Page 67 of Not Mine to Rescue

He lifted the plastic walkie-talkie in his hand. “He’s napping.”

“Jim!” Denise shoved him and took the device from his hand. “You’re welcome to come in. I’m going to check on my son,” she said over her shoulder.

For being the side piece, she wasn’t evil at all. Or maybe just evil enough to take Honor’s side in whatever was going on between her husband and the ex-wife.

“Yes, please come in. I have to get Molly.”

“He’s not welcome in my house.”

This was going to be a problem. “I’m going to tell Walt you said that. How much is his retainer a month?”

“Don’t threaten me.”

“That’s the wrong set of words, Jim. The words you want are ‘good customer service’ or maybe, ‘unbiased’ or ‘fair treatment.’ You know, like your company mission statement says on their website.”

“He’s right. You’re being terribly unfair to your client.” Honor’s mouth tilted into a slight smile she tried to hide.

“He’s your client.”

I shook my head and interrupted. “Nope, Walt didn’t hire her.”

Honor tilted her head to glare at me.

I shrugged. “And even if she helped you out that one time, I wanted more than just a client-lawyer relationship, but she wouldn’t listen to me because that would unethical. So, once my case was done, I made it clear that our business relationship was done. But the other shit wasn’t.” I’d heard enough of the argument before firing up my bike that the lie was well thought out.

“It’s too soon.”

“You want to know an interesting piece of trivia, Jim? Maryland never adopted the American Bar Association rule one-point-eight-J.”

Honor’s stare morphed into disbelief.

“I looked it up.” Sue me. I grinned at Jim.

Jim smiled back, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “It still could result in disciplinary measures for her.”

“How?”

Honor’s question matched mine.

“It is causing an issue with the club’s representation.”

An inkling of doubt slithered around in my brain. He was up to something.

Honor’s reaction made it worse. “Don’t you dare.”

Jim’s amusement rang through his tone. “Like you said, this my client. And it’s hard for me to represent him if you’re sleeping together.”

“That’s a you problem. Not a me problem.” Honor fired back.

“Then, Molly stays here?” he offered.

Could he be a bigger dick? “Don’t you dare cave to him. Molly’s your dog.”

Honor placed the wineglass in her hand on the cement driveway. When she straightened, she measured me. The debate in her eyes was clear. Worse? If she had to choose between her dog and me, I’d lose.

“He’s playing dirty. You know that.”

She nodded once. “And he could win. I could lose my dog and my career.”