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Luna enthusiastically licked his face as Todd took off the sunglasses that could probably feed a family of four for a week.
“What are you doing here?” Sienna asked, her arms over her chest.
Todd stood, managing to look hurt. “Well, hello, Sienna. Damn. You look good. Your mom told me you were at a newjob. It suits you.” He nodded Jayna’s way. “Jayna. It’s good to see you.”
So they were being polite today. “What do you want?”
Well, one of them was.
Todd frowned. “I wanted to talk to you, and I thought it better to do it in person. I’ve never been here before but I looked up your mother’s address. She told me I should come here because you were shacked up with someone named Quaid.”
“I’m working here,” she replied evenly.
“But she’s also shacked up with him, and he is hot,” Sienna added.
“Not helping,” Jayna said under her breath. “Why don’t you come into my office?”
Todd followed her, Luna at his side. “I was surprised to find out you came back here. Are you actually practicing here? I thought you swore to never set foot in this town again.”
She probably had said something like that when she was younger. Lately she’d been thinking about the fact that perhaps she had been as ill-suited to serve her town when she was younger as it had been to serve her. She’d never fit in, but she’d also been quite rigid—especially as a teen. Now she’d seen the world, and every place in it had pros and cons. Papillon was no exception.
She slid behind her desk, preferring to keep a distance between them. “It’s not so bad the second time around.”
After all, this time she had fans.
“Because of this Quaid person?” He took a seat. “Havery. I think I’ve heard of the Haverys. They’re old money down here, right?”
Naturally he would know all the people with money. “Why don’t you get to the point, Todd? I’ve got things to do this afternoon.”
She wouldn’t tell him that she was planning on spendinga good portion of her day trying to save the library or that she also planned to do some pro bono arraignments so folks didn’t rot in jail until they could get a judge to hear their pleas. Nor would she mention that she’d overheard a group of citizens discussing what to do with a raccoon once they caught him. Brian the Bandit, as they called him, had been spotted stealing various items out of purses and backpacks at the local park, and there were calls for his immediate apprehension and arrest.
Not like “catch the lil’ guy,” but arrest him. She was pretty sure that had been Ned Travers, who was bitter about his lost wallet that had contained an almost full frequent buyer card. He’d been one punch away from a free frozen yogurt and was certain that was why Brian had taken it.
Todd didn’t need to know any of that.
Todd sighed in that condescending way of his. “Fine. I wanted to inform you that we’ve decided to drop the ethics case against you. The paperwork is being filed as we speak.”
That was a surprise. She and Quaid had been planning to go into New Orleans to meet with her lawyer next week. They were going to stay at his friend’s place and spend the weekend there. She’d been looking forward to the time with him despite the anxiety she had about the case. “Why?”
“Because it does nothing but keep people talking about something we would like to put behind us all.”
Oh, there was something else in there. She could always tell when Todd was holding back on her. “Why, Todd? You know I’m going to do some research and find out.”
One shoulder shrugged. “Fine, because it turns out you were right about the client.”
“You knew I was right about him all along. I showed you the paperwork.” She’d had an ironclad case against the man. Otherwise she wouldn’t have brought it to the partners in the first place.
“Well, now other people have seen it, and apparently it’s not as gray an area as my father thought,” Todd admitted. “It’s pretty black-and-white, and you actually saved the firm a lot of bad press because our name could have been attached to the client. The complaint will go away and all anyone will remember was that the firm did the right thing.”
“You mean I did the right thing,” Jayna countered.
“They probably won’t remember you at all. You know how these things are.”
“You are such an asshole.”
“Perhaps,” Todd allowed. “There are other reasons to drop the complaint. I think it will help us all to move on. And it’s been stressing out my fiancée.”
She huffed, an unamused sound. “You’re already engaged. You’ve moved on.”
