Page 15 of Belle Amour

“Maybe.” She allowed as she curled up in the round papasan chair she had bought at a second-hand store and refurbished to match her living room colour scheme, based on the castle at Disneyland, shades of teal blues and beige. Bastian sat on the end of her couch closest to her and rubbed his forehead, trying to organize his thoughts. “I'm sorry, Mira, I’m so sorry.” He didn’t know what else to say at this point. “I fucked up - badly - numerous times over the last few months.” He spread his hands in supplication. “I thought I was doing the right thing, but clearly, I should have explained myself better to you.”

“And what exactly were you doing, Bast?” She folded her arms over her chest and glared at him. “Because from my point of view, you were putting your head in the sand and indulging the little princess to keep the peace in the office just like her father.”

Bastian shifted uncomfortably. He could understand why it seemed that way to her and mentally kicked himself for keeping her out of the loop on his progress. “I really was working on getting things together so we could leave; I just didn’t realize the process would be so long.” He ran his hand through his hair and shook his head in frustration. Can I just start at the beginning? It will be easier to explain my thought process that way.”

Mirabelle nodded, and he could see a faint hint of curiosity in her eyes, which he took as a positive sign that she was willing to hear him out. Taking a deep breath, he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and folding his hands. “When John informed me he was hiring Kelly, I immediately started looking into what we had to do to start our own law firm. I remembered the process vaguely from university, and I knew the first step was to get a PLLC in place.” He met her eyes, trying to convey how sorry he was. “Everything else was pretty straightforward, but the PLLC still hasn’t gone through. I was warned it could take several months, and I didn't want to end things with John on a bad note or see him fail because of Kelly, despite everything that was going on.”

“I understand why you thought I was ignoring all the problems, but I swear, I did talk to John - several times - about the way Kelly was acting and treating you and the other staff members. I warned him that she was causing problems and that you and everyone else weren’t going to put up with it for very long. He would either blow me off, or he would bring her in and ask her about it. She would immediately start crying and turn it around on you guys.” He rubbed his face in frustration as the numerous conversations with John came back to him. “I was hoping you would just follow my lead and ignore her, but that was stupid because you aren't the type to let that stuff go.”

“Besides the fact that the PLLC is taking forever to go through, I couldn’t fully focus and put the energy into everything else I had to do because John kept giving Kelly cases that she had absolutely no business handling, cases that would torpedo the office’s reputation if she failed. If that happened after we were gone, fine, I planned to sit down with John and give him a final warning when we resigned, but I didn’t want to be on theship when it started to sink, so I helped her, which, as you know, sucked up all our free time because my caseload doubled.”

“Why didn't you tell me any of this? Or ask me for help?” Mirabelle had been listening quietly and he could see she was at least starting to understand the predicament Bastian felt he was in, but she was also beginning to look more frustrated about it.

“You already were helping way more than you knew. I was asking you to handle all the paperwork and background stuff for Kelly and me. I knew you were very unhappy about it and the way things were going in the office, and I couldn’t bring myself to ask you to do anything else.” He explained lamely. He knew it wasn’t a good excuse, but he genuinely was trying to keep her as uninvolved as he could, not wanting to add to her stress.

“Bast, you know things work better and happen faster when we work together.” She was scolding him, but her voice was much gentler than it had been since he picked her up at the bar. “You should have told me.”

“I wanted to do this on my own; I wanted to show you I could do this.” He shook his head and sank back against the couch, feeling like an idiot and a selfish one at that. “I knew you were pissed off with the situation and with me, but I didn’t think it would take so long for the PLLC to come through. I kept thinking it would be the next day, the next week, and now we’re three months into this, and I’ve spent the last week getting everything else ready, so I could show you how serious I am.”

“Everything else?” She raised her eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“The trademark on the firm’s name has been approved; the logo has been designed; the bank accounts have been opened; the office space has been rented; everything else is in place. We even have our first client as Adrien & Avery… We’rejust waiting on the damn PLLC.” He looked at her, hoping he had won her over.

“Bast...” Mirabelle trailed off and didn’t seem to know what to say. She did look pretty impressed and faintly touched, though, which made him extremely hopeful. “You put my name first?”

“Well, it does come first alphabetically.” He shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal, and he had chosen logically instead of just because he would always put her before him going forward. Mirabelle let out a low chuckle and smiled as she shook her head, rolling her eyes playfully.

“Okay, okay. Fine, I forgive you.” She laughed again, still shaking her head. “Alphabetically.” She snorted. “Right.” Bastian grinned and held out his hand to her, wanting her in his arms.

“Prove I have your forgiveness; come cuddle.” She laughed again, letting him pull her out of the chair and over to him so he could hold her. “I really am so sorry, Bunny.”

“I know.” Mirabelle tucked her head under his chin, and he couldn’t help but press his face into the top of her head, holding her to him and breathing in her tropical ocean scent. “You were sorry the minute you walked out of your room and saw me standing in your condo.” Bastian smiled as he adjusted slightly so she was in a more comfortable position in his arms. “I have some money put away.” She looked up at him with a grin. “I've been putting money away to start our practice for a while. I was gonna surprise you with it.”

“Really?” He smiled at her, then kissed the tip of her nose and her forehead, pulling her into a tight hug. “I have a better idea for that money. Do you still want to go back to school and upgrade to environmental law?”

“Yes.” She pulled back and looked at him, excitement blooming in her eyes. “You'd be okay with that?”

He nodded, pleased that he was still able to make her happy like that. “You can do it online, work on it whenever, and we can claim it as a business expense.”

“And I get to decorate the office, right?”

“Yes, Mirabelle. You can decorate the office.” He rolled his eyes and chuckled. She was much better with interior design than he was, which was funny because he was much more into fashion than she was. “Everything would just be brown and plain if I do it.”

“With ugly artwork.” She teased as he settled back into the couch with his arms around her, his eyes closing as his lack of sleep caught up to him.

“With ugly artwork.” He agreed. “Your taste is better than mine, so do your thing. We can go see it after we get some sleep and breakfast.” He stood up, balancing her carefully in his arms and carried her to her bedroom while she giggled madly. He set her down, walked to the other side of the bed and crawled in next to her, pulling her against his chest. “Night Bunny.”

Chapter Twelve: Breakfast & Crossword Puzzles

Bastain woke up a few hours later, lying on his back with Mirabelle’s head on his chest, her arm around his waist and his around her shoulders. He lay there for a long moment, just enjoying the feeling of holding her again. He grinned as he watched her eyes move behind her eyelids, wondering what she was dreaming about, then picked up his phone from the bedside table, ordered breakfast from their favourite breakfast spot, Griddle, and arranged to have it delivered to her condo.

He slipped quietly from her bed, being careful not to wake her, went to the bathroom, then went down and got his laptop from his car. He usually would go workout in the morning, but Mirabelle’s condo didn’t have a gym, and he didn’t want to leave with breakfast on the way. Back in her condo, Bastian sat at her kitchen table, checking the email he set up for their new law firm. After he passed in his resignation at Henderson on Thursday, he spent a couple of hours drafting an email that informed his former and current clients that he and Mirabelle had left Henderson and started their law firm. For his former clients, he just included the new contact information and address for the new office and that he was available should they need him.

For his eight current clients, he explained he left Henderson, and they could choose to stay with him; he wouldn’t charge them their deposits again; they just had to sign some paperwork stating they wanted to continue with Bastian, which he included as an attachment. He was pleased to see roughly ninety percent of their former clients had responded positively, assuring him they would be in touch if they needed his services and that all eight current clients would be following them to their new office. He answered a few questions and then got a text from the delivery guy that the food was in the lobby.

He let himself back into the apartment just as Mirabelle was coming out of the bathroom. “Morning, Bast,” she said sleepily as she stretched. “Is that Griddle?” She grinned. “Did you get my French toast?”

“Of course, I got your French toast.” He moved the laptop to a chair, pulled everything out of the bags, and set up the table for breakfast. “I also got your favourite citrus juice thing.”

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