A Fresh Start

When Cherise and Micah arrived at work, they took the elevator to the third floor, wondering who their new client would be. They clocked in and headed to the office they shared to check their email.

Micah sighed. “Great. Another meeting with Mr. Johnson,” he grumbled and Cherise gave him a sympathetic smile.

Ian Johnson was a lawyer who specialized mostly in divorce and child support claims. Last year, Micah had been hit with a court date. Apparently, an ex-girlfriend of his was trying to convince everyone he was the father of her child.

“Never mind the fact we never fucking had sex,” he grumbled that night at the bar.

“What can they possibly want from you now?” Cherise asked, frowning.

“Probably another DNA test,” he sighed, putting the meeting into his calendar. “Next Friday at 3:30.”

“Would you like me to come along?” she offered as they headed to the board room.

His eyebrows furrowed. “Really?”

“Sure. You’re there for me all the time. Plus, we’re partners in crime, remember?”

He laughed as they walked in and sat down, pulling out their notepads.

“Football season is starting soon,” he said enthusiastically and Cherise rolled her eyes.

Football was a big thing in Oklahoma. Harold even shut down the firm the last year when the two teams – Oklahoma University and Oklahoma State University – were playing in the finals so no one would miss the game. Cherise was more inclined to basketball, though. For some reason she just couldn’t understand all the rules and plays of football.

“Harold can get us tickets to some games if you want to go,” he said.

His voice had changed and Cherise tugged nervously at her purple hair.

“Micah, I-”

Before she could respond people started walking in and the short moment ended as everyone greeted them happily. Lira licked a couple people’s hands before settling back at Cherise’s feet, resting her head on her front paws. Harold grinned broadly at his employees.

“I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend,” he said. He pulled out an easel with a large white board on it. He drew a graph with a slightly curved arrow. “These are last month’s projections,” he explained. “We’ve come leaps and bounds but we have a long road ahead of us if we want to keep this going. Now, I know we don’t have a ‘normal’ company as our lovely little competitor mentioned over the weekend but that doesn’t matter. We’re damn good at what we do and we get the job done. I’ve emailed everyone with last week’s completed tasks and this week’s new ones. Let’s make some money!”

Cherise smiled as they all filed out. Over the weekend, the CEO of Bookes, Inc. had gone on television to slander their company. It was true. Not many professionals would allow purple hair for instance. But Kevin Bookes stated that their main problem was they weren’t picking the ‘good clients.’

“In my opinion, everyone is a good client,” Cherise said as they walked in their office.

“Agreed,” Micah sighed. “That man is an idiot and his firm is going to sink faster than the Titanic. Now, let’s look at our new client.”

They pulled the file up and he printed it out. He rolled his chair over to her desk.

“Felicia Brown,” Cherise read. “Twenty-one, recently graduated college, and,” they groaned in unison, “has absolutely no idea how to do taxes and is facing a court subpoena.”

“This will be fun,” Micah said sarcastically. “She’ll be here in an hour for the initial consultation. How do you think we’ll do with Lira?”

Cherise knew the real question.

“We’re having a good day,” she assured him. “But let’s go get some gum just in case,” she added when he arched a brow.

Cherise was lucky to have Micah. Other than her mother, who lived three hours away, she didn’t have anyone outside of her doctors who really cared about her health. He looked out for her which made her uncomfortable. How many times had he asked her out on a date?

“You all right?” he asked when they got the vending machine. “Or is it the wrackspurts?”

Cherise laughed, sliding a dollar into the machine.

“Maybe,” she said seriously. “Do you have your Spectrespecs?”

“Ugh, what are you nerds talking about now?”

They turned to see Janine Kilroy. She had been there for almost ten years and deeply resented Cherise and Micah’s quick rise through the company. She continually argued that it was because of Micah’s relation to Harold but everyone knew that Cherise and Micah were the best at what they did.

“You are looking lovely today, Janine,” Micah said, casually throwing his arm around her thin shoulders.

She scowled at him. “Back off, Morris,” she snapped and he put a hand to his heart dramatically.

“Oh, come now, Janine,” he said, bending on one knee. “Surely you can see past our differences!”

Janine rolled her eyes. “Allen, get your idiot boyfriend away from me.”

Cherise snorted. “You need to lighten up, Janine,” she chuckled as Micah got back to his feet, grinning and brushing the dust off his knees.

Janine went to pet Lira who backed up, her brown eyes staring mistrustfully at Janine.

“Well fine you mangy mutt,” Janine snapped and stormed off.

Cherise laughed and patted Lira on the head. “Let’s get to the meeting room,” she said, still laughing and popping some gum in her mouth.

They didn’t have to wait long. They were tossing Cherise’s stress ball between the two of them when the door slammed open. Micah, who had been leaning back, knocked his chair over. Cherise stifled her laughter as he clambered back up, blushing slightly, and turned her attention to the young woman in the doorway.

Felicia Brown was tall, thin, and looked like a supermodel. She had blond, curly hair, and haughty blue eyes. She was dressed in a silk blue blouse and a skirt much too short for a business setting. Her heels were at least four inches tall as she sashayed over, extending her hand.

“Felicia Brown,” she said pompously, shaking Cherise’s hand. Her eyes lingered on her hair.

“Cherise Allen,” she returned as Lira sniffed the air.

Felicia yelped and jumped back. “What is that!?”

“…. A dog,” Micah said slowly.

“What in the world is a dog doing in the workplace?” she cried and Cherise resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

“This is my partner Micah Morris,” Cherise said, diverting attention from Lira who was growling quietly. She bent down to the dog while Micah and Felicia shook hands. “Calm down there, girl,” she whispered, scratching behind her ears.

Felicia’s attitude did a 180 when she saw Micah. She batted her long eyelashes.

“It’s so nice to know there’s at least one firm here that can do their job,” she simpered, sitting in the seat across from him.

Micah pulled awkwardly at his collar.

Cherise cleared her throat and put the files on the tabletop.

“So it says here you’ve had some issues with taxes,” she said and Felicia groaned.

“What’s the big deal?” she pouted, crossing her arms. “Don’t they even know who my father is? Jesus. So I didn’t pay taxes for two years, so what?”

“The government is willing to work with people who show a desire to fix their records,” Micah said. “We can help you straighten your books. Where do you work?”

She rolled her eyes. “I own a clothing store across town.”

Cherise made a note, cringing inside. A business owner not filing taxes?

“How long have you had the business?”

“Two years, duh,” she said and Cherise felt Micah’s leg twitch with annoyance.

“Did you open it yourself or did you buy it?”

“Daddy bought it for me for my 18th birthday,” Felicia said with a sparkle in her eye. “I’ve always had an altitude for clothes.”

Cherise pretended to check on Lira to hide the laughter on her face.

“Right,” Micah said slowly. “Well, here’s what we can do. You can either bring your books here and we’ll do what we can, or we can go to your place of business.”

“Both of you?” Felicia asked. “Or just you?”

“Both of us,” Micah said firmly.

Felicia leaned forward, smiling sweetly at Micah. “I’m sure you and I can figure it out without wasting Chelsea’s time.”

“Cherise,” Micah corrected, “and she’s my partner. Where I go, she goes.”

Felicia snorted. “Fine. I don’t want to waste even more gas so you’ll have to come to me.”

“Fair enough,” Micah said and jotted down her business address. “We’ll be by first thing Wednesday morning,” he added after checking the calendar.

Felicia nodded once before leaving in a huff. When the door slammed shut, Cherise couldn’t hold back any longer and burst into laughter.