My Husband Pretended to Love Me novel · Chapter 14 of 24

Chapter 14: Year Two

He was in the lot in nineteen minutes, with a woman in a gray suit and a leather folder.

"This is my lawyer," Stanley said. "She doesn't work for McAlister Marine. She works for me."

"I work for whoever pays the invoice," the lawyer said, and shook Dolly's hand across the counter. "Can I see the order?"

Dolly handed her the red sheet.

The lawyer read it twice and tapped one line with her pen.

"The grease trap citation is real, but it's a Tuesday repair. The fire code one is invented. I can get a judge to stay this by Friday if somebody files today."

"Filing costs money," Dolly said.

"It does."

"I won't take charity from a stranger."

"I know," Stanley said. "Let me pay for the lawyer," he said. "Not the diner. Not the rent. Only the person who walks in and stops this."

"And what do you want for it?"

"Nothing."

"Nobody wants nothing."

"I want to stop being the man who watched," he said. "That's all. It isn't for sale to you."

Carl, in the corner, made a low sound I couldn't read.

Dolly held out her hand.

"Retainer for the lawyer," she said. "Only that."

"Only that," Stanley said.

He signed a paper on the counter, then another.

"What's the second one?" I asked.

"The house," he said. "In Lake Forest. I'm putting it in a trust that can only be sold to pay for this. Her fees, a new lease if the building falls, whatever she needs."

I stared at him.

"You can't give away your house."

"It's in my name. It was mine before it was ours."

"It's where I..." I stopped.

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