Page 14 of The Meeting
“Well, I, for one, am happy you are here,” Abi said.
Chase’s eyes met Abi’s as he said thanks and then caught Kailynn’s. Her face tinged a slight shade of pink. He wondered if she carried the same sentiment and found himself hoping she did.
She’s a client. Careful.
He smiled briefly at her and then averted his eyes. He couldn’t go breaking his ethics code now by dating a client. Especially in a new city where he was trying to establish himself.
After they finished eating, they cleared their plates from the table and sat down to play the game Kailynn and he had laid out. As a team, they tried to defeat the pandemic and spent a lot of time laughing over the different scenarios and decisions they could make.
Chase watched Kailynn, knowing he needed to keep his thoughts at bay. But the way she laughed, how she threw her head back and didn’t hold back, brought sincere joy to his heart. He would never get sick of the sound.
He shook the thoughts away and focused back on the conversation at hand. He was enjoying learning more about his new friends and wanted to make sure he didn’t distract himself to the point where he knew nothing about them except Kailynn.
“Things are going well so far. I’ve found several new clients who were sent my way by previous clients. I’ve had several of my older clients tell me they want to switch all of their finances in my direction as soon as the non-compete expires,” Logan said.
Logan explained he had a non-compete in place from the previous company he worked for, so he could not take any of his former clients with him. Once they all got wind that he quit, several of them approached him, but he told them he couldn’t help. In the meantime, they had all been sending their friends his way, so he had been able to build his business.
Logan continued, “One of the partners called me the other day. It was surprising since it’s been nine months since I left, but apparently they’ve all realized how awful my old boss Paul is at his job. They somehow realized that I was the one landing the clients, and he was taking the credit. They fired him and offered me his job.”
“Wow! That’s incredible,” Kailynn said.
Abi threaded her fingers through Logan’s. “I’m so proud of him.”
Logan gave her a kiss on the lips. “It was fun saying no. That only gave me more confidence in running my own firm.”
Despite Chase not knowing any of them for very long, he had heard some of the drama regarding Logan and Abi’s relationship history. Logan had left Abi when the pressure from his job got to be too much. It took him less than a week to realize his mistake and quit his job, only to track Abi down in Florida at her parents’ house to get her back.
Chase always loved hearing about couples who worked out, but after his own experience with marriage, it wasn’t something he jumped at the chance for. Not that he didn’t believe in love. He just thought that it would be hard to find someone who completely jived with him.
But as he watched Kailynn interacting with her friends, he wondered if maybe there was a possibility that he could find someone right for him. Someone like Kailynn. Or maybe even Kailynn herself.
He shook his head against the thoughts.She’s a client.
But she wouldn’t be a client forever. He knew the day would come when he could test out a relationship with her, or to allow himself to have lingering thoughts, but he pushed it aside for now. He needed to focus on helping her with her business before he put any energy into any other thoughts. She deserved to have the best lawyer, and that’s what he was going to be... for now.
5
Chase got to his office first thing Monday morning to gather his thoughts and look over emails. They always streamed in on the weekends, and it generally took him a few hours to get through everything. He wanted to stay on top of his workload to avoid bringing case files home. Now that he had spent more time with his neighbors, he wanted to try to create a habit of hanging out with people. He hadn’t realized how much he missed it.
Eileen popped her head into his office to drop off a few more files throughout the morning. He immediately picked them up to look through them. He didn’t miss the fact that he was excited about his appointment with Kailynn. The thought of seeing her again made his heart skip a beat.
After just getting officially divorced eight months earlier, he wasn’t sure he was ready to get into a relationship. His marriage was over far before eight months ago. Their marriage had gone downhill several years prior, but they had wanted to make it work. They should have stopped trying long before they had. The only thing they had succeeded in doing while trying to make it work was making each other miserable.
It was a blessing that Kailynn was a client, since it prevented him from starting anything before he was ready. He hadn’t even considered being in another relationship after everything had ended. The thought of attempting to make another woman happy was a daunting task and not something he thought he would be up to.
But Kailynn was special. He could tell. When Eileen showed Kailynn into his office for their appointment, his day improved drastically.
“Hey,” Kailynn said. She smiled and he couldn’t help the skip in his step when he walked around his desk to greet her.
“Hey! How’s it going?”
Chase leaned over and gave her a quick hug. Kailynn leaned into his touch. Vulgar thoughts wormed their way into his mind. Tossing her on top of his desk and doing dirty things to her was at the forefront. He almost groaned out loud.
He cleared his throat and pulled away before adjusting uncomfortably and disappearing back behind his desk before little Chase could make an appearance.
Kailynn took a seat on the opposite side of his desk and set her purse in the empty chair next to her.
“It’s going all right. It’s been an adjustment.”
