Julian laughed. “I think I can manage something better than McDonald’s.”
“No. McDonald’s is right down the street. I’m hungry, and I’m hungry now.”
Julian’s father laughed and shook his head. “I haven’t eaten anything from McDonald’s in years. Why not? Let’s live dangerously. My doctor won’t notice one splurge, right? Delicious disobedience seems like a good idea to me. We just won’t tell your mother.”
Mr. Leyonds shrugged. “Sounds like a plan to me. Nothing makes me quite as hungry as losing my morning to the lamest attempted assault I’ve had the displeasure of witnessing. For the record, I’m siding with you on this one, Miss Mitchell. A heel to the face might’ve taught him a lesson. The bastard won’t even have a high bail payment, and he’ll walk with a slap on the wrist. He’s got more money than sense, and money talks in this town. Have your attorney take him for every penny you can, but don’t expect miracles. While Julian will be able to offer you legal advice, someone from the DA’s office or state office will represent you in court. And no, Julian can’t represent you in this case. Please don’t take offense to that, Julian.”
“I’m not offended. I’m pissed that’s the way the system works. We’ll have to see how this plays out. He’ll try to settle out of court to preserve his reputation.” Julian wrinkled his nose. “Depending on his offer, the settlement might be ideal for you.”
“And however satisfying it would be to drag him through the mud in court, a settlement is a lot less stressful,” Mr. Leyonds said. “Ultimately, the choice will be yours, Miss Mitchell. If you go for a settlement, it’ll be over a lot sooner. It depends. I think an attorney will be able to sell an intent to injure, especially since the first hit broke your phone and left a bruise. I don’t know if the bruise will classify the incident as an assault, however. Without intervention, he would’ve hit you again. There are a lot of factors. If Mr. Whiteman is smart, he’ll offer you a substantial settlement to protect his firm’s reputation. That should make the labor dispute case easier, too. If he has a functioning brain-cell left, he’ll pay you to let the whole case die quietly. Otherwise, his entire firm takes the fall. I won’t lie; it benefits my firm if his firm sinks. There’ll be a decent chance I’ll win some high-profile clients who value their reputation too much to stay with a disreputable firm.”
Julian ran his hand through his hair and sighed. “This has made a mess of my plans. If your firm needs a legal secretary, I bet Chloe would be a good fit. She’s thorough.”
“She really is,” Julian’s father added, smiling and shaking his head. “She knew she faced a potential labor dispute, and she marked out her schedule and responsibilities by hour, listed the work she hadn’t been paid for, once again by hour, and otherwise kept excellent records. If her ability to schedule and field calls is anything like her record keeping, I would’ve been paying all her overdue wages and offering a substantial raise to keep her. A good receptionist wins clients, and they had her at a steal.”
Mr. Leyonds frowned, looking me over with narrowed eyes. “How are you at interacting with high-profile clients?”
I shrugged. “I didn’t run away screaming when Mrs. Carter grabbed me, dragged me to her son’s dining room, and treated me like a doll for her amusement. If I can survive her, I think I can handle anything.”
Julian’s father sighed and bowed his head. “I feel like I should defend my wife, but Chloe is telling the truth and nothing but the truth. She stood her ground.”
“How much exposure did you have to your firm’s high-profile clients?”
“I’ve arranged a lot of scheduling and things like that. I would make sure the attorneys were aware of appointments and handle the scheduling often; some of the clients would call the main line to have me make the arrangements.”
“That’s odd. They wouldn’t call in during main office hours? You worked the evening shift, correct?”
“Late afternoon through the evening, sir. I started at three during weekdays, and worked a longer shift on Saturdays. I fielded a lot of calls on Saturdays. Most of the attorneys wouldn’t be in the office unless they were working on a case or had an appointment, but clients would call in on Saturdays to try to make appointments for the next week. I had the legal secretaries add me to the calendars of most attorneys so I could handle scheduling. It worked well.”
“So, you were doing more work than just fielding basic calls, redirecting calls, and greeting clients?”
I nodded.
“I gave her Alan’s card, but she hasn’t called him yet,” Julian announced.
“We’re going to need to see how this pans out, but if Mr. Whiteman’s firm takes a hit, it’s entirely possible we’re all going to need new legal secretaries and additional attorneys to help cover the new influx of clients. Get in touch with Alan, Miss Mitchell. If Mr. Whiteman’s behavior is any indication, there’s going to be a bid war in the works for good employees, and you’ll benefit the most.”
It wouldn’t save me from either having to move in with my mother or accept Julian’s offer, but I would make the most of either case. “I’ll give him a call. After lunch.”
“As I don’t want to be the one eaten for lunch, how does McDonald’s sound?” Julian asked.
I laughed. “That’s a great idea. However did you guess I wanted McDonald’s?”
“Magic.”
Julian’s father volunteered to act as driver, dumping his son off at his firm before driving me home. I thought he was crazy, as I could’ve made my way home without any issues, but Julian’s father refused to listen.
“It’s like you enjoy crazy New York traffic,” I muttered.
“It gives us a chance to talk without Julian flailing. He’s good at flailing. I see you told him about your plans to move to South Carolina.”
Ah. Right. I’d been dealing with Mr. Carter as an attorney all morning, but he now addressed me as Julian’s doting father. “I did. He wants me to yank Kristine’s chain about it, trick her into thinking I’m staying in South Carolina, and prank her for the holidays since I don’t celebrate Christmas.”
“He would. I take it the marriage discussion came up because you mentioned spouses don’t pay rent?”
“Are you a mind reader or did you plant bugs in your son’s home?”
“Should I be concerned that your first thought is that I read minds and that your second involves spying on my son?”
“He has more board games than I have dollars in my bank account right now. I’m pretty sure that, compared to you, he lives in a state of eternal poverty. Probably from buying all those games. It’s really impressive. I’ve concluded there has to be something I’ll like on those shelves.”
“I think there’s some relevant information you need to know, as I’m uncertain if you’re aware of some things. These things will likely influence your overall thoughts on this situation. Of course, I’ll have a very angry son for telling you, but he hadn’t told me I couldn’t tell you. He should know better.”
“You are such an attorney.”
“I really am. It goes like this. Julian’s ethical. That definitely factored into him leaving the firm you work at. He was unhappy with how often they toed the line. He always worked ethically, but not everyone else. He didn’t become an attorney to cheat people.”
“He’s a kind person.”
“The hardest thing my wife and I have ever done in our lives was raising a son who wasn’t blinded by the shine of luxury. We see it all the time. It’s easy for people to fall prey to their wealth. We started Julian early. As soon as he was old enough to volunteer, we had him out on the streets learning to help others. I would involve him with as many of my cases as possible. I’d ask my clients if they would allow him to watch. He learned how common injustice in the system was. I was hoping he’d go into employment law, too, but I may have done my job too well. He rides too many horses, but somehow, he does a good job of it.”
“What do you mean?”
“Ini
tially, he wanted to become a private prosecutor. However, most prosecutors work for the state, and while firms often keep prosecutors on staff, the defense better fits with his ethics. His interest in prosecuting cases never faded, though. So, he rides two horses. It works well for him in some cases. Every now and then, his firm gives him the nod to serve as a civil prosecutor, but most of his work is as a defense attorney. Should you be serious about him, you’ll have your hands full. He works a lot of hours. That’s part of why he takes his games so seriously.”
I pointed at myself. “I work as many hours as most associates. Already used to it.”
“He respects you a great deal for your work ethic. While his ethics factored into him leaving your former firm, you were a major factor.”
“I was? What do you mean?”
“It’s a matter of ethics.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“There’s zero chance he’d date someone who worked for his firm. While some firms allow for husband and wife teams, he doesn’t want personal issues to influence his work quality. So, he wanted to have a chance to pursue you, someone he respects a great deal, which meant he needed to work somewhere else. Did you really think Kristine missed Black Friday due to an emergency? While he does eat at that restaurant often, he had a reservation for two long before you showed up wearing Kristine’s dress at the Christmas Village.” Julian’s father grinned. “I’m earning coal for Christmas for betraying my son’s trust, but I think the sacrifice is worth making. He’s positively smitten, and the longer he’s around you, the more smitten he becomes. You might’ve been joking about marriage, but if you were to show up, invite him to his kidnapping, and coerce him into marrying you, he likely would. He’s the kind to get himself into trouble and figure out how to make it work after the fact. Fortunately for my blood pressure, he talks himself out of the truly idiotic stunts before he gets carried away, but when it comes to you? I had to talk him out of accepting the first job offer to cross his path so he could continue his plans to spend more time with you. He gets that from me. I saw his mother, fell in love with everything about her, and spun my wheels trying to figure out how to convince her I was worth gambling on. I got lucky.”
“Dare I ask how you got lucky?”
“She grew up in a conservative household, didn’t think she had many prospects, and was convinced if she refused the first serious offer of marriage to come her way, she’d die an old maid.”
“You have got to be lying to me. That woman does not have any self-esteem issues. There is no way she’d value herself so little. If you leave her unattended, she’ll take over the world.”
“She wasn’t always like that. Alas, as I’d already decided I would love her no matter what, I enjoyed watching her transform from a reclusive artist to the woman she is today. He’s a chip off my block, and I think he’s looking forward to the same. For him, marriage isn’t a conclusion of a journey but the start of one. He’s playing for keeps. The real question here is this: how hard are you willing to work to make a relationship with my son work? That’s something you’ll have to figure out on your own. I just wanted to give you some warning there’s more to this than meets the eye. For Julian, there’s nothing impulsive about this at all. He’s had plenty of time to think everything through. If I were you, I’d take the next month or two to think about it. It’ll do Julian some good to bite his nails while he waits, even if you ultimately find a job right away. And while I love my son dearly, he does need to learn there’ll be bumps on the way.”
I narrowed my eyes. “And Kristine knew.”
“As a matter of fact, yes. She’s a primary instigator, and she’s been goading him on the entire time. You can blame his presence as Santa Claus at the Christmas Village entirely on her.”
“That bitch. She knows I’m Claustrophobic.”
Julian’s father chuckled. “Yes, she certainly does. Julian told me all about your aversion to Santa Claus, I think she was hoping to give you a reason to like the holidays again. In her words, she wanted to try extreme exposure therapy.”
When I got home, I’d wait for her to get off work, then I’d give Kristine a call. “Anything else I should know?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if you give him even the smallest amount of encouragement, he might steal your kidnapping idea and hope for the best.”
“It was my idea, and I refuse to allow him to steal it.”
“I’ll make sure he understands that should there be any kidnappings, you are the kidnapper and he is the kidnapped. That works for me. Watching him fret over if you’ll kidnap him will be amusing.”
“A sensible woman would be concerned right now, Mr. Carter.”
Julian’s father laughed. “That’s what my wife said when I begged her to marry me and blabbed about my desperate measures. One day, ask her about it. She loves telling the story. Without fail, she manages to embarrass me and our son.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Take your time. It won’t hurt him to learn some patience.”
Thanks to my lack of employment and the loss of my phone, Julian’s father conned me into accepting a Christmas present of a new phone, and when I wasn’t looking, he got me one far better than I would’ve gotten for myself. No matter how many times I offered to pay him back, he refused to budge from his stance I’d earned myself an early Christmas present.
I needed to be more careful in my dealings with the Carters. Even when I won, I somehow managed to lose.
I waited until six to call Kristine, filling the hours to start the tedious task of taking inventory and preparing to move. After dialing, I put my phone on speaker and listened to the ring tone.
“Hello?” she answered, her tone puzzled.
Oh, right. Julian’s bastard father hadn’t just gotten me a new phone, it had a new phone number, and he wasn’t going to let me pay for it for at least a month. Or two. Or three. I had no idea if he’d ever let me pay for it.
I’d been tricked. Again.
“It’s Chloe. My old phone broke. Well, Mr. Whiteman helped it break. As it’s broken—and evidence—I needed a new phone. I also resigned today, I don’t have a job, and because I don’t have a job, I need a ride to South Carolina to stage an invasion. I’m apparently moving to South Carolina after Christmas because I quit my job and there’s no way in hell I can get a new job before my rent is due. You owe me for making me go to the Christmas Village and be exposed to Santa Claus. You owe me so much you’re driving me to South Carolina.”
“I have a couch. The only place I’m driving you and your luggage is to my apartment. I will charge you in cleaning rather than rent. You will deep clean my apartment until you are so sick of me you get a job and move out,” my friend announced.
Damn. She’d opened fire early. “I still need to go to South Carolina.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“I told my mother I would be visiting her.”
“Yes, but I’m taking you straight back to New York as soon as you’re done visiting and being a daughter.”
I laughed. “I already told her I was moving there until I could find a job. She’s expecting me.”
“No. We just had this discussion. You are moving into my apartment, and you will deep clean my apartment until you’re so sick of me that you get a job and move out. I refuse to lose my best friend to your job’s stupidity.”
“Ex-job.”
“That. Whatever. You should’ve resigned months ago. Good for you! Anyway, you’d go to South Carolina, you’d blow a gasket within a week, and you’d either kill your mother or your stepfather. You might go for both. I’m doing this for your own good.”
Kristine drove me crazy, but without fail, she made me laugh. “I can’t move into your apartment. You’re dating a guy who makes it his duty in life to notify everyone in a block whenever he’s having sex.”
“I told him to keep it down and stop faking it, and the n
ext time we had sex, he was even louder than usual, so I kicked his ass to the curb and told him to grow up. I’m currently lacking a boyfriend. I was going to tell you, but with it being the holidays, I figured I’d spare you from fretting over my lack of a love life.”
Ah. Things became clearer. Thanks to her new status as a single woman, she’d focused on me, thus concocting her ridiculous plan to treat my Claustrophobia with an extreme dose of Julian. Bitch, bitch, bitch.
Did I thank her, torture her, or do a bit of both? Both sounded good. “Thanks to some events, there are two Sundays I have been coerced into playing an elf at the Christmas Village. I will not need your dress. I have acquired one of my own.”
“You did? Where? Those things ain’t cheap, not if you don’t want to be dressed up like an elf hooker ready to bend over and get some action.”
“I have a designer dress made by Mrs. Carter, as Julian was unable to accept my inability to breathe or sneeze in your clothing. Then, they were foolish enough to challenge me at Scrabble. I wagered with Mrs. Carter for clothes. I’ve been barred from wearing your dress again, as breathing is mandatory. You’re so lucky I didn’t have to sneeze.”
“You got clothes from Julian’s mother?”
“I wagered for new clothes, but I was not expecting the quantity of new clothes. Also, you need to buy her clothes, Kristine. There are pockets.”
“Chloe, babe. I love you, but I can’t afford her clothes. You can’t afford her clothes. Maybe if we joined forces and paychecks, we could afford something, but we’d have to sign joint-ownership papers.”
I frowned. “Just how expensive are her clothes? I didn’t look, Kristine.”
“Sec. Let me get to my computer. It’s a bit crazy. Everything’s hand sewn by someone in New York, right? Or hand tooled, in the case of the shoes. Ah, here. Okay, since you like your hooker boots, we’ll start with those. The cheapest pair of hooker boots she has for sale is two thousand dollars. She does limited runs, right? So, there’s always a set number of the boots available. Or dresses, and so on. These boots have three thousand pairs made, all hand crafted. They’re stamped with their number on the sole, inside and out. The craftsman gets half the cut, her firm gets the other half. She has one store, and it’s by appointment only. She sells limited numbers of her products online. Of the three thousand boots, only five hundred are available. Most of them are sold already, too.”
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