“Same to you.” She opened the garage door by hitting a button on a panel by the door. She waved once I’d buckled Allie in and gotten into the car myself.
My daughter wasn’t asleep when we pulled onto the road, but I knew she would be soon, so I kept the radio off and the heat on. A few blocks away from Laurie’s house, Allie surprised me when I glanced in the rearview mirror to see her eyes still open and on mine.
“Do you like Laurie, Daddy?” she asked, her voice thick with the sleep I knew was tugging at the edges of her brain.
“Of course, I like her, honey. What’s not to like?”
“Do you love her?” she asked.
I checked the road before twisting in my seat to look at her for just a second. We were on a quiet, wide road with no other cars on it and no intersection for at least another mile or so.
Our moment of locking eyes told me that she wasn’t hurt or afraid. She was simply curious about my feelings.
“Why would you ask me that, sweetie?” Laurie and I hadn’t done anything I could think of that would’ve made it obvious we were more than just friends.
She shrugged. “It’s just a feeling, I guess. There’s something about the way you look at her.”
I didn’t deny it. While I didn’t want to confuse her, I also didn’t want to lie to her. It felt like it was too soon to love her, but every reply I tried formulating about how it wasn’t love yet just felt like an outright lie.
“Would you be upset if I did, you know, love her?” I asked eventually. I supposed that was the pertinent part of the discussion anyway.
If it would upset Allie, I’d have to seriously figure out how to go about discussing our relationship with her. I’d also have to figure out how to explain to her that just because I loved Laurie and Katie too didn’t mean I loved her any less.
Not that I love Laurie and Katie. I can’t possibly…
Allie, as it turned out, didn’t have nearly as many thoughts about it running through her mind. She smiled and shook her head. “I wouldn’t be upset. I like Laurie too, and the idea of Katie being my sister is pretty cool.”
Well, what do you know. Pretty cool? That’s awesome.
I returned her smile and felt the realization settling into my bloodstream. I’m falling in love with Laurie, and Allie is okay with it.
Chapter 35
Laurie
“We’re prepared to offer your client a settlement,” a big, red-faced man from the movie company said once we were all seated.
Jacob had introduced the man as Max a few minutes ago. Judging from his prominent place at the center of the table among the company’s defense team, I assumed he was the head honcho.
My eyes flew open as wide as they could go when I heard him say the word “settlement.” I hadn’t been expecting that at all. Jacob had warned me that they might try to play hardball instead of rationally discussing the matter or offering to settle with us right off the bat.
He smirked beside me now. “I see you’ve had a chance to look over the documentation I sent on Saturday?”
“Indeed, I have.” Max had jowls like an overweight bulldog, and they jiggled when he nodded. “We’ve discussed the matter with our client and we believe the amount of five hundred thousand dollars should be more than sufficient.”
I saw stars. Big, bright stars that made me completely blind to the room around me. Five hundred thousand dollars?
Eric had told me I should take whatever I could get if they ever offered me anything, and five hundred thousand dollars sounded like a pretty darn good anything to me. I really, really hadn’t been expecting it to be an amount with quite so many zeroes behind it.
I blinked, trying to clear the shocked stars from my vision while scooting forward to tell them I’d take it. My mouth had gone so dry that I had to lick my lips while also trying to breathe air into my suddenly oxygen-starved lungs.
Jacob started laughing in his seat next to me. I totally understood his exhilaration. That is amazing!
He, however, clearly had other plans. I felt him straightening his spine while his amusement faded. My gaze darted toward him and found him wearing a stone-faced expression once more. “Your offer is insulting. I suggest you come back with a much bigger number, or my client and I are walking.”
“Be reasonable, Mr. Parker.” Max sighed loudly, like Jacob was exasperating him. “Five hundred thousand dollars is a lot of money,”
“It’s not nearly enough. Your client stands to make millions from the film. They stole my client’s intellectual property and I can prove it. We’ll see you in court if we need to.”
Max glanced at the woman sitting on his right. They had a silent exchange before he sighed again and turned back to Jacob. “May we have the room, please?”
“Sure,” he replied. Pushing back his chair, he stood, did the button on his jacket, and pulled my chair out for me. “Let us know when you’re ready.”
I got up without saying a word, walking past him into the hallway when he paused at the door. Once it swung shut behind him, my palms started sweating.
“Why did you turn them down?” I asked. My voice was barely above a whisper, but even I could hear the stress in it. “Are you sure we’re not pushing them too hard?”
“Nope.” He reached for my shoulders and curled his fingers around them, his eyes intent on mine. “People like them expect you to push. If you don’t, they walk all over you.”
“What if they decide to take this to court? I really don’t want to end up in court if I can avoid it.” Just the thought of it was enough to make my pulse accelerate and my stomach turn. I’d known there was a possibility that the case would go there, of course, but I was holding out hope that it wouldn’t be necessary.
Staring into Jacob’s light brown eyes, so full of warmth and emotion again now that he was looking at me instead of his opponent, I dragged in a breath and forced myself to focus.
He massaged my shoulders until he saw me coming back to him. “If we have to go to court, we go to court. We’re not the ones who have anything to worry about if that happens. You have an airtight case, Laurie.”
“Eric didn’t seem to think so.” I sucked my lips into my mouth and breathed through my nose, trying my best to remain calm and level-headed.
Jacob rolled his eyes, shaking his head at me. “I don’t give a damn what Eric thought. It doesn’t matter anyway because he was wrong.”
Before I could stop myself, I glanced at the door and studied the wood grain like it would become invisible and I’d be able to see straight through it. “How long do you think they’re going to be?”
He lifted a shoulder, but his gaze was fixed on mine. “It depends on whether they have to phone for instructions. I think they already have them and they’re just letting us sweat a little.”
“It’s working,” I muttered.
We were standing in the hallway off of Jacob’s office. There were people everywhere and Dannie would be able to see us if she just rolled her chair back a foot. Our opponents could open the door at any given moment.
It was impossible to hug him, but I really, really wanted to. Keeping our relationship on the down-low was definitely going to be more difficult than I expected—even if that was technically only our first day of having to do it.