I laugh. “No time wasted, huh?”
“Theresa’s been champing at the bit to double-date. I want to see if she approves of your choice.”
“Well, this Saturday I’ve got something unforgettable planned for her. I need to top our last date—but I’ll run it by her. I’m betting she’ll be all in.”
“Okay, keep me posted on that front…Now, what’s up with Jake?”
“As for Jake, Joel has a guy inside to make it really clear, ya know, rough him up a bit, to give him a little taste of what will happen if he even thinks about contacting Kendall.”
“You told her all of this, too? No holding back with her.”
“It’s been handled. We should hear about his sentencing next week, right?”
“Yes, unless the judge moves it up. I may have to use one of my favors to make that happen, but I’ll do whatever it takes for her.”
He leans forward with his elbows on the desk. “Well, hopefully that will be behind us soon. Keep me in the loop on all of that, but it seems like Joel’s handling it…”
“I thought you were excited to spend more time with Kendall now that your caseload was a bit more flexible.”
I stand up quickly, pacing the room. “I was, but this is important. I feel like she understands me—understands my job.”
“She sounds like the perfect girl for you, bro. Theresa is the perfect girl for me. She gets it. Understands when plans change, I have to work late, get called into the office, you know, all the things that drive most women crazy. I’m a lucky guy to have found her. And you know she reminds me of that fact all the time.” He smiles widely, knowing he is truly a lucky guy.
“She’s a saint to deal with your shit.” I laugh and smack my hand on his back. “Alright, what can I help with?”
Spending the rest of the day and night at the office, my assistant thankfully brought us food; otherwise, we’d be at each other’s throats. We get hangry, and that’s never a good sight. She knows us too well. Before she left for the day, she left a note saying dinner would be delivered at seven. I should give her a raise.
When we sit down to eat our dinner at eight o’clock, I realize my phone must still be in my office. I was determined to ensure we wrapped this up as soon as possible.
Out of the blue, I say, “Do you think she’d like a weekend away at the lake house?”
I must have caught him off guard because he blinks at me for a moment before saying, “Um, well, you haven’t been back there since you found Maggie and Al there. Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
“Maybe I need to make fresh memories there and forget about Maggie and Al. I think Kendall would love it.”
“No doubt you need to forget about them. Want me to come with you to at least be back in the place before bringing her? Then you can have your assistant take care of updating it. Changing things up might be the best way to make fresh memories.”
He’s right. I should probably step foot in there with someone before offering a weekend away to Kendall. I used to love that lake house, but Maggie tarnished it. I contemplated burning the whole thing down, but just never went back instead. Now it just sits empty with its beautiful views of Mirror Lake going to waste. There were a lot of great memories prior to the Maggie shitshow.
“Since you're pointing that out and offering, it sounds like a great idea. We can figure out a time next week,” I say, locking him in to come with me before he can back out.
“Name the day and time…I’m there.”
“Heads down for now to work through these last documents. Oh, have you seen my phone?”
“No, but I’m surprised you left it.”
“I think it’s in my office. I’ll be back.”
My office is on the other side of the firm. With huge strides, I walk through my office doorway. There’s my phone sitting on my desk, with a few missed calls. One from Joel, and the rest can wait. I call him back immediately.
“What’s up?”
“Fuck, good thing it wasn’t an emergency. I called hours ago.”
“You know the office number.”
“Yeah, true. Quick update: Jake will be handled tonight. I’ll keep you updated on that once it’s done. Kendall is still at the salon. She said another hour and she’ll be ready to leave. If I were a betting man, I’d say she likes having us around.”
