Stuck With You: A Sweet Romantic Comedy

Part 27

Bianca

Monday morning, I woke up in a deliciously lazy haze.

"Did last night really happen?" I asked Timo when he opened his eyes and looked at me.

"It very much did happen," he informed me. "And if you want to relive the experience—"

I did, but we'd overslept my alarm. I had to get to work right after I scheduled an emergency consultation with my lawyers, and when Timo looked at his phone, he had three plaintive texts from Rob wanting to know when Timo was going to show up to watch the kids.

Camille had left early for an important meeting, and Rob said he couldn't keep track of what the kids were doing and get anything done. Also, Morty had flushed three plastic dinosaurs and a whole package of graham crackers down the toilet in an attempt to reenact the breakup of Pangea—apparently, they'd been learning all about the Cretaceous Era at the Nob Hill Montessori—and did Timo have the number for the emergency plumber they usually used?

Apparently, this sort of thing happened a lot.

Timo left in a hurry.

The lawyers could see me at three in the afternoon. I texted both Rob and Timo and asked them if they could come with me. Rob texted back, yes, and Timo said he'd check with Camille to see if she could come home early and watch the kids.

By midmorning, everything had been arranged. I knocked on Chad's door and told him I had an emergency dentist appointment that afternoon, so I'd be leaving early.

"You've been skipping out early a lot lately," Chad said as if he was the selfless hardworking one wholly devoted to the success of the company.

"Can't be helped," I said, rubbing my jaw.

"Have you started seeing somebody?" Chad asked.

"Have you?" I shot back.

"Of course not," said Chad.

Of course, he was. Then again, so was I.

I took an Uber to the lawyers. When I arrived, Rob and Timo were already there, looking very sober.

I was feeling sober, too. Sober and a little nervous. Until Chad was confronted with the evidence and forced to take action to defend himself, it all felt a little theoretical.

I knew he was guilty, but a tiny, irrational part of me wanted to believe that he'd have some credible explanation. It was disorienting that the man I'd spent so much time with could turn out to be such a rotten scoundrel—and not in a fun, historical romantic fictiony sort of way.

When I'd explained the whole situation as it currently stood, and laid out the plan to get Chad to sign over his share of the company in return for a chunk of cash and forgiving the money he'd stolen, the lawyers raised no objections.

"We'll draw documents up for you and courier them over as soon as they are done."

"I'll contact Chad and try to set up a meeting for this evening," Timo said.

He texted him on the spot and got back a reply right away. Timo would meet Chad in the café of a hotel about a block from Mission Tower. When Chad arrived, Timo would text me to bring the contract and the confession for Chad to sign. Rob would be standing by with the briefcase full of cash.

It seemed like a straight-forward plan, but I was nervous something would go wrong.

"What if he tries to make a run for it?" I asked. "What if he runs away to Costa Rica."

"Then we let him go," said Rob. "If he won't sign, then you'll just have to take it through the court system. If he doesn't bother to show up to defend himself, you shouldn't have trouble making your case."