Shooting the Moon by Brenda Novak

law. But he abandoned Audra when she was pregnant with Brandon and has never paid a dime of child support. I don’t think the courts will be very sympathetic to him.”
    Lauren moved her hands away from her mouth so she wouldn’t be tempted to bite her nails. “I’m not so sure. Aren’t judges notorious for favoring a child’s birth parents?”
    “That’s in adoption cases.”
    “Exactly my point. I’m merely Brandon’s guardian.”
    “I know, but I don’t think you have to worry about that. I’m more worried about Harley taking matters into his own hands.”
    “What does that mean? You can’t mean he’ll try to kidnap Brandon?”
    “Who can say? My brother doesn’t think he’d go that far, but—”
    “But this is the brother who ate thirty pieces of pie at a pep rally in high school, then threw up all over Kimberly, right?”
    Damien sounded embarrassed when he answered. “That’s Tank. But your father won’t let anything happen to Brandon.”
    Quentin was halfway across the world. How could he stop Harley from snatching Brandon? How could he stop him from suing for custody? “Even if he was home, I don’t see that my father has any more options than I do.”
    “Don’t kid yourself, babe. He has options.”
    Lauren felt a headache coming on. Too many sleepless nights and worry-filled days. “If he has so many options, what are they?”
    “He’d handle it like he did ten years ago.”
    “He’d threaten him with bodily injury? Have you seen Harley these days?”
    Damien made a noise that sounded like a snort. “Your father wouldn’t fight him, Lauren. He’d buy him off.”
    Buy him off? Lauren sat up tall, stunned because it was the first time she’d actually considered that Harley might be after something other than Brandon. He hadn’t seemed insincere about wanting to meet his son. But he’d taken money from her father years ago. Maybe he was back for more.
    “Just think about it,” Damien was saying. “A few thousand dollars and the problem goes away.”
    “But Harley said he loves Brandon.”
    “If he loved him, he would’ve come around long before now, right? Cash is king with guys like him.”
    Lauren pictured Harley in his leather jacket, sitting astride his motorcycle, and remembered the neighborhood where he used to live. “He could probably use the money. I doubt he makes a very good living.”
    “What does he do?”
    “He sells motorcycles.”
    Damien chuckled. “Just what I would’ve expected. Now I know he’s after money.”
    Lauren played with the phone cord, relieved to have found a possible solution to her dilemma but sick at the same time—sick that Harley would use his own son for financial gain. Somehow, something in his eyes had made her believe he was sincere…. “How much should I offer him?”
    “I don’t know. Just remember that he’ll probably take you for as much as he can get, so start low.”
    “Ten thousand?”
    “Do you have that much on hand?” he asked.
    “I can get it.”
    “Then start with five.”
    “Okay.”
    A pause. “Are you nervous about meeting with him? Do you want me to be there?”
    Lauren was tempted to say yes but stopped herself. This was Damien, the Damien she’d broken up with several months earlier because she couldn’t love him, the Damien who wouldn’t give up. It wasn’t fair to accept help from him now, not when it would only raise his hopes again.
    “That’s okay,” she said as the door burst open and Brandon came charging into the house.
    “Hi, Aunt Lauren!” he called.
    Lauren smiled and waved as he jogged through the kitchen on the way to his room. Kimberly appeared a moment later wearing a tennis skirt, her face devoid of makeup, her streaked hair pulled into a ponytail beneath a navy visor. She selected a banana from the bowl on the table, then looked Lauren up and down. “Hey, weren’t you wearing that last night?”
    “Listen, I have to go, Damien,” Lauren said, “but I really appreciate