Practice Makes Perfect

A tear ran down her cheek. She laughed in embarrassment and wiped it away. "Sorry. I just keep thinking"—she looked down at her hands—"how we've wasted so much time." She glanced up at him. "Why didn't you ever say anything?"

The tear totally did him in. J.D. got down on one knee before her. "I know, Payton—I wish I could go back, I wish I could take it all back." He wiped the tear from her cheek. "But I'm saying it now. Don't tell me it's too late."

Suddenly there was a knock, and Ben's voice called through the door. "Payton? J.D.? Is everything okay in there? This is extremely unusual."

J.D. watched as the door handle turned. He heard Ben call to someone in the hallway. "Call maintenance. Find out if they have a key to this door."

Realizing he was running out of time, he turned back to Payton. "You were right when you said that this partnership decision would divide us. Letting the firm choose will never work—we're both too proud for our own good. That's why I'm resigning."

Payton shook her head. "Too proud or not, I don't want to make partner that way."

"I know. So instead . . . I was hoping you'd want to come with me."

Her eyes went wide at the suggestion. She bit her lip anxiously. "I really don't know that I could do that, J.D."

There was another knock at the door, firmer this time. "All right you two—I'd like you to open this door. Whatever this is, it's getting ridiculous."

J.D. held her gaze. "We can do this, Payton. We don't have to let them separate us—that was their decision, not ours. The best part of this job is that I got to spend every day with you. I don't want to lose that."

"What are you saying, that we try to go somewhere else? Do you really think we could find a place that would take us both on as partners?"

"Yes. Our place. I want us to start our own practice."

Payton laughed. "That's ridiculous."

J.D. shook his head. "No, it's not. Just look at the Gibson's case—we work great together. And do you honestly want to go someplace that's going to be more of the same thing? The same lifestyle? The same hours? Wouldn't you rather work for yourself and control your own schedule? Maybe even be able to take a vacation for once?"

"Sure—those things all sound great. But it's too big of a risk," Payton said.

"Is it really? You and I are pretty damn good lawyers. Starting our own firm is probably the smartest move we could make."

Another knock. By this point, Ben sounded extremely pissed as he shouted through the door. "I just thought I should let you two know that a maintenance man is on his way up to open this door."

Payton didn't say anything for a long moment, and J.D. could literally hear his heart beating.

Then she finally answered.

"It would have to be called Kendall and Jameson."

It took J.D. a moment to catch on. Then he grinned. "No way. Jameson and Kendall. It's alphabetical."

"You told our boss that you banged me on top of your desk."

"Kendall and Jameson sounds great."

Payton smiled, victorious.

"So we're really going to do this?" J.D. asked.

She stuck out her hand. "Should we shake on it?"

He took Payton's hand and stood up, pulling her with him. "I want to hear you say it, Payton. Are we really going to do this?"

She nodded. "Yes."

"Good. Then you should know that starting today, I never, ever want to spend another day without you."

Payton's expression changed, and the lighthearted smile turned into something deeper. She moved closer to J.D., taking his hands in hers.

"Done," she said softly.

J.D. brought his hand to her face and kissed her, more gently than ever before, more lingering, because for the first time he felt absolutely nothing hanging over their heads, nothing standing between them. They had all the time in the world to themselves.

Except for the angry man banging incessantly on the door, that is.

And the crowd of at least a hundred people waiting impatiently in the hallway outside.

With all the rumblings coming from the other side of the door, Payton pulled back. "I think we should probably go out there."

J.D. grinned slyly. "Actually, there's something I'd like to do first."

"Is that so?" she asked. "Oh, I see . . . did the empty desk give you some ideas?"

"Just so I have a sense, how long is that going to be held against me?"

"Longer than a day, I can tell you that." But she sweetened it with a smile.

"Well, your mind may be in the gutter, but I had been thinking of something else." J.D. pulled his cell phone out of his suit jacket pocket and scrolled through to find a number. He held out the phone to show her. "What do you think?"

Payton looked at the number on the screen. "If we do that, there's no turning back."

"I know."

She grinned. "I really like the way you think, J. D. Jameson. Let's do it."

WHEN THE DOOR opened and Payton and J.D. stepped out, the crowd that had gathered in front of the office immediately quieted down.

Front and center stood Ben, who walked over to them with a look that said he was thoroughly annoyed. "Are we done with the theatrics now? Can we finally finish this?"

Payton nodded. "Actually, Ben, we are finished with this. Because I resign, too."

She could've sworn she heard several people gasp.

Ben's eyes narrowed. He glanced between her and J.D. "What sort of bullshit is this? You're both resigning?"

"Sorry, Ben. But you forced our hand," J.D. said. "Payton and I have decided to stay together."

Payton heard an "awww" come from the crowd behind her in a voice that sounded suspiciously like Irma's.

But Ben was not ready to be outplayed yet. He held up a sealed envelope. His trump card. "I've got a letter offering partnership that I think will change one of your minds."

Neither Payton nor J.D. moved.

Ben looked between them, stunned. "Don't you at least want to know who we chose?"

Hell, yes. Payton wouldn't deny that part of her was tempted to grab the envelope out of Ben's hand and rip it open right there.

But.

She glanced over at J.D., who glanced over at her, and she knew he was thinking the same thing.

Some questions were better left unanswered.

Realizing that neither of them was going to bite, Ben shoved the envelope into the inside pocket of his jacket. "You're both fools," he snapped.

"Yes. But only for not doing this earlier," J.D. said.

"You shouldn't have let it come to this, Ben. J.D. and I both deserve this," Payton said. "And if this firm values strategic leveraging over the commitment we've shown over the last eight years, then, frankly, you don't deserve us."

J.D. peered down at her with that "amused" look. "Nice speech."

"Thanks. I worked on it while you were on the phone."

J.D. cocked his head in the direction of the hallway behind them. "Shall we?"

"Yes." Unable to help herself, Payton's eyes went to the pocket of Ben's jacket where he had stashed the envelope.

J.D. laughed and held out his hand. "Come on, cupcake—let's go."

Payton threw him a look. "I can't believe you just called me that in front of the entire office."

She took his hand, and side by side they walked through the office corridor, past their offices, to the elevators and the exit.

J.D. smiled. "I told you, it's endearing."

"No, it's paternalistic and quasi-sexist. I can't think of one comparable name a woman can call a man."

"I know. That's what makes it so great."

Et cetera.

AS SOON AS the doors shut, the office broke into complete pandemonium. Of primary concern, of course, was the betting pool, and how to address the issue of the double forfeiture.

The Kendall camp, led by Laney, duly noted that Payton's statement to Ben had been "I resign, too," evidencing that J.D. had, in fact, resigned first, thus making Payton the de facto winner, even if only for a few brief moments.

The Jameson faction, however—headed by Tyler and relying upon secretly procured hearsay testimony from one of the members of the Partnership Committee who had been inside Ben's office—argued that although J.D. had attempted to resign first, Payton had demanded that said withdrawal of employment not be accepted, thus her statement to Ben of "I resign, too" was, in fact, the first and only official resignation, making J.D. the winner.

In the midst of the chaos, Marie, Ben's secretary, walked up to him and whispered that he had a phone call.

"Take a message," Ben barked. Whoever it was, it could wait.

Marie looked uncertain. "He insisted on speaking with you immediately."

Ben wasn't in the mood. "Deal with it, whoever it is," he said, brushing past her.

"It's Jasper Conroy."

Ben stopped in his tracks.

They couldn't have.

He nodded to Marie. "I'll take it." Not wanting to waste another minute, he headed into his office. He saw the blinking light on his phone and immediately picked up the receiver.

"Jasper! Good to hear from you. How are things down in Palm Beach?"

Jasper's drawl came over the other end of the line. "Ben—glad I caught ya. Listen, I've been thinking lately about doing a little restructuring of Gibson's trial team . . . I'm concerned that we're leveraged a little too heavily on the lawyer side. So I've decided to take my business elsewhere, to a smaller firm."

Ben looked up at the ceiling. "And who might that be?"

"A new outfit, actually. Just got the call today, sayin' that they're open for business."

"Jasper, you can't seriously be con—"

"Loyalty, Ben—I wouldn't have gotten where I am today without it. That's something you might want to look into."

"Don't be an idiot just to prove a point, Jasper. You can't hand them over a two-hundred-million-dollar case."