Chapter 347

With Garrison coming imminently, Sabrina nudged Andy to wake him up. It ended up taking a concerted shake to actually get him blinking and moving. He looked around the room blearily. “Oh, hey guys,” he said. “What did I miss?”

“Nothing, dude,” you said. “You just need to look like you’re working.”

“Right, right,” he mumbled and started absently tapping on the keys of his laptop. Sabrina reached over and turned it on for him.

It was another ten minutes before Garrison showed up in the doorway to the conference room. “Good morning, folks,” he said.

“Good morning,” Gemma and Sabrina both said. You’d already said good morning to him in the hallway so it felt weird to say it again.

“How was the extra long weekend?” he asked.

“Very good, sir,” you said. “We took a trip out to the beach.”

He did that sort of frown and nod motion that said he approved but didn’t actually care enough to say something or ask questions. “Great. I hope you’re coming back relaxed and ready to work. Just so you’re aware, I did end up receiving another strongly worded Cease and Desist from the lawyer of the ‘DeezChains’ guy yesterday, so I called him directly. You shouldn’t have anything more to worry about unless you go looking for trouble. It sounds like his lawyer is milking billable hours out of him by following through on his fruitless and petty demands. Certainly unethical in my book, and in an ethically grey area professionally, but he’s within his bounds to follow his client’s orders until it infringes on someone else. I’ve let him know harassing you with frivolous legal censures will qualify.”

“Thank you, sir,” Gemma said. “And I promise, we haven’t been doing anything to keep that going.”

“My pleasure,” Garrison smirked. You got the feeling he’d had fun tangling with whatever slimy lawyer DeezChains had on retainer. “So, you three are back to regular assignments and hours for now. Court for the merger case begins on Monday, so I’ll be taking you all to that for the day. Plan to be on point and take notes.”

Eric perked up, hearing that he would be coming along as well. Andy, on the other hand, looked like his eyelids were fighting to stay open and he didn’t really react.

“That’s all for now,” Garrison said. “John, come see me in my office in an hour.”

“Yes, sir,” you nodded and Garrison left.

“What’s he want to see you about?” Sabrina asked.

“No idea,” you said. That got her, Gemma and Eric guessing, but you really didn’t know. It could have been any of their suggestions, or none of them.

An hour later on the dot you got up from your work and slipped by Gemma, touching her shoulder briefly as you walked by her. Down at the other end of the building you knocked on Garrison’s office door. He gestured you in and pointed at a seat without raising his eyes from the document he was reading. You sat and waited for a couple of minutes as he continued to read, grunting every once in a while as he read something that was either notable, or interesting, or something.

Finally, Garrison set the document down and looked up at you. “John, you are starting to feel like a problem child for me,” he said.

“I’m sorry, sir?” you asked.

He reached up and wiped at his forehead as he sighed. “This morning I had a second Cease and Desist on my desk with your name on it. This one was from Joy.”