Page 58 of Fierce-Zander

“Hi,” Regan said to Janine when she opened the door to Trent’s office. “I’ve got an appointment with Trent.”

“It’s good to see you again,” Janine said. “He’s on the phone but should be off soon. I’ll let him know you’re here if you want to take a seat.”

She moved over to sit in the little waiting area. It felt as if she was running from one appointment to the next right now but knew she’d have a break at lunch.

Zachery had come in and wasn’t very happy about the breakup of his marriage. He blamed some of it on her that once the one-on-one sessions started with Katelyn, that Katelyn found her voice.

Regan wasn’t going to speak about any of that with Zachery and just focused on him. Nor was she going to give him advice on how to win his wife back, knowing that Katelyn wanted no part of that.

Ultimately, it was between them and she just calmed him and explained that the key was to have open communication. He’dasked if they could do a couples session again if Katelyn was on board with it and she said absolutely.IfKatelyn was willing.

It was the best she could do. If it just meant helping them get through their divorce then she’d done plenty of them too. Usually when children were involved, but her goal was to help in any way she could.

Still no word from Zander, but it was barely ten in the morning and she imagined he was busy.

“Regan,” Trent said, coming out of his office. “Good to see you. Why don’t you come in and we can talk about what is going on.”

She stood up and followed Trent to his office. She knew he’d been in the building less than two years and she’d recently found out his fiancée was Roni who worked downstairs as the property manager.

Miles was always a source of gossip and he dealt with talking to Roni in terms of information for the building newsletter that went out.

She had to say it had given her some business and made it easy for people to come see her on their lunch hour or a break.

“Thanks for seeing me on such short notice,” she said. She’d called on Friday and explained the situation to see when she could get squeezed in.

“No problem,” Trent said. “It’s easy enough to walk across the hall. What is going on?”

“I’ve got a client who would like me to be the middle man in having Zander do some research for her on her employers. I can say this much since we have to have a written document. Zander has been informed also. I understand that Zander’s agreement will be with me. I will be responsible for the payment to him. He won’t ever talk to or meet my client.”

Trent was writing down notes. “Is there a reason your client doesn’t want to be tied back to this?”

“It’s her employer she wants looked into.” Her head went back and forth. “She loves her job. But she feels as if sometimes it’s too good to be true. She is worried that maybe something illegal is going on that she doesn’t know about, but she might just be paranoid.”

“And she doesn’t want it coming back to her if it’s discovered that she looked into them,” Trent said. “Got it. There are whistle-blower laws.”

“I explained all of that, but I think deep down she believes nothing is going on and is more worried that she might get fired or they’d think less of her for doubting them.”

“What is your thought?” Trent asked. “Based on what she has given you?”

“She hasn’t given me enough for me to feel anything is going on other than her feelings and thoughts. That is what Zander is going to do. Or his job. To see if there are any facts.”

“You’re putting yourself at risk for the fees if your client doesn’t pay you, you know that, right?”

“Which is why we want this legal document. I’ll clear everything with her first to assure she can pay it before I have Zander move forward.”

She knew it was a risk, but she felt like Sophia would honor it. Zander and Regan could have good open communication on it also. Or so she hoped since she hadn’t spoken to him since Saturday.

Nope, not letting that get in her head.

They both were busy.

“I can add a clause in the contract between the two of you that she has to pay fifty percent upfront of the fees that Zander charges,” Trent said. “I’ll also put in there that she will have access to view all the bills.”

“That works,” she said. “If Sophia doesn’t agree to pay half upfront then I can say this won’t work. I have no idea whatZander is going to charge, not until I know what he has to do. We haven’t gotten to that part yet.”

“Zander is good at his job,” Trent said. “Fair also. He’s done a lot of work for me and some of my clients.”

She smiled. “That’s good to know,” she said. “He seems like he’d be someone that was easy to work with.”

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