Accidentally On Purpose Part 28

"Good," I said and turned away. "Spit your gum out."

"I'm in love," a third man said, standing between Luke and Steven. All three looked at me in awe.

"This is Jordan, another attorney," Luke said, unable to take his eyes off of me.

Jordan stood there with a dumb smile on his face.

"Why are you three looking at me like that?" I asked.

"We can just tell that you're going to be awesome," Steven said. "I've been trying to get my niece to fix her hair for two years."

We all looked over at Kacey, Steven's niece apparently. She was texting again, but when she saw us watching her, she quickly put her phone away and got busy trying to make sense of her desk.

Our little huddle soon dissipated. The men went to their respected offices and I began what felt like an impossible task of getting the office in order. I started with hooking up all of the equipment - printers, fax machines, and computers. By lunch time, I had a whole back section of the office set up, and a small area up front to receive clients.

"This looks great," Luke grinned, looking around.

"We still have a very long way to go, and your files are a mess. I have Kacey fixing some of it, but it's going to take a while."

"I have to be in court in a little while. I'll be back to get you around five."

"No," I waved him off. "Just get Lucas and go home. I will be fine getting back."

He started to say something, but the door opened and two people hauling files walked in, bickering. Luke interrupted them for introductions. They were the fourth lawyer, Lanna and a paralegal named Craig.

Lanna looked like she was fresh out of law school, and Craig looked like he was fresh out of high school. They were both pleasant when introduced and complimented me on the work I did so far. After some small talk, Lanna closed herself into her office and Craig plopped down at a desk near Kacey.

"Don't work too late," Luke said and smiled at me before walking out the door.

I stood there for a minute. He had smiled at me more than once today. After weeks and weeks of barely acknowledging me, this should have been refres.h.i.+ng, but instead it was unnerving. I didn't allow myself to think about it much longer though. I still had a ton of work to do.

When I got back to Luke's that night, dinner was on the table (last night's meal that apparently went uneaten) and Lucas was bathed and ready for bed. I eagerly took him from his father and bathed him in kisses. I had never been away from him for such a long period of time.

"Mommy missed you so much!" I cooed at him. He smiled and laughed, showing off his three teeth. "Aww, you're breath smells like string beans!"

"My mom made you another apple pie," Luke said, hovering nearby. "She said it's a gift for returning to work."

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say that your mother wants me to stay fat." I still had a few extra pounds of baby weight that refused to go away.

"You're not fat, but if you don't want the pie, I will gladly take it off of your hands."

"Touch my pie and I'll break your fingers. Lucas, say night-night to daddy,"

"Dah dah dah dah dah!" Lucas squealed at Luke, scrunching up his face.

After getting Lucas to sleep, I peeled out of my work clothes, took a quick shower, and then put on some warm pajamas. Luke had just reheated dinner again and was bringing it back to the table. We almost never ate together. I almost didn't sit down.

"Are you ready to quit yet?" He asked after sitting down.

"I was ready to quit when I walked in the door."

"Sorry. There just hasn't been time to set up."

"Kacey and Craig both could have been helping with that."

"Maybe so, but in Craig's defense, he's one paralegal working for four attorneys."

"Fair enough. I think Kacey worked more today than the total time she's been with you."

"I guess Steve and I should have handled her better. I think she thought this would be a free ride because Steve's her uncle."

"You can't afford free loaders. I think she will work out though. I need to ask you if it's okay that I hire a cleaning company to come in and clean three nights a week."

"I can't afford it."

"I can. I'll pay for it."

"No, I can't let you do that."

"And I want to hire a few more people. You need at least one more paralegal."

Luke looked at me funny. "There's no money for that."

"There's my money."

"No. I won't do that."

"Let's be frank," I said, between bites of food. "If your firm doesn't get its s.h.i.+t together, you're going to drown. Chicago is full of other small firms that already have their s.h.i.+t together and that's where the clients will go. I can even help you bring in upscale clientele, but you have to have your s.h.i.+t together first."

"I know your family is well off, but do you personally have that kind of money? I doubt it."

"You don't know that. We've never discussed my finances before."

"So, let's discuss them."

I looked at my wrist. I was wearing only a small fraction of the a.s.sets I actually had.

"I am a trust fund baby," I started. "I've been getting an 'allowance' dumped into an account every four months since I was eighteen. My parents paid for my education, my car, and all of my needs until I got out of college. I've always worked and saved most of what I earned. My family doesn't flaunt their wealth, and unless you looked a little deeper, you probably didn't know that we not only have our one 'plantation' in Louisiana, but several spread out in other states. Your cotton unders.h.i.+rt probably originated on one of my family's farms. My father is highly invested in oil and a couple of other resources. The bar I love so much? It's mine. I own it, and it does well.

"When Donya was modeling, she paid me to handle her finances. Then other models paid me to handle their finances.

"When I first started working at Sterling, I bought stock as soon as I could. I sold it soon after I left, and they were doing extremely well."

I paused before divulging the next bit of information. I wasn't sure how Luke would feel about it.

"I also left with...with compensation."

"Like a severance package?" He asked, unable to hide his shocked expression from all that I told him.

"Something like that. Walter Sterling paid me out of his own pocket to go away."

"Are you f.u.c.king serious? You took a bribe?"

"Yep. I was going to return it, but after...after what happened before I left Jersey, I decided to keep it. I haven't touched any of it."

"What happened?" He leaned forward.

I wasn't ready to go there with him, so I gently shook my head.

"I don't want to talk about that," I said. "My point is, I want to help you and I'm perfectly capable of helping you. You should let me."

We sat in silence for a long time. Luke stared at his empty plate, tapping it with his fork. Every now and then he would look at me with the same thoughtful expression.

"A loan," he said finally. "Everything you spend, I pay back, with interest."

"No interest."

"With interest," he said firmly.

"One percent."

"Eight percent."

"Two and a half," I countered.

"Seven and a half."

"Four."

"Six and three quarters."

"Five percent is the highest I'll allow," I said firmly. "You're being ridiculous."

"You're being too generous," he argued.

"I feel like I owe you something."

"You gave me a kid, Em. You don't owe me anything."

"What if he grows up and turns out to be a loser?"

"Then I may insist on some compensation. Until then, you don't owe me anything. So, I'll accept a capped loan, with five and a half percent interest."

"Capped? I don't know how much I'll have to spend in your c.r.a.ppy office."

"Then I suggest you set a budget, Miss Grayne."

"Fine," I said. I took our plates into the kitchen and loaded them in the dishwasher. Luke leaned against the counter, drinking a beer.

"You agreed to that too fast."

"No, a budget is fine." I wiped down the counters and stove and then got myself a beer.

"So, what kind of budget did you have in mind?" Luke asked.

"Oh, I don't know. Not much."

"I don't believe you. How much is not much?"

"Well...you need more staff, more equipment and furniture, advertising, and money just to function for your clients."

"How much, Em?"

I shrugged. "I guess...one and a half million."

Luke choked on his beer for a few seconds. "One and a half million dollars!"

"I can do two or three," I said, knowing he wanted me to go lower and not higher. I was amused by his reaction.

"I thought maybe a hundred grand, at most most two fifty. Not two fifty. Not over a million over a million!"

"I said I can do two or three!"

"You're crazy. Two fifty, and no more."

"What's wrong with one mil?"

"Did you ever consider the possibility that I won't be able to pay that back?"

"You will," I insisted.

"You're insane."

I sighed. "I really want to do this, Luke."

"It's a lot of money, Emmy."

I shrugged. We stood on opposite ends of the kitchen staring each other down. Luke looked away first.

"Okay," he said grudgingly.

"Okay," I said.

"Can we have pie now?"