17. News For You

17

NEWS FOR YOU

“ H i,” Regan said to Janine when she opened the door to Trent’s office. “I’ve got an appointment with Trent.”

“It’s good to see you again,” Janine said. “He’s on the phone but should be off soon. I’ll let him know you’re here if you want to take a seat.”

She moved over to sit in the little waiting area. It felt as if she was running from one appointment to the next right now but knew she’d have a break at lunch.

Zachery had come in and wasn’t very happy about the breakup of his marriage. He blamed some of it on her that once the one-on-one sessions started with Katelyn, that Katelyn found her voice.

Regan wasn’t going to speak about any of that with Zachery and just focused on him. Nor was she going to give him advice on how to win his wife back, knowing that Katelyn wanted no part of that.

Ultimately, it was between them and she just calmed him and explained that the key was to have open communication. He’d asked if they could do a couples session again if Katelyn was on board with it and she said absolutely. If Katelyn was willing.

It was the best she could do. If it just meant helping them get through their divorce then she’d done plenty of them too. Usually when children were involved, but her goal was to help in any way she could.

Still no word from Zander, but it was barely ten in the morning and she imagined he was busy.

“Regan,” Trent said, coming out of his office. “Good to see you. Why don’t you come in and we can talk about what is going on.”

She stood up and followed Trent to his office. She knew he’d been in the building less than two years and she’d recently found out his fiancée was Roni who worked downstairs as the property manager.

Miles was always a source of gossip and he dealt with talking to Roni in terms of information for the building newsletter that went out.

She had to say it had given her some business and made it easy for people to come see her on their lunch hour or a break.

“Thanks for seeing me on such short notice,” she said. She’d called on Friday and explained the situation to see when she could get squeezed in.

“No problem,” Trent said. “It’s easy enough to walk across the hall. What is going on?”

“I’ve got a client who would like me to be the middle man in having Zander do some research for her on her employers. I can say this much since we have to have a written document. Zander has been informed also. I understand that Zander’s agreement will be with me. I will be responsible for the payment to him. He won’t ever talk to or meet my client.”

Trent was writing down notes. “Is there a reason your client doesn’t want to be tied back to this?”

“It’s her employer she wants looked into.” Her head went back and forth. “She loves her job. But she feels as if sometimes it’s too good to be true. She is worried that maybe something illegal is going on that she doesn’t know about, but she might just be paranoid.”

“And she doesn’t want it coming back to her if it’s discovered that she looked into them,” Trent said. “Got it. There are whistle-blower laws.”

“I explained all of that, but I think deep down she believes nothing is going on and is more worried that she might get fired or they’d think less of her for doubting them.”

“What is your thought?” Trent asked. “Based on what she has given you?”

“She hasn’t given me enough for me to feel anything is going on other than her feelings and thoughts. That is what Zander is going to do. Or his job. To see if there are any facts.”

“You’re putting yourself at risk for the fees if your client doesn’t pay you, you know that, right?”

“Which is why we want this legal document. I’ll clear everything with her first to assure she can pay it before I have Zander move forward.”

She knew it was a risk, but she felt like Sophia would honor it. Zander and Regan could have good open communication on it also. Or so she hoped since she hadn’t spoken to him since Saturday.

Nope, not letting that get in her head.

They both were busy.

“I can add a clause in the contract between the two of you that she has to pay fifty percent upfront of the fees that Zander charges,” Trent said. “I’ll also put in there that she will have access to view all the bills.”

“That works,” she said. “If Sophia doesn’t agree to pay half upfront then I can say this won’t work. I have no idea what Zander is going to charge, not until I know what he has to do. We haven’t gotten to that part yet.”

“Zander is good at his job,” Trent said. “Fair also. He’s done a lot of work for me and some of my clients.”

She smiled. “That’s good to know,” she said. “He seems like he’d be someone that was easy to work with.”

What else was she going to say? Not that she had no problem being with him on a personal level when they hadn’t even really talked much about letting people know they were together this weekend.

“And he’s right next door to you,” Trent said, grinning.

She wasn’t so sure what caused that reaction but wouldn’t let it weigh her mind down either.

They finished their meeting and when she left his office noticed Diane Fierce talking with Janine.

“Hello, Regan,” Diane said, moving forward. “I’ve been meaning to come over and see how things were going. I was just chatting with Janine. I had to stop into the building for an appointment on another floor.”

“It’s so good to see you too,” she said.

She’d met both Diane and Caroline, the wives of Grant and Garrett Fierce, when she first moved into the building. They seemed overly friendly here, but it was a nice change of pace too.

“Are you going back to your office?” Diane asked. “Maybe I’ll walk over with you. I do enjoy talking with Miles. I’ll probably stop in to see Betsy too.”

“I am,” she said. “I wasn’t aware that you talked to Miles often.”

She heard Janine cough and then start to laugh and caught a look between Trent and his employee when she walked out.

“Not a lot,” Diane said. “We stop over now and again, Caroline and I. As we get closer to the holidays we are bringing in treats for lots of the companies.”

“Treats?” she asked.

“Cookies,” Diane said. “My daughter-in-law owns a cafe-type place not far from here. She does a lot of baked goods along with breakfast foods and hot and cold sandwiches. She caters too. Roni has her information in her office downstairs if you ever need anything.”

“Maybe I’ll have Miles get it. I’m not one that needs anything catered, but we do order out for lunch a few times a month.”

“Like today,” Miles said as they stepped into Regan’s offices. “Good morning, Diane. What brings you by?”

“I was in the building and wanted to stop and say hi to Trent. I was chatting with Janine when Regan came out so I walked over with her.”

“I heard something about lunch,” Miles said.

“Diane was telling me her daughter-in-law has a cafe not far from here. Does she deliver?”

“She doesn’t,” Diane said. “But you can get DoorDash to deliver it for you.”

“Perfect,” Miles said. “I’ll run down and get a copy of the menu from Roni. I haven’t figured out lunch yet for the day.”

“I’ll let you two chat,” Regan said. “I need to get ready for my next appointment.”

She walked into her office, sat down at her desk and noticed that there was a message on her phone. She’d left it here, not thinking she’d need her cell phone. Miles knew where she was and could get her if need be.

It was a text from Zander asking how her day was going. There was a picture of an empty coffee cup and fast food bag on his front seat saying he’d been working since four this morning.

She felt bad hearing that.

She texted back her morning was busy and maybe they could talk later when they both had time.

He sent her a thumbs up back and she felt her shoulders sag with relief that he wasn’t blowing her off.

“Boy, do I have news for you,” Miles said quietly. “Sort of.”

“Sort of news is still some kind of news,” Diane said, matching his voice. “Is it safe to talk here?”

“No,” Miles said. “Are you going to see Betsy?”

“My next stop,” she said. It seemed her husband and brother-in-law weren’t doing a lot with this setup so she might as well put her nose in and see what she could find out.

“Hopefully Zander isn’t there and Betsy can fill you in better than me right now.”

“Then I’ll scoot over there and see what I can gather,” she said. “Don’t forget to check out Payton’s deli. You’ll love it.”

“I’ll go do that right now,” Miles said. “And by the way, Regan has no clue what you guys are doing. I’m not sure if it’s best to keep her in the dark or not.”

“I’ll talk to Betsy and think about it. Zander clearly knows what we do, but I haven’t talked to him much about it since Royce’s wedding. Even then it was as a joke.”

“But he knows to expect it,” Miles said. “Does he know you’re thinking of Regan?”

“I don’t believe so,” she said. “That is the fun part. I haven’t said Regan’s name to him once. I don’t believe Grant or Garrett have either, but I’ll find out.”

“If not, then it seems if we are right, they might be doing this on their own.”

Diane rubbed her hands together. “Those are even better. Then we only have to nudge things along. Or you two do by the sounds of it.”

“I’m doing my part,” Miles said. “I drop Zander’s name all the time in the context of her needing some action outside of work. You know, the hot PI next door and all.”

“Whatever works,” she said, grinning and all but dashing out the door and over to see Betsy.

“Morning, Diane,” Betsy said. “Coming to see if I’ve got anything to report?”

“I just spoke with Miles after I left Trent’s office with Regan. He said you’ve got some news to share.”

Betsy turned her head and she looked over to see a man in the other office on the phone. “Why don’t we take a quick walk,” Betsy said quietly. “I could stretch my legs.”

“You can walk me out,” Diane said. “And I can tell you how excited I am that I’ll be getting another grandson next month. I’m sure it’s going to be the last one I’ll get, but my son Ryder is over the moon to hold his son soon.”

Betsy winked at her for changing the subject and she watched as Betsy stood up and walked to the doorway of the other room and waved her hands as if she was walking out and the older man nodded his head.

“Sorry about that,” Betsy said when they were outside the office. “Zander’s father is now coming in a few days a week and helping out.”

“Good to know,” she said. “Don’t want anything to get back to Zander. So fill me in.”

She listened while Betsy told her about the dirty plates from a few days ago, then the dinner for two on a receipt, and something about Zander and Regan sharing a client. She didn’t care about the details and knew she couldn’t be told.

All she was concerned about was that Regan and Zander would be seeing each other on a professional level and that maybe it’d turn into more if it hadn’t already.

“So you see, Miles and I are still sorting it out, but we’ve got our eyes open. I’ll start dropping Regan’s name more now when she comes over. Or if I don’t see her, I’ll ask if it’s after hours. I’ll have work as an excuse.”

“Even better,” she said. “Glad to know you two are on the case.”

“Good one,” Betsy said.

Diane took her leave thrilled to know that she had more to report than her husband had been able to do.