The Hero Next Time: A Novel of the Terribly Acronymed Detective Club (Book 4)

Chapter Twenty: Sunny, Friday

Sunny spotted Lauren when she walked into the lobby of Westminster Law Group and immediately wished he hadn't called her to come today. It wasn't that she elicited any stares with the way she looked; on the contrary, she looked the way a lot of their clients looked when they walked into the office of a law firm that focused on divorce and family law: wrung out, her eyes red-rimmed as if she'd been crying. The problem was, she wasn't a client but a contractor, and Sunny felt the urge to escort her into his office as quickly as he could before his colleagues recognized her as a contractor and wondered why she didn't look polished and professional.

He closed the door behind them and pulled his chair out from behind his desk so he could sit on the same side as her. Seeing her in this state made his heart break for her, and he wanted to give her a hug, but then he remembered the long hug she gave him back at Harrison Hot Springs and thought it might be safer to just take her hands in his and look her in the eyes.

She frowned and said, "Um, you're not about to get down on one knee, are you? Because, you know, we're both already married to other people."

Sunny chuckled encouragingly at her attempt at humour, or maybe deflection, even though he could have reminded her that her marital status hadn't been holding her back lately. "No. You just look very sad, and I want to know why. Tell me the truth, were you in a marriage counselling session today?" 

She sighed and said, "Yeah."

"Did it not go well?"

"Actually, it didn't at first, but it went better later."

"Well, that's encouraging. I guess all that airing of dirty laundry takes a lot out of you."

"It does, but then I went and had an argument with Rachel, and it was mostly my fault, so that didn't help matters, either."

"Rachel?" he said, stunned. "Why would you have an argument with Rachel? You're two peas in a pod."

"I know," she groaned, closing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose. "Today made me realize, though, that I haven't been the best friend to her, and I think I need to do better if we're going to stay as close as we've been since we all reunited."

Sunny could only speculate on why Lauren hadn't been the best friend to her, but he had a pretty good guess, and it was probably the same reason Lauren and Joe were in marriage counselling. He wouldn't bring it up now, though, because Lauren looked miserable enough. "Tell me you reconciled before coming here," he said. "I couldn't live with myself if I pulled you away while you were still in a bad place with Rachel; if you two are on the outs, then there's no hope for the rest of us."

Lauren chuckled and shook her head. "We're okay, I think. I might have to grovel a little more to get back to being besties, but we're not on the outs."

"And she's staying with you, at least until they get a new place. That was being a good friend to her."

She smiled weakly. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Now, where were we?"

"I guess we should go over the open files first, at least so we can justify the bill we'll get for this visit."

They'd almost finished when a knock sounded on the door and Tori poked her head in. "Am I interrupting anything?" she asked.

"Not at all, come in, Lauren and I were just finishing up."

When Tori entered, Sunny said, "I don't think I ever formally introduced you two. Lauren, this is Victoria Ramos, paralegal, and my campaign manager."

"Lauren, as in Lauren Hasegawa, partner at Justiciar Security and Investigative Services?" Tori said.

"That's right," Lauren said, standing and offering her hand. "I'm sure I've seen you around whenever I'm here, but it's nice to put a name to a face."