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“I thought you had too much to do to worry about me.” She ambled toward the back room. “Are we taking all this group to see their friends?”
Pepper opened her mouth like she wanted to argue, but nothing came out.
Ding.
They looked at me when my phone chimed with a text.
You’re late.
In my mind I thought a thousand curses. It was impossible to be late to a job when I’d never been told the hours. My father must really be enjoying himself if he took the time to text me personally.
“Everything okay?” Pepper’s concerned gaze met mine.
“Just trying to decide how far I can push the boundary.” I hated being at his mercy. But if I didn’t show up at his command, what would he do to Pepper?
“I live to push boundaries,” Miss Adeline said. “Actually I live to breathe, but you know what I meant.”
“I thought you lived for the firefighter calendar.” Pepper snickered.
“I forgot about that.” Miss Adeline put a hand to her forehead. “It’s happening. I’m going senile.”
“You already were,” Pepper volunteered, which earned her a warning look.
“Ladies, I’ve been summoned.” I’d much rather stick around them today, but I’d been backed into a corner that I had every intention of getting out of. “Raincheck on the meal.”
“Our rainchecks are adding up,” Miss Adeline huffed, though there was admiration in her eyes. She knew why I was doing this, and I appreciated her respect.
“I thought you were going to talk to someone today about getting your old job back,” Pepper said quietly.
“I can multitask. And maybe I should get my brother on that. I’m going to need a powerful attorney.” I hated to ask Lincoln for one more thing, but what other choice did I have?
“Call that one with the funny last name,” Miss Adeline said.
I flitted through all the lawyer commercials I’d seen on television and couldn’t think of a single one with a strange name.
“You mean Zegas.”
We all turned at the sound of Daniel Elliott’s voice. A few dogs rushed him, Millie even attempted to go through his legs.
“That’s the one,” Miss Adeline said.
I’d never heard of him. Then again, I’d never had much use for lawyers.
“You could try Patrick Whitley. He’s never lost a case,” Vivian said from beside her husband.
Daniel flared his eyes. “Don’t let Zegas hear you say that or he’ll charge me double.”
“Use both of them if you want a dream team.” Vivian shrugged then grinned mischievously. “I’m sure they’d justloveto work together.”
“If they’re the best, take them up on it,” Pepper said from the floor. “I’ll chip in if they’re expensive.”
A fist squeezed around my heart. Now I knew just how much faith she had in me by saying those words. She’d given before and had been taken advantage of. Her trust in me was something I never wanted to violate.
I nodded in silent thanks, not wanting to bring attention to just how big what she’d said was in front of other people.
“Makes a lot of sense to spend a fortune on a fancy lawyer for a fifty thousand dollar a year job, right?” I scratched my temple, pretending to mull it over.
“You lost your job?” Daniel asked, offended on my behalf.
