Ultimate Cedar Cove Collection

“I wish I knew,” Zach murmured. Allison continued to display plenty of attitude at home, but some of the more pressing problems seemed to have abated. Her boyfriend, Ryan Wilson, had apparently vanished. Zach hadn’t seen the boy in weeks, for which he was profoundly grateful. Allison’s questionable new friends hadn’t been around all month, either. To top everything off, her geometry teacher phoned and commented on a noticeable improvement in her grades and attitude.

“I guess earning the money to buy her own computer is exactly what Allison needed.” Rosie relaxed, leaning against the kitchen counter. “You know what? I think what you did is absolutely inspired.”

His ex-wife’s praise felt good, especially after all the tension between them in recent months. However, Zach wasn’t comfortable accepting it. “I suspect we both have someone else to thank for the changes in Allison—someone at the office. Let me find out.”

“All right.” Rosie was just as eager to learn who or what had brought about the change in Allison.

Zach knew the person to ask. Early the next morning, he called Cecilia Randall into his office. Tax season was starting and soon he’d be overwhelmed.

“Can you sit down a moment?” Zach said, gesturing her in.

“Of course.” Cecilia slipped into the chair across from his desk.

“I’d like a progress report on Allison.”

Cecilia instantly brightened. “I’m delighted with her performance. She doesn’t have any problem doing whatever I ask and her attitude is great.”

That fact hadn’t escaped Zach’s notice. “How did all of this happen?” He hadn’t meant to be that blunt, but he didn’t have time to ask discreet questions; he needed to know.

“Happen?”

He nodded. “You saw her that first day. She was an inch short of belligerent.”

His assistant glanced down at the floor and Zach realized she was trying to hide a smile. “She’s a very nice girl,” Cecilia assured him. “I’m not having any trouble with her.”

“That was the way I used to think about Allison,” Zach said. “But everything changed after my wife and I divorced.”

“Yes, I know.”

“Allison mentioned the divorce?” As far as he knew, his daughter considered the whole matter “bogus”—one of her current favorite words—and refused to discuss it.

“Not exactly.” Cecilia let her hand rest on the tablet she held in her lap. “You see, my parents divorced when I was a kid. I know what it’s like when a family falls apart. Allison just needed someone to talk to.”

Zach yearned to explain that tearing his family apart had never been what he wanted. He blamed Rosie for being jealous and unreasonable. In retrospect, he was embarrassed that he’d been so caught up in the negative emotions that had precipitated the divorce and surrounded the whole subject for months. He found it difficult to believe that he and Rosie had haggled over every aspect of the property settlement and the parenting plan. They’d each been so determined to make sure the other didn’t get a “better” deal. That was just the beginning. They were both driven by their need to prove who was right. They’d allowed pride, ego and a sense of vindictiveness to destroy any chance of settling the divorce in a civil manner.

If he’d been able to look into the future, to witness the pain he’d brought his children—if Zach had so much as guessed how lonely and lost he’d feel without Rosie—he’d have done whatever was necessary to save his family and his marriage. Before he realized how far things had gone, it was too late.

Recently, he and Rosie had begun to communicate in a more honest and more courteous manner. He knew she was dating that widower, although they never talked about it.

However, Zach’s own pride wouldn’t allow him to admit that Janice Lamond no longer worked for him. He’d led Rosie to believe she’d gotten a promotion within the firm. By now, Allison had probably told her mother that Janice wasn’t working there anymore. Rosie must’ve gloated at the news, although to her credit, she hadn’t said anything.

“Will that be all, Mr. Cox?” Cecilia Randall asked.

For a moment he’d forgotten she was in the room.

“Yes, thank you.”

Later that night, Zach drove Allison home. Rosie was spending the night with the children, and the thought of walking into his dark apartment and making dinner held little appeal. Allison sat quietly beside him.

They hardly ever talked these days, and Zach missed their conversations. She’d spurned his attempts so often that after a while he’d given up trying.

“Did you know Cecilia had a baby who died?” his daughter suddenly asked him.

This was news to Zach. “No, when?”

“Almost three years ago.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Zach said, completely sincere.

“She told me all about it. Her husband was at sea and she didn’t have any friends here to help her. It was awful and she decided she couldn’t stay married.”

“Ms. Randall’s been married before?”

“No.” Allison’s tone made him sound stupid for asking.

“So she’s still married to the same man?” It wasn’t any of Zach’s business, but he was trying to keep Allison talking. They so rarely spoke without arguing that he didn’t want their conversation to end.

“Cecilia and her husband went to divorce court, the same as you and Mom. The judge told them they needed to think it through before they rushed into a divorce.”

Zach could hardly believe any judge would say such a thing, especially in these days of no-fault divorce. “Not in those words, I’ll bet.”

“No,” his daughter agreed. “But close. Cecilia said she was pregnant when she and Ian got married and she wanted to make sure he wasn’t marrying her just because of the baby.”

Zach didn’t understand what that had to do with anything. He murmured a noncommittal response, hoping she’d enlighten him.

She did. “Cecilia had him sign an agreement before she’d marry him. Then later, when they were in the court and the judge read the agreement, she wouldn’t let them get rid of it.”

“So this judge gave them a reason to stop and think about what they were doing.”

“Right,” Allison said.

“Smart judge,” Zach said, wishing the one who’d been assigned his divorce suit had shown the same wisdom in dealing with him and Rosie. If someone had stepped in and talked sense to him and his ex, it might have saved his family a lot of grief.

“You know her,” Allison said next.

“Who?” Zach asked as he turned off Harbor Street and headed toward Pelican Court.

“The judge.” The look his daughter flashed him said that should be obvious. “It’s the same judge who was in court with you and Mom.”

“Judge Lockhart?” He supposed he should’ve known; unusual verdicts seemed to be her trademark.

“I think she must be righteous cool.”

Zach barely managed to suppress a smile. Righteous cool was something his daughter might’ve said last year. For a moment, it was almost like having her back again, the girl she’d been before the divorce.

“I like her,” she said, adjusting the seat belt strap to a more comfortable position. “And before you ask, I’m talking about Cecilia, not Judge Lockhart.”

“I know you do.” He would be forever grateful for the way Cecilia had taken his daughter under her wing.