“Are you afraid I’ll change my mind?”
“Why put off til tomorrow, Gareth, what can be done today…and it’s only fair that you keep it brief. After all, I spent most of Saturday typing the whole thing on my phone.”
“Only because I couldn’t, you know.”
“Oh, yes, I’ve seen you use a phone. You know how it works.”
“No. I didn’t have my phone at the time.”
“Why?”
“Penny confiscated it so I would have more fun.”
Hazel laughed. Poor guy, being forced to have more joy in life. That must have been tough. “She wanted you to make peace with me and have fun while you did it? That’s asking a bit much, isn’t it?”
“My point exactly.”
Fighting a smile, she quickly lowered her gaze. “Add the new points and just print it, okay?”
Gareth sighed as if it was extremely difficult for him to voluntarily follow any of her instructions, but he did as he was told. Hazel made sure to look over his shoulder as he made the final edits – just to make sure he didn’t change a single word – before Gareth’s printer sputtered to life and spit out their contract in duplicate.
“To social, hate-free inter-colleague teamwork,” he muttered before signing them both and pushing them toward her.
“We should establish that as a toast,” she replied, signing her name next to his, taking a deep breath, and slipping one of the contracts into her briefcase. “Now that we’ve got that out of the way, I’d like to cash in on my carte blanche...” She glanced at her watch. “…now.”
Gareth opened his mouth, perplexed. “What?”
“Just come with me. My favor is on the other side of town.”
“I repeat: what? You already knew the favor you needed?”
“Yes, and I didn’t want to give you the chance to say no,” she explained, batting her eyelashes.
His expression darkened. “I have appointments, Hazel.”
“Then cancel them.”
“I don’t cancel appointments.”
“Then reschedule them.”
“I don’t reschedule appointments!”
“Then learn to do it, Gareth. A little spontaneity would do you good.”
“Who says?”
“Me! Am I speaking too softly?”
“No, just too much.”
She rolled her eyes. “It’ll only take an hour, really. It’s a…small thing.”
“What kind of small thing?”
“It’s a legal matter.”
“Why the hell do you need me for a legal matter? You're always telling me you’re a better lawyer than I am!”
