Just a Dare

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Three weeks went by and I had meetings every Tuesday and Thursday about the David Grey case. We discussed the legal need for mediation in the beginning, but when Buchanan Counseling contacted Mrs. Grey about it, everything went to hell and she reared her head more furiously than before about filing for a lawsuit.

By the time my seventh meeting had come around, a court date had already been set for a little over two months away. Now it was all a matter of scraping together evidence to build a strong case.

Mr. Buchanan himself had come to the decision after our initial meeting that he wanted to send Mel to negotiate the aspects of the case with me because she had been such a vital component of David's life before his death. Amber had quickly learned to make sure my schedule was clear so that we could take as much time as we needed to work, something I was immensely grateful for.

Melody and I kept our meetings strictly professional, diving deeply into the paperwork Mel had accumulated during her sessions with David combined with the different notes that Mr. Buchanan had come up with. We pored over the facts we had and she began carrying a notepad of her own so that we could both research and scribble down our own notes as needed.

Every so often, we would take breaks between readings to compare notes and ideas we had come up with which usually launched us into a conversation that delved into the complexities of law and different ways we could utilize them after applying the given information, but we didn't go out to eat together again. Our conversations were also strictly professional.

On the Thursday of our eighth meeting, we ended up working until well after everyone else in the building had gone home. Amber had popped in an hour earlier to ask if she could clock out as well, and after obtaining my permission, left shortly thereafter.

Mel was sitting there absently spinning her glasses on the table as she explained the latest update on Mrs. Grey once again, dissecting it in her typical Melody Scribner fashion.

I watched her brows wrinkle and nodded along every once in a while, having tuned out a while ago after hearing the details again for the second time as she spoke her analysis aloud.

I had chosen to move to the chair adjacent to hers after sitting behind my desk for hours, so my eyes briefly roamed over her. She had one leg folded neatly over the other at the knee, her black closed-toe heels lined up perfectly straight under her chair. Every now and then while she was talking, her hands moving in subconscious gestures to illustrate her various points, she would bounce her leg and I caught the light reflecting off of her red toenail polish.

I glanced at my wristwatch and saw that it was almost half past nine, which was a little over an hour after the office had officially closed.

"Melody," I interrupted with a gentle smile and she stopped, blinking at me in a somewhat startled manner. "We're the only ones here now."

She looked around as if she had just remembered where she was, disbelief dawning on her features. When she returned her gaze to mine, she shook her head, immediately leaning forward and gathering her things. "I am so sorry, Trey. I didn't mean to make you stay so late." She was shaking her head, her lips pulled into a slight frown as she tucked her folders back into her briefcase and clicking it shut after setting her notebook on top.

I started chuckling as she hurriedly began putting her heels on. She was such an amusing woman. "It's okay, really."

She looked up at me after I'd spoken in the middle of cleaning the lenses of her glasses with a small cloth she kept in the glasses case inside her purse, which was settled on the floor to her left. "No, it isn't."

She was still frowning that trademarked Melody Scribner frown of hers-the one that clearly displayed her displeasure with a certain situation-and I merely shook my head, standing with my notepad in hand and walking around my desk to deposit it inside its rightful drawer. A smile had begun curling my lips upward as I admitted in a light tone, "I didn't mind."