Untitled #3
"Oh, yes, sir. Anything else?"
"That's it for now," he says. "Let's sit."
We are all seated around the small table, and I look at my partners and best friends for a couple of moments, then smile widely. "This feels good," I say. I look over at Max. "I'm glad you're here. I was a little bit worried you wouldn't make it."
"Why would I not make it?"
"I mean, now that you're married up and all."
"I'm not married and even when I do get married, it doesn't mean that I'm not going to make time for you guys. We're brothers, and we're partners, and we run a law firm together. We will have meetings."
"Yeah, but I don't want you to say that all the meetings suddenly have to be in the office. I like these Friday night get-togethers at the bar."
"I can't promise every Friday," Max says with a grin. "But Lila's independent. She likes hanging out with her girls just as much as I like hanging out with you guys. Plus, maybe you guys will get into relationships soon and we can go on double dates and stuff."
I shudder.
"No, thank you."
"Yeah, I don't see that happening for me anytime soon," Remington says with a shrug.
Gabe holds his hands up. "I just got back into town. I'm not even thinking about that right now."
"Fine," Max says with a grin. "You three will be bachelors forever and the uncles to my babies."
"You and Lila aren't pregnant, are you?" I lean forward, scowling. "Because—"
"Calm down, Kingston. Don't worry. No, we're not pregnant, but we will one day be pregnant, and we will have kids, and you will be their uncle, so get ready."
"I'm not ready, and I sure as hell hope you're not ready anytime soon either because…"
"Because what?"
"There are a lot of strip clubs I want to go to, and I don't think Lila will like you going to strip clubs."
"I think that's going to be the three of you," Max says.
"Fine," I say. "Anyways, shall we get down to business?" Gabe pulls out an iPad and white Apple Pencil.
"I'm high-tech now," he says, grinning. "I'm going to take some notes. I guess I should look for an assistant as well. Do any of you have any recommendations?"
"Not me," I say, thinking of Skye. I’m not the one to be recommending assistants. "I've got one that I'm currently trying to train, but if it doesn't work out, you can have her."
"Yeah, no thanks." Gabe shakes his head and looks over at Remi.
"Juniper is probably the best assistant at the firm, and I'm not parting ways with her. I hit gold when I hired her." Remi smirks like he's just won gold at the Olympics. You'd think he was the second coming of Micheal Phelps, the way his smug tone hits us all.
"You only hired her because you weren't attracted to her," I say. "Big deal. You got lucky." He shrugs.
"Yeah, well, at least I don't have to worry about us accidentally falling into bed and doing the dirty."
"I don't have to worry about that either."
"Only because she doesn't want to."
"I don't want to either."
"Tell me you haven't thought about Skye in that way."
"I have not thought about Skye in that way." My heart thuds.
"Liar."
"I'm not lying. Trust me when I say I have not thought about doing the dirty with my assistant." I direct my comments to Gabe.
"He's totally lying. Wait till you see her." Remi smacks his lips together. "She's gorgeous. Long red hair, green eyes. I bet you she is a lioness in bed."
"Um, just in case I haven't been clear, Remington, I don't want you doing my assistant either."
"Hey." He holds his hands up. "Would I do that?"
"Yes, I think you would." I'm getting heated, so I turn to Max. "What about you, Max? Do you know anyone that Gabe could hire?"
"In fact, I do," he says, nodding. "If you don't mind someone a little bit inexperienced." Gabe looks at him with a frown.
"I would rather hire someone that has experience because I've been out of the office for a while, but who is it? If you're recommending them, you must think they're going to do a good job."
"My sister, Marie, is in need of a job."
"What?" I look at him in surprise. "Marie wants to work at the firm?" His sister has zero legal experience.
"She wants to make some money," he says, stifling a sigh. "You may not know this, but Marie's pregnant."
"No way!" Gabe’s eyes widen. We don't know Marie very well, as we've only met her a couple of times, but I know he's as shocked as I was because Marie is only eighteen, about to turn nineteen.
"Yeah." Max sighs. "I don't even want to talk about it."
"Um, I'll think about it," Gabe says with a nod, the expression in his eyes dark. "I would have to interview her and make sure that she's not going to be a liability, but if you think she'll do a good job, I'll consider it."
Max shakes his head and shrugs.
"Honestly, I don't know if she'd do a good job, but I'd be grateful if you at least gave her an interview. She doesn't want to work for me because she thinks it’d look like nepotism."
"But working for me wouldn't?" Gabe asks with an arched brow, and we laugh because we all know Marie wouldn't even be a consideration for a job if it wasn't for Max.