Stone Cold

“I can’t work with you. Conflict of interest. But I’m going to talk to my partner—who is actually my former law professor,” he says. “Taught me everything I know.”

“You don’t have to do that for me …”

“I’ll be in touch later this week,” he says.

With that, he heads inside.

Domino whimpers when he watches Stone disappear into his home. I reach back and pet the top of his head.

“Same, Domino,” I say with a sigh. “Same.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

Stone

* * *

“I can’t stop thinking about the other day,” Jude says over the phone the next morning. “Running into Jovie … what if it’s a sign? Of all the cities in the world, she’s here.”

“To be fair, it’s not that big of a stretch. She grew up in Kennebunkport,” I say.

“I wonder who she married?” He ignores my comment. “And why it didn’t work out?”

“What’s it to you?”

“What,” he snorts. “I’m not allowed to be curious?”

“How would Stassi feel if she knew you were curious about what your ex is up to?”

Jude exhales. “What Stassi doesn’t know won’t hurt her. I’m just wondering out loud, okay? Don’t make it deeper than it is.”

A rap on my office door steals my attention. Glancing up from my computer screen, I find my partner and former law professor, Mike Delgado, standing in my doorway.

“Your assistant said you wanted to talk to me?” he asks. He’s dressed in his signature corduroy slacks and windowpane print jacket with the suede elbow patches. You can take the man out of the university, but you can’t take the university out of the man.

I cradle my phone on my shoulder.

“Yeah,” I say before telling Jude I’ll call him later. “Come on in.”

Mike takes a seat across from me, unbuttoning his suit coat and settling in. “What’s going on?”

“Need a favor.” I straighten my tie. “I have a friend who needs new representation. Currently divorcing some douchebag who’s trying to rake her over the coals. I don’t think he has a leg to stand on, but I want to know she’s in capable hands.”

“You know I’m scaling back …” He pushes his tortoiseshell glasses up the bridge of his aquiline nose. Earlier this year, he announced he was thinking about retiring after Christmas. Since then, he’s been divvying out his workload and turning down clients left and right. “The last thing I want to do is get my hands dirty with a new case.”

“I realize what I’m asking here.”

“Why don’t you take her on?”

“Conflict of interest,” I say. I use my best poker face.

“I see.” His lips press flat and he nods, knowing better than to ask further questions.

“I wouldn’t ask this favor of you if it wasn’t important to me,” I say. “This town is full of perfectly capable family law attorneys, but she needs a killer whale, not a sand shark.”

Mike’s expression lights at the compliment, his hazel eyes all but beaming from behind his thick lenses.

“I’ll cover all of her fees if I have to,” I add. Though after glancing through those documents yesterday, it would appear that she’s more than capable of affording high-end representation.

Rising from the guest chair, Mike pulls his phone from his pocket. “I’ve got a call to make, but I’ll consider it—and only as a personal favor to you. Get a hold of her and have her come in. I’ll do a consult and we’ll go from there.”

As soon as he’s gone, I pull out my phone and shoot Jovie a text.

ME: I got you a meeting with Mike Delgado—best divorce lawyer in Portland. When are you available?

JOVIE: You didn’t have to do that …

I pull up Mike’s calendar on my computer and search for the next available opening.

ME: How does Thursday look for you? Eleven AM?

JOVIE: I’ll be there.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Jovie

* * *

“So the therapist said that since Chauncy’s love language is touch and mine is words of affirmation, that we need to make more of an effort to make sure the other one is getting what they need,” Monica says Wednesday afternoon as we go for a stroll along the Eastern Promenade loop. “Sometimes I just hate being touched, you know? Like I need my space. But then Chauncy takes it personally and thinks I don’t like him just because I’m not clinging all over him.”

“Relationships are all about compromise …”

“And then if I’m pulling away physically, he pulls away verbally,” she continues. “He kind of retreats into himself and gets all quiet and sulky. And then because he’s not telling me he loves me a million times a day, then I’m taking it personally and thinking he doesn’t like me anymore. It’s this vicious cycle.”

“And this was never an issue before you two were married?”

“No,” she says. “Weird, right?”

“Yeah,” I say. “I don’t really know what to tell you right now other than it’s good that you guys are aware of this now. It means you can work on fixing it.”