Page 27 of Joint Custody

“I feel like I’m in trouble and being called to the principal’s office,” I joked.

“Pfft, you? You never got in trouble. You wouldn’t have a clue what that would feel like,” Anthony responded.

I rolled my eyes. “Oh, yeah. ‘Mr. Bad Boy,’” I taunted him as he laughed.

“What the hell is wrong with you two?” Jared’s voice rumbled through the office.

“Come on, man, loosen up, it’s not that big of a deal,” Anthony said with a grin as he sat down in the wheeled chair in front of Jared’s desk.

“What were you both thinking?” Jared retorted, leaning forward on his desk as Anthony let the chair swing from side to side without a care in the world.

“We were thinking that maybe you weren’t having the best day and had a lapse in judgment,” I said as I also took a seat, hating the way it moved backward with me.

Jared scowled at us both. “This is all just a big joke to you, isn’t it?” he asked.

I felt the need to speak up for Tiffany as I let myself become serious for a moment. “No, Jared. Actually, it isn’t.”

Anthony spun to look at me, surprised by the change in my tone but he didn’t disapprove. “Yeah, man, come on, she’s your best friend’s little sister. What’s the worst that could happen if you hire her?”

“Listen, we get it. You’re hyper careful when it comes to hiring people because you don’t know who you can trust. I know you’re looking at us two right now and the alarm bells are going off in your head over whether you can even trust us still. You’re probably even wondering if you should fire us,” I started.

He lowered his gaze from mine, looking down at his tie and straightening it out. Okay, then. Wow. Bastard really thought about it. But was I surprised? I meant it, I did understand him. It still jarred me a little thinking about how easily I could’ve lost my job if Jared decided to be impulsive. “But I think you know deep down in your heart that we did not make the decision we did with any intention to harm you or your company. I think you know that we care about you. And because we care about you, we care about Crawford & Beam. I think you would also know, if you cared to look at her credentials, that she’s an amazing fit for us,” I continued.

“Yeah. And look at it this way, it’s nice to know someone in high places so Chris,our best friend, I seem to have to keep reminding you, thought of you. She’s just trying to get her foot in the door, and she has merit,” Anthony added.

“Does she? Where the heck was she? She turned up over an hour late to the interview looking like, excuse me for saying it . . .” He lowered his tone. “. . . looking like she had a late night and morning rolling around in bed with her lover.”

Crap. He could see all that on her? I felt like I swallowed something sharp as I tried to clear my throat in silence so as to not appear suspicious.

“And besides, she’s still got a lot of growing up to do. There are plenty of capableadultswith plenty of merit, looking to get their foot in the door as well. Do you know how many people I considered rejecting because I thought she was as great as you guys say she is? And for the love of all that is good, can you please stop talking about her like she’s this abandoned little puppy on a doorstep with no hope in the world unless I save her? Her family are the Levines for heaven’s sake. I think she’ll be okay.” Jared waved his hand away, without any sense of guilt.

“I don’t know why you had to enunciate the word ‘adults’ like that. She’s twenty-one and graduated from law school with honors. Sheisa capable adult, first of all. Second of all, you’ve experienced nepotism, you know how hard it is to work through that,” I responded, a bit sensitive from his argument.

“Yeah, and the key point is thatI worked through itbecause life isn’t easy and at the very least,lawisn’t. I was grown up enough to understand that. And if she’s so freakin’ great, then she won’t have any problems being hired at any number of firms,” he said.

I scoffed and was about to speak as Anthony took the words right out of my mouth. “You really are a pain in the ass, you know that, right?”

Jared stared at us, and I saw the shift in his eyes marking the moment he decided to stop acting like a spoiled little brat, leaning forward to level with us. “Look, it’s sweet what you guys are doing. I get it. You care about Chris, and you care about his sister. I care about Chris but I’m not taking the risk with his sister. I’m just being honest with you, she feels unpredictable and careless, and from a business standpoint, I would be taking an unnecessary risk hiring her,” Jared responded.

“Well, she’s hired.” Anthony shrugged.

“And she’s the opposite of careless, I’d say. What she managed to achieve takes a great deal of determination, dedication, and care,” I added.

He ignored me, responding to Anthony as I tried to fix myself in the seat and reprimand myself for being so damn obvious.

“So, what are you trying to say? She’s hired and I can’t do anything about it?” Jared growled. That one hit something within him.

“I’m saying, it’s going to require a bit of legal work firing her, since we didn’t add a probationary period to the contract, valid for one year, so you’d have to legally give her two-weeks’ notice and compensation for those two weeks. Then she could argue wrongful termination.” Anthony shrugged. “I mean, sure, you could win. We know you could. It’s not rock solid or anything, but do you really want the hassle?”

“And this could be argued as extortion.” Jared cocked his head to the side.

“Really?” Anthony asked.

“And technically,” he said, piping up as he pulled a tennis ball out of the drawer and began throwing it up in the air. “I didn’t sign off on the contract, so it’s moot anyway.” He laughed and spun his chair slowly, tossing the ball toward me as I caught it, with a smile on my face.

He thought he had us. I shook my head. “Only problem is, Jared, it didn’t need your signature.”

At that moment, his assistant knocked on the door. On my way to the office, I’d asked my own assistant to have Tiffany’s file ready for Jared. He looked toward the door in confusion as his assistant called out. “Mr. Crawford, is it okay if I come in?” she asked.

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