Page 20 of Trials of a One Night Stand
“That’s when I fell for Jack. Dates will take your mind off the lawsuit.”
“It’s such a pain in the ass I can’t enjoy myself.” I should’ve gotten Jayne’s number.
“Well, don’t let it be one.” Zelda motions to the stack of papers on my desk. “Is that the latest from the lawsuit?”
I pass the document to her. “Yes. From DeVaughn & Jepson.”
Zelda’s eyes skim the first page, and she points at the letterhead. “DeVaughn & Jepson? I thought McBride was representing them?”
“They switched counsel.”
“Is that why things slowed down?”
“Yes, Cliff Ranger told me the word on the legal grapevine is that Jonathan McBride perjured himself by using someone as an expert witness who wasn’t an expert and forged the paperwork about the so-called expert himself.”
Zelda blinks. “Wow. How come it’s only on the grapevine and isn’t being shouted from every law firm’s rooftop?”
“Jonathan has friends in high places, so it’s been hushed up. He can’t practice law any longer, and the official line is he’s retired, and the other partners are running the firm.”
“Retirement, my ass. Who’s going to buy that? He’s in his mid-forties.” Zelda’s gaze returns to the paperwork. “Does Cliff know anything about the new firm?”
Cliff’s the lawyer we hired especially for the lawsuit, and he is damn good at his job. He’s got PIs working for him to gather information about witnesses, defendants, prosecutors, anything at all to give him a head start in any of his cases. He says he leaves no stone unturned, and from what I’ve seen, he wasn’t exaggerating, though he expected to have gotten Sugar Valley to back down by now.
“DeVaughn & Jepson have offices throughout the Pacific Northwest, but they’re not in the same tier as McBride.” Zelda looks up at me and smiles hopefully. I shake my head. “It’s not a good change. He says they’re smaller but aggressive. Nasty and underhanded with a shark of an attorney named Everton in the lead chair. In his words, she looks like she needs to get laid but would probably eat any man alive who tries.” Seeing Zelda’s gaze narrow, I hold up my hands. “Those are Cliff’s words, not mine, and I warned him not to say anything like that in front of you.”
She rolls her eyes and places the papers back on my desk. “I tolerate him because he’s a good lawyer, Nate, not because I admire his morals. Did he say what our chances are?”
I shrug. “You know Cliff, he’s a confident son of a bitch.” I’m not sure I’d choose Cliff to hang around with outside of the case, but he knows how to win. That’s all that matters. “He’s done his homework, and we have all the papers and documents filed with the FDA and a patent pending.”
“We just have to rely on Cliff and his team to do his thing, then?”
When she says it that way, my stomach churns. Still, I nod. What else can I do or say? “He’s hopeful his motion to dismiss at the preliminary hearing will stop everything.”
“You don’t sound all that confident.” As her gaze narrows, she leans forward. “In fact, you sound worried. You’re not hiding anything from me, are you? Because if you are, please don’t. I don’t want you taking all this on your shoulders.”
I settle back in my chair. “Of course, I’m worried. This company means everything to me, but I’m not keeping anything from you.”
“You can talk to me, you know. About anything. That hasn’t changed because I’m with Jack.”
She bites on the corner of her lip, a lip that once upon a time I’d dreamed about kissing, but I don’t think about her that way any longer. Funny the lips I now think about belong to a woman I barely know.
“I know I can.” Except I can’t. Not like I used to.
“Anything you tell me is confidential whether it involves the lawsuit or something else. I wouldn’t tell Jack about your sex life or something personal if that’s what you’re thinking.”
I’m not thinking that, but of course she’d tell him. They have a genuine partnership and share everything with each other. Besides, I don’t want Jack Parker to know I can’t even enjoy a date while he’s making my ex-wife happier than I ever could. Yes, I can’t help but be a competitive bastard.
“Honestly, Zel, I’m fine.” Her determined expression tells me she won’t let this go, which means I need to say something. “If you must know, I had a date a month or so ago. I liked her, but we agreed it would be only one night. Neither of us was in the right place for a relationship. But I’ve measured every date since against it.”
“Call her, then,” Zelda exclaims. “Maybe she feels the same. Maybe she wants to see you again too.”
“I didn’t say I wanted to see her, Zel. I just said it was a good date.”
Who the hell am I kidding? I’d love another night with Jayne.
“Just call her, you idiot.” Zelda snatches up my cell from my desk and types in the passcode—I really need to change that. “What’s her name?”
“Jayne.” I grab the cell back. “But she’s not in there. I didn’t get her number.”
