Page 21 of A Christmas Negotiation

His dad turned to leave. No handshake. No pat on the shoulder. Just one lawyer leaving another lawyer’s office. But he stopped when he reached the doorway. “Have you and your mother talked about the tree-trimming party?”

Christmas. Jeremy was so knee-deep in this case, his mother was the only thing reminding him that the holiday was just around the corner. “We did. A few days ago. Although there’s not much to talk about, is there? We’ve been doing this every year on December 23 for as long as I can remember.”

“And it’s my job as your father to make sure you’re going to be there. You’re the only child and your mom looks forward to that night all year long.”

“I will not disappoint her.”

Jeremy’s dad had hardly been gone a minute before Jeremy’s phone rang. His heart sped up when he saw the caller ID. It was Isabel. “Hey there. Calling to give me a hard time about the cat again?”

“Have you seen the papers?” Isabel’s voice could sometimes be cutting, but her tone was particularly icy.

“I haven’t. I never read them.”

“I suggest you do it right now. You can look online. Do a search for Eden’s Department Store. I’m sure it’ll come right up.”

Jeremy took a seat at his desk. “Can I call you back when I’m done?”

“I’d rather wait on the line and hear your reaction.”

This couldn’t be good. “Ten minutes. I’ll call you back. I promise.” He ended the call and did exactly what she suggested. When the headline popped up in the search results, Jeremy’s stomach sank so low it felt like it was at his knees. The words “secret affair” jumped right out at him.

Jeremy only had time to scan the article. He wanted to call Mr. Summers before he spoke to Isabel and he knew she’d hold him to the promise of ten minutes. The story laid out the facts as the two parties generally understood them. The bad of it was that these details had now become public information. The worst of it was the comments from Mr. Summers as contrasted with those from Mindy Eden. Mindy’s only comment was, “Mr. Summers has made a claim and we’re doing everything we can to negotiate with him in good faith. My sisters and I loved our grandmother very much and want everyone to know that she was a generous and kind person with a big heart.”

Mr. Summers’s comment wasn’t quite so delicate. “Victoria Eden barged into my parents’ marriage and destroyed it. She was a vile money-hungry woman who handed her naive granddaughters a business wrongly built on my father’s money. I will get restitution if it’s the last thing I do.”

Jeremy physically winced when he reread it. Then he picked up the phone and called his client. “Mr. Summers. I saw your quote in the newspaper today. You have painted us into a corner.”

“That reporter misquoted me.”

“You might have to prove that to me. Do you know who fed the story to the papers in the first place?”

“I don’t.”

Jeremy wasn’t convinced, but he had no evidence that his client had started this. “Okay, then. I’m calling to let you know that the Eden’s team has read the article and they are not happy about the things you said. They could easily countersue you for defamation of character.”

“You can’t defame the dead. I looked it up.”

“Ah, but survivors can make a claim that the defamation of their dead relative reflects on their reputation. Knowing Ms. Blackwell’s previous legal work, I have no doubt she will make exactly that argument.” Jeremy took in a deep breath and kept going. “Also, the Eden sisters are immensely popular in the city of New York. They are in the tabloids all the time. People love them and their store. So if you think that you could somehow get somewhere by bad-mouthing them to the press, you were sorely mistaken. Public opinion is important, Ben. And you have officially hurt your own chances by trying to mess with the Eden heiresses.”

Mr. Summers cleared his throat. “What do you suggest I do? Call the reporter?”

“What’s done is done. Nobody reads retractions, anyway. I want you to give me permission to negotiate with Eden’s. You’re going to have to give a little.”

A distinct grumble came from the other end of the line. “Promise me you’ll give up as little as possible.”

“I’ll do my best.” Jeremy said goodbye and hung up, wasting no time returning Isabel’s call. “I’m sorry,” he said when she answered. “I saw the article. He claims he was misquoted, but regardless, people are reading it and I’m sorry that it happened in the first place. We need to get this hashed out.”

“I can’t negotiate with you if you won’t give in on anything, Sharp.”

He caught himself smiling. How could she do that when he was as stressed as could be? “Will you please stop calling me that? You’ve seen me naked. Can we go with Jeremy?”

“Are we starting negotiations already? Because I think you know that you’re now the one at a disadvantage. Which means that technically, I can probably call you whatever I want.”

Jeremy sat back in his chair and glanced out the window. It was starting to snow. He was tired. He really just wanted to get home. “If you’re going to call me something bad, I think you should say it to my face.”

“Oh, so now you’ll meet with me in person? Now that you’re forced to do it? That doesn’t say much about your good faith, Jeremy.”

Good God, it made heat rush through him to hear her say his first name. Inviting her to his place was not a great idea. But he had to get this done, get his dad and Mr. Summers off his back, and well, there was the matter of Cat, too. Isabel seemed to know what she was talking about when it came to his feline houseguest. “I know. I know. You were right all along. I owed you this meeting days ago. You can come to Brooklyn and meet Cat and we’ll get things worked out.”