Read Online Conflicts of the Heart by Julie Michele Gettys - Free Book Online

jeez.” She raced to answer this call. She worked herself into a snit over what could be a hang-up or wrong number. The lock clicked. The door flew open. She grabbed Michael's hand and dragged him in with her, snatched up the receiver and drew in a deep breath. No buzz…only a hollow silence. Had she made it?
    “Dana, this is John Meyer. Are you all right?” She spoke with John this morning and he took the case with a promise to call her back soon.
    “Oh, John, I'm sorry. I was outside trying to unlock my door when I heard the phone ringing. I should have given you my cell number. Hang on a moment.”
    Michael, still upset over her erratic behavior, stood in front of her, staring down at his feet. Pulling him to her breast, she hugged him so tight he grunted. She pushed his hair away from his forehead and kissed him, then sent him to his room with a tweak on his cheek.
    After a deep breath, she sat in the chair next to the phone. “Sorry, but I've got my hands full here.”
    “Would you like to call me back when you’re settled?”
    “No, I’m fine. Just needed to catch my breath.”
    “I want to get started right away. I'll need all the information you promised me. Can you fax it?”
    “I'll take it to my office in the morning. When will you serve Joel?”
    “As soon as I can get a court date.” A moment of silence passed.
    “Are you afraid?”
    “No, but I think we should meet with him first to show him what we have. Maybe he'd rather work this out instead of going back to court.”
    “I don't know. He might have time to adjust his income even more before we get him into court. Then you'd be right where you were the first time around. You know him better than I do, so I’ll leave that up to you.”
    Joel used to be clever when manipulating his paperwork, and never gave a damn about her or their son. Maybe she should take John’s advice. “Surprise him.” She exhaled, knowing she made the right decision.
    “If everything you say is correct, we should have no trouble tripling Michael's child support and getting Joel to take responsibility for some of those debts.”
    What a God send. “He hasn't even been paying what he owes me now. I don't know how I'll get him to pay me more.”
    “You don't have to put up with that. You just need to turn it over to Family Support. They'll get it for you.”
    “I should have said something to the judge about his earnings the first time around. We wouldn't be going through this.”
    “Why didn't you?”
    “My attorney told me if I couldn't prove it, I couldn't say anything. I totally forgot about the box in my closet. Then the judge's ruling hit me like a thunderbolt. My attorney just wanted to get it over with.”
    “If I had been your lawyer that would have never happened. Did you know about the shoebox?”
    “I’d totally forgotten. Our lives were in such turmoil. A box of receipts was the last thing on my mind.”
    “We shouldn't have any trouble this time. Can you free yourself up for a week, if necessary?”
    “When?”
    “Early September.”
    .. She started calculating dates. PNA's contract expired in August. Negotiations should be in the bag. “That'll work out well. I'll get this stuff off to you in the morning. Thanks, John.”
    After setting the phone down, she sank back and closed her eyes. Joel will come unglued when she presents the judge with copies of checks and invoices he received for computers he sold and hadn’t reported as income. He’d have no way of explaining his way out of that.
    Fortunately, she kept copies of everything in a shoebox, in case of an audit. Joel cocooned himself in his creative world and never thought of making copies of anything. At the time, she thought keeping the records in one place helped him, and never considered that, one day, she could use the information against him. Fortunately, for her, the movers took the shoebox when they moved.
    Her goal now: keep Patrick on track so negotiations didn’t bog down. She