Early the next morning he stopped in at The Rat before heading to his office. He'd hoped to see Marti there, even to get just a glimpse of her beautiful face and improve his mood a little.
But she was nowhere in sight, so he took a seat at the counter thinking maybe he'd wait just a while.
"Rough night?" Wanda Perkins ventured, taking in his sleepy eyes and tired demeanor.
"You could say that."
"Do you need the hangover cure, or just a cup of coffee?" Wanda asked gently.
He smiled. "Just coffee, please. Black."
Wanda poured him a cup and then lingered at the counter as he took a few sips.
"My daughter didn't have anything to do with this, did she?" she finally asked, indicating his appearance with a wiggle of her finger.
Oh, boy — did she ever. But Julian answered simply, "Just a bad night's sleep, is all."
"Mm-hmm," Wanda responded, unconvinced, but let it go.
She was quite happy for her daughter, having snagged such a catch as Julian Parrish.
Wanda genuinely liked this one, and wasn't really concerned much with that little age gap between Marti and Julian. Sometimes it just had more to do with maturity than age.
She topped off Julian's coffee. "Doughnut?" she offered. "Fresh baked only yesterday."
"No, thank you," he declined. His eyes casually scanned the room, but the only blondes present at the eatery held no appeal to him.
Marti was probably in class by now. No point in sticking around any longer.
He finished his third cup of coffee and paid the balance.
"I hope you feel better soon," Wanda offered in lieu of a goodbye.
Julian hoped so too, but he seriously doubted it. He had a court case to attend today, and although he loved his career, some days as a lawyer were a lot more difficult than others.
He sat behind his desk later that afternoon, studying up on a new case that he'd taken on recently.
His court date earlier had gone better than he'd anticipated, with his client getting a lenient sentence for his minor crime…and Julian feeling like he was one step closer to overturning Tennessee's 'Three-Strikes' law.
Even the small victories counted.
His cell phone rang, interrupting his thoughts.
"Julian Parrish," he answered without bothering to look at the caller ID.
"Mr. Parrish, my name is Tracy Baskin with the District Attorney's office in Nashville, Tennessee."
"Yes, what can I do for you?" he replied politely.
"We received an application from a 'Marti Perkins' who listed you as a professional reference. I would like to know what you can tell me about Ms. Perkins' qualifications for potential employment in our offices."
Oh, crap. So she still managed to get applications sent off before he stole her list. Wonderful.
"Mr. Parrish?" the voice on the phone prompted.
"Yes — Marti Perkins." Julian thought fast, but couldn't bring himself to give her a bad review. Facts. That's all he would give.
"Ms. Perkins is currently still in college, a former student of mine. She…stood out in class. She's very determined in her career," he finished lamely.
"In your honest opinion, would you consider her determination an asset or a liability in the course of upholding law and justice?" Tracy Baskin now asked.
"Asset."
"Can you explain that, please?"
Julian wished this phone call would end already. "Ms. Perkins is dedicated to the welfare of her clients, and instrumental in seeing that justice is carried out properly." There — that was simple and vague.
He volunteered nothing else, and after a brief pause the caller said, "Okay…well, thank you for your time, Mr. Parrish. Have a nice day."
"Same to you," he returned genially, relieved to end the call.
But the fact that he'd gotten that call at all jarred him.
Nashville! That was over 200 miles away!
Who knew how many other applications were floating around out there?
And if Marti still had more to send off…he had to find them and get rid of them — and fast.
Julian sighed. So much for his day improving.
Brow furrowed with annoyance, he returned to his case file and tried to concentrate on it once more.
He got half a page further when the phone rang again.
Probably another D.A.'s office, he figured.
He wasn't in the mood to play nice this time.
"What?" he barked into the phone.
"Well, hello to you, too," Marti's voice answered sarcastically through the line.
"I'm sorry," Julian retracted, softening his voice. "Hi, Marti."
"Hi, Julian," she responded pleasantly this time. "Is this a bad time to call?"
"No. I was just…expecting someone else."
"That's why Caller ID was invented," she pointed out with a hint of a smirk in her voice.
"Which is useful only if you bother to look at it," he countered smoothly.
She laughed. "True." Then she finally got to the point of her phone call. "So…um, Deidre and I are having dinner at Wanda's place tomorrow night…and I thought if you wanted to, you could join us. It's nothing fancy…usually just appetizers and things."
Wanda's place — that also used to be Marti's home before she moved into that Cheertown building. Maybe she kept certain paperwork there for safekeeping?
"Yeah, dinner sounds nice," Julian accepted right away. "Should I bring anything?"
"Maybe your guitar," Marti answered. "We might play a couple of songs together after dinner."
"Alright. You and I haven't played together since we all celebrated Travis' release from prison," Julian recalled with a little smile.
"That's right…I really enjoyed that."
"The release, or the celebration?" he teased innocently.
"Both, of course." She paused, then concluded with, "Okay, so…seven o'clock tomorrow night?"
"I'll be there," he replied warmly.
"Okay. I'll see you then."
He nodded, though she couldn't see him through the phone. "See you."
The connection ended, and he was left in silence once again.
He felt a tad guilty for accepting Marti's invitation primarily so he could snoop. He should have accepted simply because he wanted to spend time with her.
Oh well…motive didn't matter. Results did.