Impress Me Not: The Handyman

Chapter 91

"Okay," Justin entered the room. "You guys actually called me in here without making a show of it, which only means bad things."

"Or we're trying to be polite," Benny smiled at him.

Justin gave him a straight look that had a hint of annoyance. Sarah had to hold back a snicker when she saw it. Justin was always the dramatic one. Well, so was Benny. But they were both on the opposite sides of dramatic. Benny was slightly hopeful, while Justin tended to be a bit of a Negative Nancy.

"Seriously?" Justin raised an eyebrow. "Because, last time I checked, neither of you cared too much about being polite."

"It might just be nothing," Lee said. "It looks like Ira is just trying to catch up with his family at the moment."

"I agree," Suzy said. "This might just be a fluke that's going to resolve itself in a few days."

They had all gotten caught up on what had happened. Lee and Suzy weren't doing too much as they made sure that Jessy and Angel stayed together and happy. They could only do it for six months after they started dating, so they had to make sure that the two were in love enough to make it last when they left them. Will could only imagine how attached the two had gotten to their clients. They had been on their cases for quite a long time now. Will was sure that they were going to be crying when they had to say goodbye.

A part of him wished that he could go on cases like those. But he got attached too easily to people. That was another reason why he had gotten in so much trouble with the boss. He was sure that he was going to be bawling his eyes out when they were finally finished with Solomon and Niko's case.

He was positive that he was going to be bawling if they didn't make it.

"Okay," Justin sat down on one of the couches. "Before we get into the debate of the century, can someone fill me in?"

"Ira Goldstein," Sarah said.

"Who?"

"Ugh!" Sarah rubbed her face. "How new are you? How do you not know Ira Goldstein?!"

"Sarah, do you know how many cases there are in our department right now?" Justin argued with her. "How am I supposed to know every single person that we have to deal with?"

"Because he was one of the rare one's that had a change of heart," Sarah said.

"Wait," Benny said. "That's rare?"

"Most people wind up in our department for a reason," she explained. "They're toxic people that hurt others. It takes a lot to get someone to see that they're toxic."

"Most of them never change their ways," Justin said. "Every time they hurt someone's heart, we have to get harsher on the punishments. We're told to pick something that we think will actually hurt them enough to get them to either snap out of it and start being nice to people, or so that they won't hurt anyone ever again."

"Yikes," Benny shook his head. "I'm glad I'm not in your guys' department."

"It's pretty satisfying to help the victims find solace at least," Sarah said. "Sadly, a lot of them don't want to change their ways until they're on their death bed and they realize that they pushed everyone away."

That was the painful truth about the anticupid cases. While there are a lot of people who can change their heart and start to love properly, there's a lot who stay the same no matter what. The Last Chance cases came about to try and stop the influx of cases that their department got. Sarah heard that it was Eros' idea to see whether love could solve some of these cases rather than revenge.

She hadn't seen any of the cases be successful herself until now, though. Watching Niko completely transform from someone who just cared about sex and money to a caring soul who wanted to help out as much as he could, was awe inspiring. Sarah couldn't believe just how well love worked to change his heart. And she was glad that he didn't get put in her department. This was a much better ending to his story.

Now she just hoped that the two could stay together.

"So, what's with Ira?" Justin asked. The room had gone silent after what Sarah had said before. It wasn't exactly a topic for light conversation.

"He's a case that took me years," Sarah explained. "I had to bring it all the way to giving his wife confidence to divorce him. And trust me, that was a knife to his heart to say the least."

"That's horrible that a marriage had to end," Lee said. "Marriages are meant to last forever."

"Trust me when I say that they needed it," Sarah said. "Not even she could get to him about changing his ways. All he could see was the green money that he made more and more of. I basically had to help him see that money isn't happiness, and it won't fill the void in his heart."

"We're worried that he might be the guy that the boss was saying would cause these two some problems," Benny told him. "He already glared at Niko when he met him again."

"If he's a changed heart case, then there shouldn't be a reason to worry," Justin said. "He shouldn't cause them too many problems."

"But Justin," Sarah started. "Just because he changed his heart, doesn't mean that he won't accidentally go back to his old ways. Jealousy was his worst trait, and it didn't just go towards his wife."

"There's another reason why he might be angry," Will said. They all looked at him curiously. "I did some research, and found that Niko was one of the few people who had beat him in a case before."

"Fuck," Sarah leaned her head against the couch and looked up at the ceiling. "That's the one thing that I wasn't able to get him out of: his insane passion for winning each case quickly turns into fury when he loses."

"So, he's a sore loser?" Benny asked.

"Yup."

"I don't think it's going to be that bad, though," Lee shook his head. "I mean, just look at Niko right now! He's taking everything in stride with giving Solomon the space he needs. And he even redid one of the rooms in his mansions for Maya!"

"I can't believe we got this far with him," Justin watched the screen in shock. Solomon and Niko were whispering sweet nothings to each other while Jay took a nap and Maya enjoyed her new room. "I never thought he had it in him to be like this."

"He really is adorable," Benny smiled.

"They're all like one big happy family," Lee put a hand on his heart. His eyes sparkled with tears that threatened to come out.

"I think they can get through this, Sarah," Will patted his friend's shoulder. "They already went through the worst of it. I doubt Ira can keep his anger towards Niko for that much longer. Not with him taking care of Solomon and Maya as much as he is."

"He can hold a grudge for quite a long time," Sarah said. "I mean, that court case that you found must have been a long time ago. Because I haven't even heard of it. And I was on his case for a long time."

"Niko's got a charm to him," Will winked at her. "And, with Solomon on his side, I'm sure that everything will be alright."

Sarah looked at the screen. It was such a perfect picture. Sure, they weren't the stereotypical family. They looked a little different and were all different ages. But that never mattered when it came to family. All that mattered was the love they had for each other. That's what showed who a person's real family was. They didn't have to be blood related. They just had to love each other. Just like how Ira loved Solomon. It was clear to see in those green eyes of his. They had softened so much over the years. She was glad of that.

"I hope you're right, Will," she told him. "Because I have a bad feeling about this."