Page 3 of Love and Order

“I have court in an hour. Should we flip a coin to see who takes point tomorrow?”

“Very diplomatic. I was expecting you to offer statistics and case study on why leading with a pit bull female attorney in a contested divorce case is best,” he said, trying to lighten her mood.

“I could, but I feel like a coin toss will take less time and has more luck in convincing you I’m the better choice.”

Finn laughed and dug a quarter out of his pocket.

“Call it,” he said, then flipped the coin up in the air.

“Heads I take point,” Hailey said just as he caught the coin and flipped it onto his hand.

She took a step closer and the sun shining through the windows made her blonde hair glow, like an ethereal angel.

He lifted his hand to reveal the tails side of the coin staring up at them.

“Perfect. See you in court tomorrow at eight a.m.” She didn’t hide the annoyance in her tone and collected her things with vigor.

“Maybe we should discuss the case more this evening,” Finn suggested. “We can order food and review our tactics? Then you can make sure I won’t embarrass you.”

“No need, it will be a short and sweet hearing. We’ll declare our plan to fight the plaintiff’s claim to Pleasure Inc and request discovery on any and all documentation they have on the business dealings. Then file Mrs. Tovar’s request for full-time custody of their son with a fifty-fifty split on all of his educational expenses. Easy day.”

“Alright, but I think they are going to make tomorrow more complicated than you expect.”

Finally, she met his gaze, and the full power of her sparkling blue eyes were on him. “I agree, they will fight us at every turn, but no amount of prep tonight will change that. So get a good night’s sleep and be ready not to blow our case before it even gets started.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, partner,” Finn said to her back as she headed for the door.

*

The next dayin court, Finn took point as planned, and as expected, the plaintiff disagreed with the ownership of Pleasure Inc and the request for full custody of their son. But Finn made one huge error in his request for evidence to support the plaintiff’s claims with the inaccurate phrase “full disclosure” when they addressed the judge. The moment the words left his mouth, he knew he’d made a misstep. Disclosure was common and needed, but in the absence of not providing a narrower scope in the request for material, they ran the risk of the plaintiff bombarding them with mind-numbing amounts of paperwork. And that was exactly what had been happening since they returned to the office. Mr. Tovar’s lawyers were couriering over every document they had seized or had access to, pertaining to Mrs. Tovar’s business and the marriage of eighteen years. The conference room was filled with legal boxes.

“Another box of random documents and knickknacks were just delivered in response to your overboard request for discovery,” Hailey said, setting down a huge box on the already-covered conference room table.

If he didn’t know better, he’d say there was a smirk on her mouth, but she didn’t smile, ever.

“Look, I realized the mistake as soon as it left my mouth in court this morning. I’m sorry. Why don’t you take a break while I sift through everything and try to determine what we really need to see?”

Lifting the top off the box, Hailey peered inside. “The problem with that idea is I’d have to trust you to know what will pertain to this case and what won’t.”

“Ouch, do you ever give anyone a break?” he asked.

“You’re still my competition for the partnership, remember? There are no breaks here. For all I know, you requested full discovery with no boundaries to overwhelm me.”

“That doesn’t make sense. I’m at the same disadvantage, and neither of us will get the partnership if we blow this case.”

“Exactly why I plan to go through the contents of every box before moving forward with the plan to argue Mrs. Tovar started this company on her own, with no funds from Mr. Tovar.”

“The ‘he said, she said’ approach is weak. We need proof.”

“I know,” she said through gritted teeth.

Clenching his mouth shut, he knew there was no arguing his way out of her logic. She was too driven to take a chance on letting him help her with the case. Her plan was to work the case how she wanted and try to sideline him as much as possible. Glaring at her back, he bent forward to lift a surprisingly heavy box off the floor, and his glasses slipped out of his pocket. But the box was too heavy for him to retrieve the glasses without setting down the box on the conference table first. In the moment his back was turned, Hailey moved while holding another box, and the crunching sound of his frames filled the room.

“Oops,” she said, shifting the box in her hands to look down under her foot where his now smashed glasses lay. “Do you always keep those on the floor?”

With a deep sigh, all he could do was laugh. His frustration and broken frames were his own fault, and it wasn’t fair to blame her. Even if her snarky tone begged him to. The laugh started out sarcastic, but when he found her eyes grow wide with surprise and a faint smile spread on her perfectly pink lips, it turned into an authentic fit of humor. Like when one of his siblings did something idiotic, and they all ended up in gut-busting laughter.

“My brothers would love to see me now,” he said as he leaned against the conference room table and wiped his hand over his face.

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