I switched to her Instagram account, ignoring the heckling I was getting from her brothers, Eli and Killian. There was a picture of her with piles of books; she was hugging several of them and she’d inserted a heart. I liked the picture and went back to my messages.
Owen:Are you trying to make me jealous?
Payton:Yes.
I saw more of Payton’s brothers than her over the next few days. Callum turned up at Cases, Soho for the band with his colleague and Sunday was spent getting our arses kicked at rugby by a rival law firm. That led to a marathon drinking session and a huge Sunday lunch at a pub by the river, where all the Callaghans were present, including Payton and her new niece.
I smoothed down the collar of my shirt and checked my tie: Wednesday had come around quickly, which meant mediation had arrived. Dave disagreed with the sum the forensic accountant had suggested and had his own accountant look through the finances. Today would be the start of the fight to come to sort some kind of fair agreement as to what I’d buy him out for.
“You ready?” Payton said, coming into the room. “Enough coffee?” She was wearing a navy blue suit, the trousers showing off every curve on her arse and I’d been trying not to stare when I’d seen her earlier. Full business mode had been engaged and I was in the client zone—nowhere near the friend zone.
“I’m good.” I was, just slightly apprehensive. I’d known Dave for years and genuinely liked the man. As to why my mother had called it off, I was still not just in the dark but blindfolded. Today would be the first time I’d seen him since they’d broken up and I was bracing myself for an awkward exchange.
“Okay. We’re going to go into the conference room where the mediator will go over the facts and outline what we’re trying to do here. Then she’ll speak individually to you and Dave to find out what your bottom lines are and hopefully we’ll get an agreement.” She sat down next to me and put her hand on my arm. “Hey, you look worried.”
I shrugged and pushed my glasses back up my nose. “I really like the guy. I don’t want to be in this situation and ideally I’d like him to stay on as my business partner.”
“Has your mum said anything else about it?”
“No. She has another date on Saturday. I was hoping you would be free so we could date-stalk again.”
Payton laughed, both hands wrapped around my arm now. I felt better with her there although I hoped she didn’t offer the same attention to all her clients. “I don’t think your mum will appreciate that.”
“She won’t. But before Dave you should’ve seen who she dated. It was a parade of ex-cons. Dave was the first person I knew apart from my father who was verging on normal,” I said, pouring more coffee.
“Maybe that’s the reason she ended it.”
“What’s that?”
“She’s wondering whether there’s something more exciting out there.”
“Maybe you’re right. It’s a good restaurant anyway: Padella,” I knew what her response would be as we’d talked about Padella a few times. It was her favourite, so I’d already booked a table for the two of us.
She tried to bite back a grin. “And you know I won’t turn that down. You have an invite for Sunday lunch at Max and Victoria’s the day after. The whole family and extras are going so earplugs are recommended, or tranquillisers.”
“Noted.”
“Come on, let’s go get this started.”
* * *
Six hours later and we were nowhere near to a conclusion. Bee Jeffries, the mediator, was frustrated as every suggestion I agreed to was turned down by Dave. Once we hit seven o’clock we’d all started to wilt. Payton had told me that mediation would go on as late as it needed if there were signs that it could be resolved but she was now coming to the conclusion that we were going nowhere except court.
“Right,” she said, closing the door to our room. “We’re done. Bee’s recommended to Dave that he goes back to his lawyer and seriously thinks about what he wants from this. His lawyer is banging his head against the wall, and I mean that quite literary, as anything reasonable that’s been suggested to Dave, he’s shot down like a pheasant on the Glorious fourth. He doesn’t want to sell, Owen. He wants your mum back.”
I cursed under my breath and stretched my back against the chair, hearing it click. “That’s not the best place to be in,” I said.
She looked confused.
“The middle. Do we need to see Bee?”
Payton shook her head. “I think she’s left already. She’s working in Birmingham tomorrow and didn’t anticipate this going on so long. Dave and his lawyer were heading out too. You want to grab something to eat?”
“Always,” I said. “Where can I take you?”
“My treat. Let’s find something we can eat with our fingers or a plastic fork.”
* * *
