannah’s work from the New York Times and articles about Savannah’s art shows all stuffed within the drawer. These were impressive reviews, important reviews, reviews that deserved to be framed. Tulsa contained her sigh. She pulled out the Chinese carryout menu and beneath it lay the familiar blue backing of legal documents. Tulsa pulled out the papers from the drawer. Not a good place for the legal documents that had the potential to change your entire world.
    “You got those, right?” Savannah called from across the room.
    “Just the signature page,” Tulsa said.
    By now, Sylvia must have sent the PDF of the entire petition. Tulsa scanned through the first page and then the second. Pretty standard stuff, until…
    Her heart flipped upward and punched the base of her throat. Her eyes continued to devour the words within the custody petition. With each word, each paragraph, her heart slammed harder and faster against her ribs. She couldn’t show her distress to Savannah. Even if it was merely a facade, Tulsa’s calm was the only thing between Savannah and another arrest.
    “What is it?” Panic laced Savannah’s voice.
    In an attempt at nonchalance, Tulsa shook her head and lifted one shoulder. “Did you know that Bobby is asking for sole custody of Ash?”
    “What?” The chair leg scraped across the floor. Savannah stood. She leaned over Tulsa’s shoulder. “That can’t be right. He—”
    Tulsa pointed to the offending paragraph. “The mother will have visitation at Christmas and two weeks each summer.”
    Savannah yanked the pages from Tulsa’s hand. Tulsa expected better than this from Cade, but didn’t know why.
    “He can’t have her! Tulsa, if he takes her… What if—”
    “I’ll take care of this.” Her tone was cool and reassuring, but anger burned through her chest. She flipped her hair over her shoulder. “Mind if I borrow your Jeep?”
    “The keys are next to the urn beside the front door.”
    “Urn?” Tulsa looked at Savannah.
    “Yeah,” Savannah said. “You know, where we keep Grandma Margaret.”

Chapter Five
     
    “What the hell are you doing?”
    A tingle scurried up Cade’s spine as Tulsa’s voice rolled over him. He looked up from the Pacific Reporter he’d pulled off the bookshelf in his office. The dark-haired beauty stood just inside his office door.
    “I’m sorry, Cade, she ran right past me.” Her palms turned upward, Becky, Cade’s legal secretary, stood behind Tulsa.
    “Don’t worry about it,” Cade said.
    Becky shut his office door and Cade returned the book to the shelf.
    “Twice in one day? What a surprise.”
    Her face was smooth with a deadly calm. Cade had known Tulsa long before she learned to contain the McGrath passions that rippled beneath her tranquil facade. While she