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God, she hoped no one could see how hard her nipples were. That man could get her hot with nothing more than a look, but he wasn’t supposed to do that in the courtroom. They had a deal. Because they were on opposite sides of most of the cases they were working on, they didn’t talk about the cases together. When they left the office and wentupstairs, they didn’t talk about work. They talked about his books and what she was reading. They talked about the news or TV shows and movies.
Even when they weren’t together, she was thinking about him all the time. Every minute of the day, he was there in the back of her mind. She was in high school again, and he was the object of her affection.
Except this time, he seemed to be right there with her.
“I am perfectly fine, Your Honor. More than fine,” Quaid said with his confident smile. “And we’re ready to go because Ms. Cardet is right. This case is about what we owe our neighbors and how we treat each other here in Papillon.”
“Well, it seems to me Geraldine there treats her neighbors to a whole lot of skin,” the judge shot back.
That got the people in the courtroom laughing.
“You’re welcome, Andy,” Geraldine said with a wave. “You should come out on Friday. We’re having a party. Everyone is getting so tan. You know you could use a little vitamin D.”
“Is there any way you could settle this out of court?” The judge looked a bit desperate. “I’m supposed to fish on Friday.”
“What do you say, Cardet?” Quaid liked to use her last name when they were working. “Do you want to settle?”
He was so annoying sometimes. “If by settling you mean your client ceases to scare off my client’s customers with her adults-only parties clearly visible to the public, then yes. We can settle. I even have damages drawn up. Also, I have witnesses who can clearly show that it’s not merely adults who are being affected by Geraldine’s protests.”
Ivy and Kelly were ready to be sworn in and hoping it would be during school hours.
“Yes, I saw that you’re bringing in your nieces.” Quaid chuckled. “I’m ready to show that Geraldine’s protests arealso of a feminist nature, proving that body shaming is damaging. Showing girls and women that they are beautiful at any age is important.”
“Oh, that is such BS.” She turned Quaid’s way. “Geraldine is not trying to lift up women. She’s trying to milk my client into paying for a new fence, a fence that isn’t even legal.”
“Well, your client sends invasive light into Geraldine’s backyard all night long.” Quaid didn’t miss a beat.
“Which is why my client paid top dollar for blackout drapes and then went the extra mile and installed them himself at no charge to your client.” She was stretching the termtop dollar, but they had been the most expensive ones at Walmart.
“So is my client not allowed to enjoy an evening outside?” Quaid asked with an innocent expression on his face that she didn’t trust for a single second. “Judge, do you spend every evening in your home? Hidden behind drapes and not enjoying the evening air?”
“Of course not,” the judge replied. “There’s nothing better than sitting out in my backyard listening to the sounds of the night. We live in a beautiful place. We should enjoy it while we can.”
Quaid gestured Jayna’s way. “I guess Ms. Cardet doesn’t have the same belief. Maybe that’s because she lived in New Orleans for all those years, or perhaps she believes the gifts of nature we’ve been given aren’t important to the elderly.”
Asshole. “I never said that.”
Jimmy held up a hand. “Neither did I. My momma’s Geraldine’s age. She loves the fire pit I built for her.”
Yeah, courtroom protocol wasn’t much of a thing here in Papillon.
“No one is saying Geraldine shouldn’t enjoy her backyard. I literally did not say that.” She felt the need to put thaton the record or she might find herself with protestors of her own. And she probably had enough of those already since she’d heard from her sister that Quaid’s mom wasn’t happy with his current choice of roommate.
He ignored her. “And she now has to look at the back of his gas station, which is not pretty. She has the trash dumpster to look at, and that same light floods into the backyard all night long. Imagine not being able to enjoy a spring or summer night because you’re blinded by the harsh lights of the business that took down your precious trees.”
He was so dramatic. “It was one tree. And if she didn’t want to look at the gas station, maybe she shouldn’t have moved into a house that was behind a gas station.” She could counter his every argument. “There has been a gas station or convenience store in that exact location since 1952. Geraldine didn’t purchase that home until 1974.”
“And I have pictures of what the backyard looked like the day she moved in. You can’t see that gas station because of the trees planted behind her fence. Those trees cut out noise and light,” Quaid explained in an annoyingly patient tone. “She was completely unaware that the gas station was actually right behind her house.”
“I was very surprised to find that out,” Geraldine said, her lips pursed.
“But my daddy used to hand your order over the fence when you needed milk but didn’t want to make the walk around the block,” Jimmy countered. “Where did you think he was coming from?”
“I think you’ll find that Geraldine was unaware of what she was buying because the owners of the gas station cleverly hid their location,” Quaid announced.
She put her hands on her hips, outrage plain in her tone. “Hid? Behind a tree that had been there forever? Also, youknow these are the exact arguments I made when I was representing Geraldine.”
“They’re very good arguments,” Quaid replied smoothly.
