Free Friction by Sandra Brown

history-changing, life-ending event. He’d been there. He’d witnessed the whole thing. Yet he still didn’t understand why that young man had placed himself in such a near-perfect situation to get killed.
    His consternation must have been apparent, because the judge’s expression invited him to share what was on his mind, and before he knew he was going to, he did. “I wish I could have had a few more seconds with him, you know? Maybe I could have talked him into putting down the pistol. Or I could have convinced the deputy to back away and let me handle it. Or—”
    “Or you could have been killed.”
    That statement snapped him back into the present, and to her, and to the reason he’d come here in the first place. “Right. I could have been killed. Which makes me sorry I went after him in the first place. But I did. And because I did, I’m in the big thick middle of it, and I don’t want to be. I’ve been through a mess like this once before.” He paused for emphasis. “As you well know.”
    She looked down at the floor. “It’s an unfortunate circumstance for you, and I’m sorry over it.”
    “Oh, I’m sure you’re all torn up.”
    Hearing in his tone that he meant just the opposite, she raised her head and looked at him. “Why do you doubt it?”
    “Because my being gung-ho today gives you the perfect out.”
    “I don’t know what you mean.”
    “Sure you do.” He advanced on her a step. “If you had to rule on my petition right now, this second, would you award me custody of Georgia?”
    She parted her lips to speak, but nothing came out.
    “That’s what I thought,” he said with a snicker. “After today, you can deny me custody of my little girl and walk away with a clear conscience.”
    His conclusion angered her. “After this,” she said, passing her hand back and forth between the two of them, “I won’t even be deciding your case. I’ll have to recuse myself and give it over to another judge.”
    “Even better. You can wash your hands of the whole thing.” He made a show of dusting his hands. “While I will have to start all over with a new judge. More therapy, probably. More bullshit, definitely. And more time without Georgia.”
    “Which is no fault of mine,” she said, raising her voice to match the level of his. “You were the one who dictated all that inconvenience to yourself when you showed up at my back door.”
    She was right, of course, but he’d be damned before conceding. “Okay, since you’re out of it, you can tell me what your decision would have been.”
    “I told you before—”
    “That you don’t know.”
    “That’s right.”
    “Like hell you don’t. While you were flipping through my ‘file,’ pretending to ponder your decision, you already knew what you were going to say. Right? Right
?
”
    “I don’t know what my decision would have been, and how dare you come here demanding to know.”
    “I’m demanding it because I’ve been put on notice by my father-in-law.”
    That brought her up short. She paused long enough to take several quick breaths. “Notice?”
    “Joe told me tonight that he plans to fight my petition in earnest. He’s proclaimed us enemies. We’re no longer—How did you put it? ‘Amicable’? Screw that. It’s gloves off. War officially declared. If that’s the way he wants to play it, fine. But I want to know from you if I’m going to be wasting my time—to say nothing of attorney’s fees—engaging in a battle that I’ve already lost.”
    “I’m sure he was just overwrought.”
    “Jet jockey Joe? Un-huh. He doesn’t get overwrought.”
    “He would today. Mr. Hunt, anything said in the aftermath of what we experienced this afternoon should be tempered—”
    “Dammit, I hate that.”
    “What?”
    “You talking to me like you’re sitting behind a podium, robe zipped up, a goddamn gavel in hand. Tell me straight out, no fancy talk, no legalese. Just one person to another. Were you going to rule in