Looks Unimportant...Sense of Humour Essential

by Evie Evans

  “Is there a problem with you making it? I tried to ask your father but old people can be so vague can’t they?”

  Good old Aunty Suzi, never known to miss a chance to have a dig at someone, especially on Lucy’s side of the family.

  “Of course I’m coming,” Lucy told her, “wouldn’t miss it for the world. I guess I forgot to put my reply in the post, sorry.” She’d been putting it off hoping some brilliant excuse like a hurricane / work transfer / the Black Death came up.

  “Lovely. Please dress appropriately; there’ll be some important people there. Tony, that’s the groom, is big in electronics and Amy’s new boyfriend is related to the Earl of Leicester.” Aunty Suzi paused to allow gushing.

  “Well you know me, love talking about electronics.” Lucy told her, “and I’ll put the bin liner on hold if you insist on a real dress.”

  “I take it you won’t be ‘plus one’?” Aunty Suzi continued, seemingly ignoring Lucy’s sarcasm. “I suppose I’ll have to try to find a man for you as you can’t get one yourself,” she finished in a patronising tone.

  You evil old hag. “That’s not necessary,” Lucy responded, her voice like ice. “Of course I’ll be bringing someone. Must go now, I have important things to do. Bye.” She hung up the phone before Aunty Suzi could say anymore. That woman was so mean. If it weren’t for her dad she’d never have anything to do her and her horrible offspring.

  Of course she had just dropped herself in it. She quickly searched for a number online and dialled it. “Yes, I’d like to speak to someone about reactivating my account. I just cancelled it by mistake.”

  Now she had to get a date from somewhere. Teenage boys, perverts, criminals – anyone could apply.

  4 New client

  A new man had viewed her profile. Although she’d started to dread finding out about these men Lucy was grateful someone was still interested. The amount of interest she was receiving on the dating website had dropped off in the last week, presumably in favour of new arrivals. Lucy was starting to regret rejecting all the men at the start, it was beginning to look like she’d been too hasty. She wondered if the university educated civil servant looking for a woman who could debate was still available.

  The new man was called ‘legaleagle’. That was interesting. Men in the legal profession were usually too self-obsessed to be attractive to her, but at least they should have something in common, that would be more than anyone else so far. She sent him a message.

  The following day she got a response from long lost ‘simon582’. So he hadn’t died and maybe he hadn’t been in prison either. His message claimed he’d been too busy with work to respond. Not a great start if he couldn’t even find time to email. Still beggars couldn’t be choosers so she replied politely enough.

  ‘legaleagle’ responded too. It wasn’t the most interesting message she’d ever read, he talked about ‘Star Trek’ a lot. She was wondering whether to respond when one of the secretaries knocked on her door to drop off some forms.

  “Good news,” Janice told her as she put the forms in Lucy’s in tray. “That day off you requested next month has been approved. Funeral isn’t it?”

  “Not quite. A wedding.” Although it probably would be her funeral if she didn’t get a date. That made up her mind. She replied to ‘legaleagle’.

  A few days later she was amazed to receive a second message from ‘simon582’. Two in one week, she felt honoured. He thought it would be fun if they met up. She wasn’t so sure ‘fun’ would be the word she’d use; the online dating hadn’t been much ‘fun’ so far, but she had to get that date so she’d agree to anything, almost.

  Now that she was desperate for a date to the wedding Lucy had noticed relationships seemed to be a hot topic everywhere. Every time she turned on the telly it seemed to be a reality show about dating or marriage. Then one of the partners at the law firm announced her engagement and it seemed like no one in the office talked about anything but weddings for a whole week. It was a miserable week.

  It didn’t help her nerves for her latest ‘blind’ date either. She didn’t feel anywhere near as nervous about this date as the previous one, after that disaster, expectations were low, but she still found herself distracted and preoccupied again that morning with the result that she almost missed a meeting with her boss.

  “Hope I’m not late Mr Knowles,” she explained, racing into his office after a quick knock and taking a seat across from his desk. His office was substantially larger than hers and, in a note of real luxury, even had a window.

  The greying, fiftysomething man behind the desk didn’t look upset. “That’s okay Lucy, keeping you busy I hope?” he asked.

  “Oh, yes sir,” she told him, feeling a little guilty about the amount of time she’d spent on the dating website lately instead of working.

  “Perhaps you should change your name to Doolittle?” he chuckled.

  Lucy held her breath. Did he know about her timewasting?

  “What is it? Rat or mouse or something?”

  “Aha, yes,” she laughed politely. “Mrs Williams’ case. It’s a rat.”

  “You seem to be doing well with it, perhaps we should give you all the animal cases that come in?”

  She tried to force a smile. “Thank you sir.” She could see she was in danger of getting a reputation for ‘wacko’ cases if she wasn’t careful.

  “How long have you been with us now Lucy?”

  “Three years,” she replied.

  “Three years. Yes, I remember when you started as a trainee.” Lucy watched as he flipped open a file and began flicking through it. “And you’ve been a junior solicitor for about a year now?”

  Lucy nodded, wondering where this was leading.

  “I see you did a lot of disclosure letters and contract work as a trainee.”

  So it was her file. “Yes Mr Knowles.”

  “You’ve done good work Lucy.”

  Lucy let out a breath and gave him a smile. “Thank you.” She could cope with some praise, or was he setting her up for something?

  “We have another case for you,” he explained, closing the file, “but it doesn’t involve animals.”

  She normally got informed of new cases by email or telephone. For Mr Knowles to be telling her in person meant this must be something big or important. Or both. She leaned forward excitedly.

  “We’d like you to second chair the Brooke case.”

  Her heart skipped a beat. She’d been waiting for a chance like this for a year. A really important client, not another parking ticket dispute or congestion charge case.

  “Thank you,” she effused.

  Mr Knowles continued, leaning heavily on his desk. “If you keep going you could start to earn yourself a name. Katherine’s first chair, she’ll supervise you.”

  Lucy felt like skipping down the corridor to Katherine’s office but decided it wouldn’t be a good look for a lawyer with a Big Case. This news was just the lift she needed after all the dating issues. Like being stood up, or not, the other day. Whatever had happened, she’d felt humiliated. And a loser, especially telling Mrs Franklin about it after. It was just like that time at school when Robbie Wells had asked her out then changed his mind. Sue had used it to tease her with for years, never letting her forget and making sure no one else at school did either.

  At least Sue wasn’t around to torment her anymore. And Lucy didn’t care about past history because she had a big client now. Keep your head down and focus on your schoolwork, her dad had advised her when the teasing had gotten bad. Now that hard work had paid off. She should thank Sue really.

  Just think what dad would say when she rang him later. Her first important client. He was already so proud of her this would probably send him through the roof. He’d be boring the pants off everyone down at his local again tonight telling them about it.

  Katherine wasn’t in her office (also larger than Lucy’s). She was probably out on another case, maybe even in court. After making partner the
previous year Lucy knew her workload seemed to have exploded.

  “Is Katherine in court?” she made the mistake of asking Janice, the only secretary not on the phone. Janice was a lady of advanced years notorious for getting things mixed up. A source of great amusement in the office, and embarrassment, Janice was saved from the chop by a long standing acquaintance with one of the senior partners.

  “Yes, that naughty girl. Selling cannabis again.”

  “Right.”

  Lucy decided not to bother correcting her. Now she was going to have to go back to her desk instead of getting stuck into the case. She sloped off, disappointed. When Katherine still hadn’t returned after lunch Lucy left her a note and headed off for her date with ‘simon582’.

  She’d seen from his profile image that ‘simon582’ wasn’t particularly good looking, short, sandy hair, a slightly bulbous nose and a wide mouth, but he was the most ‘normal’ of the men who’d contacted her. Looks weren’t everything she told herself as she left work for another ‘personal appointment’. If she took many more of these the office would start thinking she had some serious illness.

  She’d suggested coffee instead of lunch in the hope it would be less upsetting and obvious if he stood her up. Walking to the upmarket bakery on Kensington High Street where they were meeting she started to feel slightly more hopeful. Her new case had put her in a good mood, maybe this date would be better than the last one. It was hard to imagine it being much worse.

  Lucy was wearing her normal office clothes for the meeting after deciding not to bother making too much effort this time. She didn’t want to have to explain to people in the office why she kept changing outfits either. He’d just have to take her as she was. Okay, perhaps she’d taken a bit longer getting ready that morning, trying to get her bob to dry straight and even applying a little makeup, maybe she’d added some lipstick as well. She’d put on one of her better suits, the one with the little kick pleat to the skirt. She wasn’t totally without vanity.

  Arriving at the bakery she didn’t pause but went straight in the door, not giving her nerves a chance to catch up with her. Even so, her heart was thumping as she had a quick scout around the room. He was waiting at a table nearby, she recognised him from his photo. A sense of relief washed over her. This date was already better than the last one, he’d turned up on time at least. Now she just had to establish that he was the person she’d been emailing, not his mother or pet cat.

  “Hi,” she greeted him. As he stood up to greet her she realised he hadn’t been as honest about his height as she had, he was only a fraction taller than her, but she wasn’t going to hold it against him. He was there, he almost matched his photo and he looked pleased to see her, she’d settle for that.

  *

  It was a much happier Lucy that left the bakery an hour and a half later. Talking to her date, Simon, had been so easy she hadn’t realised the time and she’d stayed longer than she’d meant to. It had been worth it though, he’d been polite and courteous, had insisted on paying for her coffee and muffin, and had taken an interest in her and what she did. Okay, he wasn’t the most attractive man she’d ever met but the fact he was so agreeable made up for that. Better someone easy to get on with any day.

  She made for the underground hoping she wouldn’t have to wait too long for a train. She really shouldn’t have stayed so long but it had been such a surprise to meet someone she could actually talk to. A train was just pulling in when she got to the bottom of the stairs so she ran to get on it. Really, she reflected, sitting down in the train carriage slightly out of breath, the date couldn’t have gone better.

  After she’d despaired of meeting anyone suitable on the website here was a pleasant 30 year old man who ran his own successful business in Moorgate, something to do with telecoms for the Government, it sounded quite important. He wasn’t obsessed with himself or football, had a good sense of humour and hadn’t taken the times when she’d talked as an opportunity to eye up the other women present. More importantly, she could picture herself introducing him to her family at the wedding. That would make some of them think twice.

  A smile came to her lips. Perhaps this online dating wasn’t so bad after all.

  *

  Lucy had only just got back to her office when her phone started ringing.

  “Lucy Davenport.”

  “Hi, it’s Katherine. I gather Mr Knowles has told you you’re on the Brooke case?”

  Lucy confirmed it.

  “I just got a call from Brooke’s assistant. He wants to meet us right away. Can you do that? I’ll have to meet you there.”

  “Where? At his office? He isn’t coming here?”

  “When the client’s as rich as he is, they don’t come to us, we go to them.”

  “Fair enough. I haven’t been briefed yet though.”

  “Don’t worry, you’ll only be listening to begin with. I’ll give you the address.”

  After scribbling it down, Lucy shoved a legal pad in her bag and ran out the door before remembering where she was and slowing to a sober pace. Her first big case. She couldn’t wait.

  It took her ages to find a cab (lawyers did not arrive for important business meetings by tube) and there was no sign of Katherine outside the office block when she arrived so she rushed in panicking she was late. Brooke and Son’s office was an impressive building in an expensive part of the city. Getting a case from them was a real catch for her law firm so she knew they’d be under pressure to do well. Knowles, Locke and Mallory hadn’t been going that long and every client counted. For someone from the sticks like her, being taken on by them had been a stroke of luck, they’d already built up an impressive reputation. Determined to make a good impression she straightened her jacket and ran her fingers through her hair before going up to the front desk.

  “Lucy Davenport from Knowles, Locke and Mallory,” she announced brightly to the receptionist hoping she looked more assured than she felt.

  The woman behind the desk looked down her nose at Lucy. “We were expecting a Katherine Lake.”

  “She isn’t here yet? I’m her associate. I guess she’ll be here shortly, she’s on her way.” Stop babbling, she told herself.

  “I need to see your id,” the receptionist demanded.

  Slightly surprised, Lucy fished around in her bag and came up with the driving licence she hadn’t used since coming to London. Thank goodness she’d never bothered to take it out of her purse.

  The receptionist picked up the phone. It sounded like she was calling Lucy’s office to confirm who she was. Not a very trusting lot, she thought. The girl looked disappointed as she put the phone down, identity confirmed. “Take a seat over there,” she instructed her. “Please.”

  Too posh for manners? Lucy wondered as she sat down. It was a very swanky office, all modern art and no carpet. Brooke and Son were obviously flourishing. She knew they were an investment firm and they’d really taken off in the last few years. Now they served the cream of English society, having an account with them had become a status symbol in itself. Lucy wasn’t likely to know any of their customers, she didn’t move in those circles. From what she knew Mr Brooke was almost sixty and she was looking forward to meeting him. She generally got on well with older people, her dad was about his age.

  As she waited she contemplated what a real red letter day it had been. She’d gotten her first important case and her blind date had gone really well. Perhaps things were on the up for her. She was so lost in this thought she didn’t see the man approach the desk.

  “Oh Mr Brooke, one of your lawyers is here,” the receptionist told him, suddenly finding some manners and smiling sweetly at him. She pointed at Lucy.

  Lucy got to her feet to greet her new client putting on her best smile, expecting him to be middle aged, probably grey haired, maybe a bit portly. But this was a young man and as he turned round she saw a tall, lean outline, dark hair, not too long just enough to run your fingers through, strong jaw, sculpted cheekbones
and golden tan setting off handsome features. Deep brown eyes were staring straight at her.

  The smile died on her lips. Oh no, it couldn’t be.

  5 You again

  “You!”

  They both said it almost at the same time. Lucy forgot he was her first big client and automatically adopted an offensive stance, putting her hands on her hips. She couldn’t be here to meet the man who’d humiliated her, could she?

  “You’re Leander Brooke?” she asked as he approached. Next she was wishing she’d worn a higher pair of heels rather than her usual low office ones, he was towering over her in a disconcerting way.

  “You’re the lawyer?” He looked equally dismayed to see her. He glanced at the girl behind the desk who seemed very interested in their discussion. Grabbing Lucy by the arm he started pulling her towards a nearby office. “In my office I think.”

  “Hey–” Before she had a chance to protest he’d practically lifted her off her feet, towed her across the corridor and deposited her in front of a modern looking desk in a large office full of windows. Only someone very important would rate an office this swanky with a view across Kensington. Lucy had a moment to register that her office looked like a dingy broom cupboard in comparison whilst he quickly shut the door.

  “If you don’t mind I’d rather not have all my business aired in public,” he told her. “Let me get this straight. You are the lawyer from Knowles, Locke and Mallory?” His tone was none too friendly.

  “I am part of the legal team. I’ll be second chairing your case.” Lucy wrinkled her brow, confused. “You must be the ‘and Son’, you’re not old enough to be the original Mr Brooke.”

  “I am.” He was giving her a once-over. “Are you even old enough to be a lawyer?”

  Hands on hips time again. “I’m twenty-seven and have been practising law for over four years.” This was true if she counted her training period, which she was. She knew she looked, and sometimes acted, younger but she was still fully qualified.