Divorce Lawyer Pt. 04

"Mom!" Penny cried out, wrapping her arms around her and hugging her. "It feels like forever since I've seen you."

"I'm glad that you're happy to be back," Helen said, smiling, then glancing down at Penny's nakedness. "Do you always sleep in the nude?" she asked.

"Yes, don't you?" Penny asked, smiling.

"Put some clothes on and come to dinner," Helen said, getting to her feet. "Your father will be here in a few minutes and I ordered some food from BiCE. It will be here soon."

Pulling on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, Penny gave her hair a quick brush, then went to the kitchen just as her father arrived.

"Dad!" she said, reaching up to wrap her arms around his neck and hugging him.

"Welcome home," Grant said, smiling as he hugged her. "Glad to be home?" he asked, releasing her.

"Yes and no," Penny replied. "Singapore and Mai Li were like living in a dream, but it's still good to be back."

Dinner arrived and they ate around the heavy oak breakfast table instead of the formal dining room and Penny regaled her mother with stories of her travels, carefully edited, of course.

"You've changed," Helen said, smiling. "I can't believe how confident you seem."

"It's been non-stop trial by fire," Penny said. "I had to sink or swim. I'm not unsure of whether I've got what it takes anymore, I know I do. Meeting all these different people, being involved in their worst experiences with them, it really makes me appreciate my life more."

"So you're determined to continue working with your father?" Helen asked.

"Wild horses couldn't drag me away," Penny replied, laughing. "I was born for this."

"You might not say that if you had been with me in L.A." Grant said, shaking his head. "I've seldom seen such willful stupidity. They both wanted a divorce, so that's easy, but their jointly owned assets, they each insisted that they had to have this, that, and the other, and there's zero chance of compromise. When I pointed out that if they don't come to an agreement, that the court would impose one on them by ordering their joint assets auctioned, they were both fine with the idea, anything but concede anything to the other. Then I pointed out that if they went to trial, all of their lives would be laid out publicly and therefore fair play for the media. When they realized the hit their professional reputations would take and the resultant loss of major income if all of their dirty laundry were aired in public, they came somewhat to their senses. They're going to announce that they're amicably splitting up and they signed an agreement to have their joint assets auctioned and they'll split the proceeds. The agreement will not be made public. Even at that point, neither one would give an inch to the other. Fucking idiots."

"I'm glad I missed it," Penny laughed. "Now I'm ready to get some sleep and then settle into some sort of a routine once I get un-jet lagged."

"Don't hold your breath," Grant laughed. "We're leaving for London in two days."

"London!" Penny gasped. "But I...we just got back."

"You'd better get used to it," Grant laughed.

"God," Penny groaned as she left the table and returned to her bedroom.

"Grant, are you sure that you want her working with you?" Helen asked when Penny left. "Was it...difficult at any point?" she asked.

"Helen, she was nothing short of incredible," Grant said, shaking his head. "She didn't just handle different situations as they came up, she handled them perfectly. She's a natural empath; she feels what other people are feeling. She's able to touch them, reach them in ways that I don't anymore. I've become jaded in a lot of ways. It's always the same thing, just different flavors. I could do it in my sleep. As for difficult, it's not the easiest thing in the world to actually realize that your little girl is a full-grown, very responsible woman, but she fills me with pride. She's so much like you, so determined, so fearless. You should be very, very proud of our daughter."

"It's the like me part that bothers me," Helen said.

"Helen, you are and always have been god's gift to my life," Grant said, taking her in his arms. "There's not a thing that I'd change about you. You are the absolute light of my life and I love you beyond words. And I feel the same way about Penny. She's an incredible young woman."

"Grant Studder, are you trying to sweet-talk me out of my clothes and into bed?" Helen asked, smiling.

"Is it working?" Grant asked in reply, laughing when she grabbed him by the hand and led him to their bedroom.

Penny was pleased the next morning when her mother said nothing about her outfit, a pleated, mid-thigh, dark-green skirt and a pale green blouse that did little to nothing to hide her breasts with their large ruby nipples. She loved the feeling of being in her new car again and wistfully parked it beneath the building after the short, 10-minute drive to work.

"Welcome back!" Cindy greeted her when she entered the office. "You look great!"

"So do you," Penny said, smiling. "It's good to be back and see you again."

"He's already here," Cindy said, flicking her head towards the inner office. "I already got his coffee; you want some, too?"

"God, yes," Penny replied. "I might even want two of them. I am so jet lagged, my head is spinning."

"We're going to have fun this morning," Grant said, a big smile on his face when he saw Penny enter, immediately followed by Cindy.

"Oh?" Penny replied, sighing as she sank into her seat behind her desk. "Thanks, Cindy," she called to her departing back.

"My favorite part of this job," Grant said, holding up a fistful of envelopes.

"Did you come in early just to do that?" Penny asked, impressed.

"Damned right I did," Grant replied. "Time to spread the joy. You ready?" he asked.

"Sure," Penny agreed, smiling and quickly draining her coffee.

"Cindy, a little something to say thank you for doing such a great job," Grant said as they left the inner office, handing her an envelope.

"Thanks, Grant!" Cindy said, her whole face lighting up. "Oh, Grant!" she gasped when she opened the envelope and pulled out the check. "Oh, thank you," she said, jumping up and hugging him. "Thank you."

"I'm glad that it pleases you," Grant said. "Keep up the good work."

"What was that about?" Penny asked as they headed down the hall towards the boiler room.

"$500,000," Grant said, grinning.

"That's double her annual salary," Penny gasped. "Why?"

"Did you see how happy it made her?" Grant asked, stopping to look at her. "We just made a shitload of money on the Caruthers case. I can afford to be generous."

"You never cease to amaze me," Penny said, shaking her head and following him into the boiler room.

"It's a good day, people," Grant said when he entered, holding up his fistful of envelopes, all of them applauding and cheering, except for Amy, dressed in her ubiquitous track suit as opposed to the 'normal' office attire of the others, her frizzy red hair tied back, her eyes and smile for Penny alone. "You all know what I charge each client," Grant said. "I make that clear so that you'll know exactly in dollars and cents how much you're working for. Incentive. This time there are four checks for each of you and I'll explain how they break down, as a couple of them are a bit unusual," he said as he walked around the room handing each of them the envelope with their name on it, smiling when he heard the expressions of delight as they were opened and they saw their checks.

"First of all, the Caruthers case," Grant said, everyone's focus on him. "They had to pay us $147 million because Senator Caruthers' husband was too stupid to give her the money to pay me my normal fee of $10 million. I have no idea what he was thinking, but he ended up having to pay me 1% of the value of their combined marital estate, 99+% of which was his. I rounded up, so that means that you each got $1.5 million for the Caruthers case," he said to cheers and applause.

"The Akin case would make a great movie," Grant said to laughter. "Our fee was a normal $10 million. But thanks to our newest employee, Penny, she somehow found some incredibly damaging information that put our client's wife in serious criminal legal jeopardy, if the information became known. To avoid that little problem, she ended up agreeing to pay our client $10 million in damages, which he was kind enough to split with me. So that gave each of you $125,000 for the Akin case. If the math is puzzling you, Penny gets a bonus of half of the extra money for making it happen. You've got an extra $25,000 each because of what she did," he said, a couple of people shouting out thank you.

"The Wang case," Grant continued. "Our fee was $20 million. There was a promised bonus of $30 million if we met certain criteria which I am not at liberty to discuss. Your own Amy Harrison single-handedly thought of a plan and executed it, enabling us to get that extra $30 million, of which I am awarding her half. The remaining $15 million will be treated normally, giving you each $350,000, of which $150,000 is directly attributable to Amy's ingenuity."

"Amy, with all that money, now you can dress better," someone called out to laughter.

"Would you rather me dress better so that you can make less money, or dress comfortably and make you money for doing nothing?" Amy asked, silencing the room. "I thought so," she said, smiling. "You're welcome, in any event."

"Good for you, Amy," one of the women called out. "Thanks."

"Our last one, the Hollywood Stars, just a normal case for $10 million," Grant said, shrugging. "Sorry about that. You'll each only make $100,000 for that one. "Are we having a good day now?" he asked to laughter and applause.

"I know that sometimes you wonder why you're doing this job," Grant said. "Each of you is a specialist in some area of the law; a few of you overlap. But each of you is vital to providing me with the tools to get people to pay us so much money. Everything you do is important to that end. Learn from today. Anyone can come up with a great idea that makes us money and be handsomely rewarded for it. Just ask Penny and Amy. Keep up the good work and thank you for everything that you do," he said, waving and leaving the room.

Penny made her way over to Amy's desk.

"For a rich bitch, you are fucking brutal," she said so that only Amy could hear her, both of them laughing. "I love your outfit, by the way."

"Give me a ride home after work and we can get some dinner on Worth Avenue, then..." Amy said, smiling.

"Deal," Penny agreed, leaving with a bounce to her step.

"Did you think that I had forgotten you?" Grant asked when Penny entered the inner office, holding up a last envelope in his hand. "Caruthers, $15 million," he said, pulling one of the checks out. Akins, $1.25 million," he said, pulling another check out of the envelope. "Wang, $3.5 million," he said, pulling out another check. "And our Hollywood Stars, $1 million," he said, pulling out the last of the checks. "That's $20.75 million," he said, smiling as he handed her the checks. "How does it feel?" he asked as she looked at the checks.

"Surreal," Penny replied, shaking her head. "It feels like monopoly money."

"The only problem with money is not having enough of it," Grant said. "Too much is never a problem."

"Dad, what if I don't want to live at home?" Penny asked.

"Why wouldn't you?" Grant asked.

"Because I have to be on my tip-toes around Mom with some things," Penny replied. "Oh, I love her to death, but I don't want to have to endure her scathing glances at the way I dress, or god forbid, I bring some guy or girl home for the night, or several of them. I've been living on my own for six years now. I'm not used to having to answer for how I live. It's stultifying."

"I understand," Grant said with a sigh. "Of course, what you say makes perfect sense, and your mother will also see that, in time, but she'll be upset when you do move out, whether it's a week from now or a year from now. In any event, you need to do what's best for you. I'll do whatever I can to support you when it comes to your mother, or anything else, for that matter."

"Thanks, I appreciate that," Penny said. "I'm going to have dinner with Amy after work. I probably won't come home tonight."

"Have fun," Grant said, smiling. "God knows you two both deserve to do some celebrating."

"I think that I'll go to the bank," Penny said, smiling and waving her checks at him. "Thanks for these."

"Wasn't that a fun day," Amy said when she met Penny for the elevator ride down to the parking garage.

"I'm still jet lagged," Penny said as they got into her car. "I feel like I've exchanged one movie set for another," she said as she crossed the Royal Park Bridge onto the island of Palm Beach. "Nice neighborhood," she said as she found an empty parking spot on Chilean Avenue 50m from Island House where Amy lived.

"It's quiet," Amy said. "That's my favorite part. I'm two blocks from the Intracoastal and two blocks from Worth Avenue. It's a 5-10-minute walk to the beach. It's a $5 Uber to or from work."

"How long have you lived here?" Penny asked as they entered the building, taking the elevator up to the 6^th and top floor.

"Almost 6 years," Amy replied, leading the way down to the last apartment, #6E, and opening the door. "I used my first paycheck for the down payment and finished paying it off in 2 years. I own it free and clear now."

"It's beautiful!" Penny said when she entered. "So warm," she said as she looked around, noting the adobe tile flooring and the rattan furniture with comfortable-looking, tropical-print cushions and pillows. There was also a large-paddle rattan ceiling fan. "I like the smaller kitchen," she said when Amy showed it to her. "Easier to keep clean. My parents' is like a living room, it's so big."

"I love living here," Amy said, shedding her track suit to her birthday suit and smiling at Penny. "And I never wear any clothes when I'm home."

"I like that rule," Penny said, quickly stripping, then wrapping her arms around Amy for a long deep kiss. "I missed this the past couple of days," she said, one hand sliding up to cup her breast, her fingers finding her thick cherry nipple and pinching it gently.

"Why don't we take a shower, then fuck, then get something to eat," Amy suggested, smiling.

"You've always got the best ideas," Penny replied, laughing and following her into her bedroom, which had an en suite bathroom with a large walk-in shower and an antique clawfoot bathtub.

Half an hour later, panting for breath after having eaten each other to several orgasms, Amy suggested that they go to dinner if they were going to eat, that everything on Worth Avenue closed fairly early. Making a mental note to herself to keep an extra change of clothes or two in her car, Penny got dressed while Amy pulled on her track suit.

"You go out to dinner on Worth Avenue dressed like that?" Penny asked, laughing.

"Oh, they all know me," Amy said, waving a hand. "They call me the bag lady, even though they know that I live here. I kind of like it, seeing all of the snobs looking down their noses at me, not having a clue, wondering why a bag lady is being treated politely and with deference to get into the restaurants. Here, this is my favorite place on Worth Avenue," she said, leading Penny into Renato's.

"Hey, buonasera, Amy!" a hugely mustachioed man said when he saw them, a big smile creasing his face as he approached. "Where you been?" he asked, kissing her on both cheeks.

"Work stuff, Mario," Amy replied. "This is my friend Penny."

"Welcome to Renato's, Penny," Mario said, beaming a smile as they shook hands. "You here to eat or you just had to see me?" he asked, winking.

"Both Mario," Amy laughed. "Is there a table? I know it's getting late."

"For you, always. Follow me," Mario said, leading them to a table on one side of the open-air patio.

"Wow!" Penny laughed when they were seated. "You weren't kidding. This is great. Everyone is looking at you."

"Life sucks, then you die," Amy said, laughing. "That's why I sat with my back to them."

"Something to drink?" Mario asked when he returned to the table.

"A bottle of the Far Niente chardonnay, please," Amy ordered. "And a large bottle of San Pellegrino."

"You should order for both of us," Penny said. "You obviously know the menu and you know what I like. It's your turn," she laughed.

"Two salads, Mario, the Di Pere," Amy ordered after he returned with the wine and poured their glasses. "Then the salmon, the soft-shell crab, and the zucchini, all appetizers."

"That salad looks interesting," Penny said. "Organic baby greens, caramelized pears, aged goat cheese, candied pecans, and champagne vinaigrette. Mmm. Can't wait."

"The food here tastes like someone's mother is in the kitchen making it," Amy said. "I eat here a lot. At lunch, there's a take-out window and there's always a line."

"Did you hear that we're going to London?" Penny asked with a sigh.

"Yeah," Amy replied, nodding. "I was working on that one today, snooping," she said, smiling. "Lucky you."

"I was hoping to stay in one place for a while," Penny said. "I told Grant that I wanted to move out, get my own place."

"How'd he like that?" Amy asked.

"He wasn't crazy about it, but he understood, encouraged me to do what's best for me," Penny replied.

"What about your mom?" Amy asked.

"Yeah, that's the real question," Penny sighed. "Even Grant knows that she's not going to like it. She looked daggers at me this morning when she saw this blouse, though at least she didn't say anything."

"I like that blouse on you," Amy said. "It shows your nipples nicely."

"Exactly!" Penny laughed.

"So, what are you going to do?" Amy asked.

"There isn't much I can do before we go to London, but as soon as I get back, I'll find something," Penny replied.

They finished dinner, then strolled along Worth Avenue, window shopping and seeing all of the ridiculously expensive things for sale, then returned to Amy's condo, both of them undressing as soon as the door closed behind them.

"Oh, you can see downtown West Palm Beach all lit up from here," Penny said, standing on the balcony off of the living room which faced west.

"During the day you can see the Intracoastal," Amy explained, coming up behind her and reaching around to cup her breasts, her fingers finding her stiffening nipples and tugging on them.

"Mmm," Penny said, reaching behind herself to slide a finger into the wetness between Amy's legs.

"I've been thinking about your housing thing," Amy said as Penny turned to face her, leaning over to suck on one of her large cherry nipples.

"What?" Penny asked, standing up.

"I think I know a place that would be perfect for you," Amy said.

"You do? Where?" Penny asked.

"I'll show you," Amy said, taking her by the hand and leading her down the hallway past her bedroom, then into another room, a duplicate of her own. "Nobody has ever even slept in here," she explained. "It has a walk-in closet, same en suite bathroom as mine."

"You...you want me to live here with you?" Penny asked, stunned.

"I think that it would be great," Amy replied, smiling.

"What...what about your privacy?" Penny asked.

"I'll have as much privacy as I want or need whenever I need it," Amy replied. "I just thought that you might like the idea."

"I do, but I never considered...I don't know what to say," Penny said. "Wait, do I have to let you fuck me if I say yes?" she asked.

"Yes," Amy replied.

"That's a dealbreaker," Penny said. "Yes, definitely yes!" she screamed, wrapping her arms around Amy and lifting her off the floor.

"Your bed or mine?" Amy asked.

"Mine!" Penny replied, her eyes shining. "Let's dedicate it right now. You say nobody has ever slept on it?"