Lovely Neighbor (Lovely 1)

“Are we just going to ask questions back and forth now?”

“Are we?”

“I hate arguing with a lawyer,” I grumble, and she laughs.

“If it comes down to it, we can talk about it. But I don’t want the assumption it’s my turn.” She gives a little, so I do too.

“Deal.” I sit back down and sort through the rest of the mess on my desk.

“Let’s do housekeeping, shall we?” Renee opens her briefcase and pulls out a notepad.

It’s the end of the day and I don’t really want to go over this stuff, but it’s part of the job. We’re both ready to go home, but neither of us likes stuff hanging over to the next day. Her shoes are off and she’s curled up in my oversized office chair. We usually do our meetings here because her office only has furniture that looks nice but isn’t practical.

“I have a few prospects for partners,” I say, and Renee snaps her head up.

“You really want to go through with it?”

“We either stop taking on cases or we have to add a person. Those are the facts.”

She grumbles as she flips some papers in her notebook. “I’ve talked to human resources and they’ve got Oscar’s position in IT filled.”

“We’re just going to ignore my statement?”

“Samantha in marketing is going out on maternity leave early due to her blood pressure. So we’ll need to hire a temp for that position now too.”

“Do you think this is the best use of our time?”

This time she snaps her notebook up and sighs. “I agree with you, but I don’t know the best solution.”

“I’m thinking about the two of us, Nee. Why are we building this if this is how we’re spending our time?”

She narrows her eyes on me and looks me over as if for the first time. “What’s gotten into you? Normally you’re the one I’m having to chase out of here and make sure you’ve slept more than two hours a night. Now suddenly you’re bringing up a partner or lightening our workload. This isn’t like you.” She pauses for a moment, then gasps and scoots to the edge of her seat. “Who is she?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I don’t look at her as I say it, and I hear her squeal.

“I knew it!” Now she’s standing up and bouncing on her feet. “Tell me everything.”

“There’s nothing to tell. Yet.”

“Devin Michael Meade, if you don’t tell me every single detail of the woman you’ve fallen for, I’m going to come across this desk and strangle you with my bare hands.”

“That sounds dramatic.” I smirk as I lean back in my chair and she is practically giddy.

“Tell. Me.”

“I don’t know what it is yet. She’s staying at my apartment.”

“You lied to me!” She pretends to be offended but leans closer. “So it’s not being fumigated. I knew that building was too fancy to have bugs.”

I end up explaining everything to her and I don’t think she even blinks the whole time. It’s fun telling her because I realize I’m actually really excited about Erin and what I’m feeling for her. Of course I think about her non-stop and I can’t wait to go home, but saying the words out loud kind of makes them real and I like it.

“I just have one question,” Renee says after a long pause.

“Just the one?”

“Why are you sitting here?”

“What?”

“Get the fuck out of here and go home!” she shouts, banging on my desk. “Don’t screw this up, Devin! This could be my chance to finally be an aunt. Don’t fuck this up for me.”

I laugh as I shake my head and bury it in my hands.

“I’m dead serious. You know how important that is to me. Please please please have unprotected sex.”

“Get out,” I bark, and she laughs. “I’m done.”

I stand up and gather my things, and she claps before she takes out her phone. “I can’t wait to tell Dani. She’s going to be so excited.”

“I’ll see you in the morning.” I grab my bag and walk out of my office, leaving my sister screaming into the phone to Danielle.

I sigh as I get on the elevator, but deep down it feels good to have someone else as excited as I am about this possibility. I don’t think anything can wipe the smile off my face as I get off the elevator and walk through the lobby.

“Mr. Woods.” The security guard Gerrard waves me over and I nod.

“How are you guys doing today? Did you get the donuts I left this morning?”

“Yes, sir.” Gerrard pats his belly in answer and I laugh. “I just wanted to let you know a young woman came by for you today with some files but ended up not leaving them. It wasn’t too suspicious, but it stuck out to me.”