eyes—with their clear hazel irises rimmed by a deep brown—looked exactly as she remembered, but they seemed even more remote. He didn’t shake her hand, and she wondered if she could manage this confrontation after all.
She forced a smile. “We met at Bronwyn’s wedding to my brother, Chris.”
“Hi,” he said at last but didn’t move from the doorway.
He’d seemed preoccupied at the wedding. He hadn’t said five unnecessary words to her, and he wasn’t any more sociable now.
Like Nate toward the end of their marriage. She was surprised he kept calling her, though she still wasn’t tempted to answer.
“May I come in?” She glanced behind her at the street. “I have something to tell you, but I’d rather say it in private. It’s about your daughter.”
Griffin looked toward the center of the complex, and Sunny could have bitten her tongue. She saw fear in his eyes and hastened to reassure him.
“Amanda is perfectly fine. But something happened today at school. I thought you should know.” She didn’t see how else to say it. “Amanda stole my watch.”
Griffin stared at her for a long moment before he stepped back, motioning her inside. Feeling more uncomfortable with every second, she eased past him. In the small foyer, Sunny explained that morning’s incident. “The watch was unusual, not expensive but different. Handmade.” She described the beaded band. “When I finished my talk it was gone.”
“Why would Mandi want a cheap watch?” His gaze skimmed her again in obvious disapproval. “I’d expect you to wear a gold Rolex.”
Sunny flushed but refused to be derailed.
“During my talk Amanda glared at me the entire time. She later asked a question clearly meant to embarrass me.” Sunny paused. “I didn’t expect her to remember me from the wedding, and I didn’t recognize her at first.”
A muscle twitched in his jaw. At least she was getting some reaction now.
“You’ve got the wrong girl.”
“No,” she said, “I don’t. Your daughter was seen wearing the watch.”
“By whom?”
“Me.”
He half smiled. “That’s pretty circumstantial, isn’t it, Counselor?”
Sunny stiffened. The one word seemed to draw a line between them. All she’d been trying to do was help. But if he wanted to see her as an opponent—a prosecutor interrogating him on the witness stand—rather than as a woman who simply wanted to keep his family from more heartbreak...then, okay. Fine. The gloves came off.
“No,” she said. “It’s eyewitness.”
“Your word against hers.”
His attitude made her see red. “Griffin, I could have taken this to the principal—for starters. But because you and I have met before and Amanda is my brother’s niece, I decided to keep this in the family. I suggest we ask Amanda to explain.”
“And I suggest you leave.”
Sunny looked toward the clubhouse area. All right. Change of tactics.
“Not before I speak to Amanda.”
He moved, faster than she’d thought possible, and tried to catch her arm, but Sunny evaded the contact.
Griffin’s voice was cool but harsh. “Why don’t you go back to ambulance chasing or whatever it is you people do, and leave us alone?”
Another wave of adrenaline surged through her. First, the Rolex comment and now, you people. She tilted her chin up to hold his gaze.
“Listen, Mr. Lattimer—if that’s the way you want it. I’m well aware you’ve lost your wife and you have more than a full-time job raising two children on your own. That does not give Amanda an excuse to steal anyone’s property.”
“My daughter is not a thief.”
“I’ve worked with lots of teenagers and young adults in court, and I know all the signs of trouble to watch for. Swift mood changes, uncharacteristic behavior, furtiveness, unwholesome friendships, depression...any of that sound familiar?”
His darkened gaze faltered. “Mandi is not unhappy.”
“Maybe you aren’t looking closely enough.”
“Maybe you’re butting in where you don’t belong. I asked you to leave.” He took another step toward her. “Now I’m not asking.” Before Sunny could react, he had grasped her upper arm. A light touch but still...
She tried not to panic. His fingers felt hot through the layers of her suit jacket and blouse sleeve, as if he were touching bare skin. She jerked free.
Still bent upon getting her out of the apartment, he opened the door. “I’ll talk to Mandi about the watch, but I can tell you right now, she had nothing to do with it.”
“It was on her wrist!”
“Yeah, well. Maybe one of her friends let her wear it.” He added, “Chris said you weren’t yourself right now. Let’s leave it at that.”
“Let’s not,” Sunny began but didn’t finish.
She had stepped outside, and the door shut behind her. Her arm pulsed from the lingering heat of his fingers.
Bronwyn had warned her. Where his children were concerned, Griffin Lattimer had a definite blind spot.
Whether or not she got her watch back, Sunny didn’t intend to see him again.
GRIFFIN WAS STILL seething when he locked up that night. Where did Sunshine Donovan get off, telling him how to deal with his children? He cast a glance at Amanda’s room.
It was after eleven o’clock, and her light still glowed through the gap in the half-closed door. Then he heard her voice.
For a second Griffin hesitated. He picked his battles these days, but with an inner sigh he rapped a knuckle against her door. “Amanda?” When she didn’t answer, he knocked again.
“Go away,” she said.
That sulky tone of voice drove him nuts. It was almost as if she hated him.
“I need to talk to you,” he said.
“I don’t want to talk.”
Griffin pushed the door open. “Too bad,” he said, his mind made up.
Amanda was sitting on her bed, outside the covers. She wore blue pajamas, a bunch of pink-and-lime and green-and-purple pillows piled around her. Her
