Page 48 of Exposed

“You can’t afford to lose her, can you?” Declan cocked his head.

“No. To be precise, I have the fees coming in, but the problem is cash flow.” Bennie hated to admit it. “I don’t think she realizes that, but that’s neither here nor there. It’s my problem and I have to deal with it.”

“Break it down for me.” Declan rubbed her shoulder on the back of the swing.

“Right now, she pays half of the overhead. Payroll. Insurance, equipment rental, like the duplicating machines. Office supplies. All the other costs.”

“Your payroll must be a killer. Four lawyers, the receptionist.”

“It is.” Bennie knew he would understand. He had a solo practice, like she used to. “I’ll have to sit down with our accountant and go over the numbers, but I doubt I can stay in my offices if she leaves. I might have to move and start all over again.”

Declan frowned slightly. “But you used to cover the overhead before by yourself. You just made her partner recently, right?”

“Yes.”

“So what happened in the interim?”

“I shifted my practice. I assumed that we’d be together longer than a year, so I changed the cases I took.” Bennie had thought it over on the way here, trying to sort it out. “Since I had help with the overhead, finally, I was able to take bigger cases that raise my profile—but they last longer. You know how litigation can be. The bigger the case, the longer it takes to get through the court system. Most are in the public interest, a lot of high-profile work on important issues.”

“But it doesn’t keep the lights turned on.” Declan nodded. “You thought you had the backup.”

“Exactly, and now I don’t.”

“It’s like the rug gets pulled out from under you.”

“Right.” Bennie felt her heart ease. It made her feel better to be so completely understood, even if it didn’t change the situation any. She had never really believed that could be true, but it was, happily. Love was a good thing.

“I’ll tell you one thing. If I weren’t so happy with you sitting here, I’d drive to Philly and open a can on that Nate character.” Declan looked at her sideways. “But you wouldn’t like that, would you?”

“On the contrary, not a bad idea,” Bennie shot back, and they both laughed.

“How could you go for a guy like that? Temporary insanity?”

“Just about.” Bennie smiled. “Anyway, that’s not the point. The point is I don’t know what to do.”

“Well, you gotta make plans if Mary decides to go.”

“Right.” Bennie sighed, trying to resign herself to the next step. “I guess I have to call the accountant.”

“If you want, we can crunch some numbers right now. I know you hate math. I’ll help you. Do you keep those records in your laptop, like in Excel?”

“Yes, but I left without it.”

“You left without work?” Declan’s eyes flared open, comically.

“I know, I jumped in the car to see you. I was uncharacteristically spontaneous.”

“Is that another word for horny?”

“Come to think of it, yes,” Bennie answered, and they both laughed again.

“Hell, I’m done for the day if you want to go home. Or we can go upstairs and play with the laughing gas. The dentist tells me he does nitrous with the hygienist. Wanna give it a go?”

“Um, no.” Bennie took another swig of beer, which tasted better and better. Or maybe she stopped tasting it altogether.

“Or, I have another proposition,” Declan said, after a moment.

“What?” Bennie asked, enjoying herself.