Susan woke up feeling relaxed and refreshed. She couldn’t remember sleeping that well in a long time, and it was nothing more than a couple of hours nap. She rummaged through her suitcase and then her clothes, which were hanging in the closet, trying to decide what to wear. She couldn’t decide on chic casual to impress Lisa or down home comfortable to fit in with Charles and Joyce.

“Wait a minute,” she said to herself in the mirror as she held both outfits up in front of her. “Why do you want to try to impress someone you’ve never met before?” The little nagging voice in the back of her head said this woman was a lawyer who just happened to handle adoptions, and she’s right here in town while there is something wrong with her own adoption case for little Billy.

She found this was weighing heavily in the back of her mind, and when she admitted it to herself, she found it even harder to push back. It just seemed like too much of a coincidence to her. She knew the sheriff had said she was here because of the Florida woman’s kids, but it all seemed too odd to her, the timing was just too perfect.

She would fight for little Billy with all that she had. She didn’t doubt her love for him and she knew he was meant to be in her life. Things over the last couple of years had been haywire. She felt that each event had lead to another, and had brought her to this point in time. So, she would not let anyone take him from her, no matter what she needed to do. Even if she needed to play with Lisa’s emotions to get her on her side, and Susan knew she was just the woman to do it too.

“Sheriff Charles would not do that to me,” she decided out loud. “You’re just being a silly paranoid, so stop it now and have fun this evening.”

“So trey chic it is,” she decided. “Hell, if she was going to impress on this woman that she wasn’t a bad person, or a bad mother, then she might as well go all the way,” she thought.

She carefully put on the added touches of jewelry she needed after dressing and doing her makeup. Admiring the final result in the mirror, she was satisfied that she looked as good as she could look after the day she’d had.

In the elevator, on the way to the convertible, she made a pact with herself that she was going to put Stephanie and all the other bullshit out of her head. She was going to have fun and scope out this lawyer to see if she could figure out her intentions.

She had been told that the car was parked on the top level of the hotel-parking garage in spot number thirteen. As the elevators opened at the top level, she came out to find all but a few spots empty. At the very back of the parking lot she could see a very shiny, brand new, red convertible. Seeing no other, she knew that was her rental, but was taken aback, never expecting it to be red.

“No way,” she thought as she got closer and pushed the unlock button on the remote. She had been holding her breath, until the light on the car blinked and the horn sounded. “Oh I love this car,” she said out loud to the deserted surroundings of the garage.

She didn’t realize she liked sports cars, until that very minute when she got in behind the wheel. “This one is a big, big difference from the last time I rented a car.” She said as she tried all the gadgets, while thinking back to that moment