Page 22 of The Meeting
Logan shook his head. “It’s not just that. Some of the basic expenses don’t seem right. Now that I own my own firm, I’m comparing numbers and yours seem off.”
“Maybe our place is more expensive?”
“Maybe.”
His eyebrows never straightened out—they maintained the furrow.
“Is it that concerning?”
He glanced at her. “Kailynn, you don’t have a lot of income to go off of. Paying Drew back could be a tremendous struggle.”
Her shoulders deflated. “That’s what I was worried you would say.”
“Has Chase looked at these statements?”
She nodded. “As far as I know. He texted me yesterday about contacting Drew’s lawyer to get a detail on the expenses.”
Logan’s face relaxed at that. “Good. I think before we figure anything out regarding a payment plan, let’s wait for the verdict from Chase.”
She pulled the papers back across the table to view them once more. It was all gibberish to her. She understood that some of their expenses seemed to be on the higher side, but if that’s what the bill was for, they couldn’t refuse to pay it. Maybe she needed to look at using different vendors. She shook her head at herself. She already knew she was using the best vendors for materials. What other expenses could she cut aside from moving the office inside her own home?
The weight of the world settled on her shoulders when she realized she needed to find her own place. Abi was kind enough to give up her spare room for Kailynn, but Kailynn would need more than just her bedroom to do business. Her work was already taking over her entire bedroom, and she couldn’t continue that way. It was worse than the tiny office she had in the business district.
She rubbed her hands across her face and sighed. That would be a problem for a different day.
8
Chase refreshed the screen, waiting for the documents to appear. They were promised to him fifteen minutes prior, and he had been staring at the clock the entire time while nothing appeared in his box. Finally, a new e-mail appeared from Drew’s lawyer.
He clicked on the attached pdf containing hundreds of pages of documents.
Christ. This is going to take forever to go through.
It was still early in the day and the rest of his cases weren’t an urgent matter. But with Kailynn, if he wanted to make sure she didn’t get the raw end of the deal, this was urgent.
He went to the small kitchen near his office and poured himself a fresh cup of coffee. There was no day quite like the present to get it taken care of. Settling in front of his computer, he cracked his knuckles and leaned forward, scrolling through the pages.
Three hours later, he was finally piecing together what he thought he would find. Printing the most important pages and ignoring the other fluff that was included, he started stacking the evidence in order.
Eileen knocked on his door, startling him. “I’m going to head out if you don’t need anything else.”
“Oh no. Go ahead. Have a good night.”
She waved and disappeared. He blinked rapidly and glanced at the clock. It was already getting late, and he needed to wrap this up. There were only fifty more pages left in the document. He continued to scroll.
After printing another twenty pages, he organized them, and then pulled out his phone, shooting off a text to Kailynn.
Can you meet tonight?
Sure. Where?
Come to my place? In an hour?
See you then.
For once, he wasn’t thinking about dating her or worried about making a move on her when he shouldn’t. This was purely business, and he dreaded what he had to say to her. He put all the documents into his briefcase, shut down his computer, and flicked off the lights.
He grabbed a quick takeout dinner and ate in his car outside the grocery store before going in and grabbing a bottle of wine. Before checking out, he had a second thought and made his way to the ice cream aisle, grabbing a half gallon. If there was one thing he knew about women, it was that ice cream was necessary when receiving bad news.
