by Naomi Niles
“Funny,” I said. “That’s what I thought about Peter, John, and Alan. And now, they’re all settled and happy with their partners.”
“Be honest,” Talen said. “Can you see me settling down?”
I smiled. “No.”
“Thank you,” he nodded. “Because I’m not the sort to settle down. I’m a fighter, and I’ve committed to a life of chaos. It would be unfair of me to drag someone into this life with me.”
“Well, at the very least, we can be old bachelors together.”
Talen smiled. “I’m fine with that.”
We continued with our work out and an hour later, I threw in the towel. “Fucking hell, man,” I breathed. “That’s enough.”
“That was just the warm up,” Talen pointed out.
“Screw you,” I barked at him. “I’m going home.”
He laughed. “That’s okay. I don’t want to keep you from your bubble bath.”
I flipped him the bird as I headed for the exit. That was usually the way we bid each other farewell. It was our way of saying we loved each other. I washed quickly, trying to soothe my aching muscles, and then I headed to Jackson’s Bar for a nightcap.
Jackson was there, but the bar was pretty quiet that night. There were two groups of people wedged in at each end of the bar, but there was no one on the dance floor.
“Slow night?” I asked, taking a seat on the bar stool.
Jackson leaned across the bar and pushed a drink towards me. “It’s a week night,” he said, as though that explained it. “What you been up to today?”
“Met Talen for a work out session,” I replied.
“How is he?”
“The same,” I said. “Easy to be around, difficult to talk to.”
“If you say so,” he laughed. “How’re are things going with the MILF from the accident?”
I shrugged.
“That can’t be good.”
“I asked her out. She turned me down.”
“You?” Jackson asked. “The great Sam Burbank?”
“Save your pity,” I said. “I haven’t given up yet.”
“Why?” he asked, obviously baffled by my interest. “It’s not like this is a serious thing. And she has a kid… It’s not going to do you any good to get mixed up in all that.”
I shrugged. “Just because she has a kid doesn’t mean she wants something serious.”
Jackson was staring out across the bar, as though he were thinking about something else. “Well, it’s your call at the end of the day,” he said distractedly.
I stared at him for a moment, but he didn’t seem to notice. He was obviously preoccupied. I wondered if it had anything to do with the fact that his bar was practically empty.
“Hey, Jackson?”
“Yeah?”
“How are things going with the bar?” I asked. “Business picking up any?”
“It’s a new business,” he said, somewhat defensively. “It’ll take time.”
“Of course,” I nodded. “Hey, where are those financial statements you made me sign yesterday? I have some time now, I can look over them.”
“Oh…no need,” Jackson said, as he poured me another drink. “I’ve already handed them in.”
“But you have copies right?”
“Uh…yeah…sure.”
I wrinkled my eyebrows and looked at him pointedly. “You don’t sound very convincing.”
“Fuck, man, I’m half drunk,” he said, trying to gloss over the moment. But to me, it seemed like he was trying to avoid the question altogether.
“Are you saying you have copies of the financial statements or not?” I asked directly.
“Sure I do, man,” he replied. “I just don’t have them at the bar.”
“Where are they then?”
“At home,” he replied, but I noticed he wasn’t meeting my eye. “I have them locked up in a drawer.”
“Don’t you have a safe at home?” I asked.
“Uh…yeah?”
“Then, why not keep important documents in the safe?”
“That’s where I put them,” he said quickly.
“You said drawer.”
“I meant safe.”
I found myself staring at him, trying to figure out if I should be worried or not. Then, I reminded myself that this was Jackson. He was my closest friend and my partner.
“Let’s have this conversation when you’re not half drunk,” I said.
“Sure thing, man,” Jackson agreed, his eyes clouding over.
Chapter Twelve
Mia
As the judge dismissed the court after the trail, I felt a rush of relief and gratitude. The verdict had been declared as not guilty and Seth Danube was now officially a free man who had been wrongfully accused.
I didn’t even bother glancing over at the prosecution. I turned immediately towards Seth, who was sitting on my left looking positively awestruck.
I have him a smile. “You’re a free man, Seth,” I said to him gently.
He blinked once and turned to me as if in slow motion. “I’m…free,” he breathed.
“Leslie’s testimony really helped you,” I pointed out.
“She’s a star,” he replied. “And so are you.”
I smiled. “It was a team effort,” I said graciously.
“Thank you so much, Mia,” he said sincerely. “I would have lost hope a long time ago if it hadn’t been for you and Helen.”
Helen approached us at that exact moment, and Seth rose to greet her. They shared a hug just as someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned to find myself face to face with none other than Andrew Dermott.
“Ms Dennis,” he said, in his deep voice. “I just wanted to come over and say…congratulations.”
He held out his hand to me, and after a moment’s pause, I accepted it. “Thank you,” I said, taken back by the gesture.
“You did a good job on this trial,” he continued. “I was impressed.”
I smiled. “I had the truth on my side,” I said. “And, the conviction of knowing my client was an innocent man.”
Andrew Dermott’s smile grew a little wider. “It’s been a long time since I met one of you.”
“One of me?” I repeated with a raised eyebrow.
“An idealistic lawyer,” he replied. He gave me a parting smile and headed out of the courthouse. I stared after him for a moment before turning back to Seth and Helen.
“Did my ears deceive me?” Helen asked.
I laughed. “Stranger things have happened.”
“Not in my line of vision,” she said.
We walked outside together and said goodbye to Seth on the steps of the courthouse. We watched as he walked over to the corner where his family, including his ex-wife, was waiting to greet him. Helen and I took a moment to appreciate the sight. Then she turned to me, and the veil of professionalism dropped from her eyes.
“I think this victory calls for a celebration,” she said decidedly.
“Umm…”
“Oh, come on, Mia,” she said impatiently. “We’ve been working on this case for months! For a while there, we weren’t even sure we were going to win. Like you said, we just saved an innocent man from the inside of a jail cell. I think we deserve to celebrate that.”
“I do, too,” I nodded. “It’s just that-”
“I know you’re worried about Renni,” Helen interrupted me. “But can’t you ask Vanessa to take her for one evening? You deserve a little time off.”
Thrilled by our victory, I found myself easily convinced. I nodded and called Vanessa, who was more than happy to take Renni for the evening and thrilled that I’d won the case. With that taken care of, I walked back over to where Helen stood with the rest of our behind-the-scenes team. There was Kelly, Brad, and Tate and everyone was ready to let down their hair. I could sense the need to relax and let loose for a night before the next trial came along.
“Where should we go?” Kelly asked.
“Let’s go t
o a bar,” Brad suggested.
“How about a club?” Tate said. “Then, we can dance, too.”
“I know a place we can go,” Brad said. “It’s this new bar that opened up a few miles from here. I’ve wanted to try it out, but I haven’t had the time.”
“Great,” Helen said. “Then, it’s settled. Let’s go.”
We were all dressed in our office attire, but no one seemed to care. I had opted to wear a pencil skirt, a sleeveless silk beige blouse with thin straps, over which I’d worn my favorite black blazer. On the way to the bar, I removed my blazer and let my hair down from its rigid knot. Then I applied a darker shade of lipstick and sprayed myself with perfume.
“You are so damn lucky,” Kelly observed enviously.
“Lucky?”
“That you can transition like that so easily. You just went from professional chic to casual sexy,” she explained. “It’s because you’re hot. Unattractive women can never pull that off so easily.”
“You act as though you’re not an attractive woman,” I said, rolling my eyes.
“I work hard to be attractive,” she said quickly. “You think I would look this good if I didn’t try hard? Please.”
Helen snorted from the front seat. “Just listen to the two of you,” she said. “After you two little bitches pass the forty mark, then you can start complaining. Until then, shut it.”
Kelly and I exchanged a smile and fell silent. Brad and Tate were already parked outside the bar when Helen pulled up next to them. We walked in together and picked a table near the dance floor. The boys went off to get us drinks, and I found myself relaxing into the laid back atmosphere of the bar. It wasn’t particularly crowded, but that suited me just fine. I tended to get claustrophobic in big crowds.
A few moments later, Tate and Brad came back with a tray full of drinks. “Geez,” I said. “Went a little overboard with the drinks did you?”
“We’re celebrating aren’t we?” Tate said in a reproachful tone. “Just kick back and enjoy.”
I accepted the drink he pushed towards me with a smile. I wanted to follow their lead, shut my mind off and enjoy myself, but it was never as simple as that. When you became a parent, you could never shut your mind off – no matter how much you wanted to.
It wasn’t as though I could expect anyone to understand. Kelly was my age and happily single. Tate and Brad both had girlfriends, but neither one was tied down. Helen was the only other person in the group who had children, but both her sons were old enough that she didn’t need to worry about them anymore.
“A toast,” Tate said ceremoniously, raising his glass in the air. “To the good fight and all the innocent people it succeeds in freeing.”
“Hear, hear,” Helen nodded as everyone toasted to that.
We started dissecting the trial we had just been through, going through all the little triumphs and congratulating ourselves on a job well done, when a voice from the bar caught my attention. It was vaguely familiar, and I craned my neck sideways to try and place it.
His eyes caught mine, almost in the same second that I saw and recognized him. It was Sam.
He was standing behind the bar as though he worked there. He was wearing a black t-shirt that displayed his toned arms to perfection, and his eyes brightened as they fell on me. He gave me a wave and headed over to our table.
I felt suddenly nervous, which unsettled me a little. It had been a long time since I’d felt nervous around a man – and that told me something that I wasn’t sure I wanted to admit just yet.
“Mia,” Sam said as he approached the table.
“Hi, Sam,” I said, giving him a smile. “Funny running into you here.”
“My friend owns the place actually,” he replied. “So I’m here often.”
“Introduce us to your friend, Mia,” Helen interrupted with sparkling eyes.
I colored a little, but I managed to hide the blush with my hair. “Everyone this is Sam,” I introduced. “And, Sam, this is…everyone.”
Helen rolled her eyes. “I’m Helen,” she said, making up for my shoddy introduction. “And this is Kelly, Tate, and Brad.”
Sam shook hands with everyone, and I noticed what a charming smile he had. “Are you guys celebrating something?” he asked.
“We are, actually,” Kelly nodded. “We just won a big trial today. We helped an innocent man walk free.”
“Wow,” he said, glancing at me. “That is something to celebrate. You know what? The next round of drinks is on me.”
I could see instantly that he had won over all my colleagues. It was that charm I’d deciphered early on. It could melt the toughest critic.
“So, Sam,” Kelly said, leaning towards him a little. “How do you and Mia know each other?”
Sam gave me a smile. “I have to be honest,” he said. “We didn’t meet under the best of circumstances.”
“Oh?”
Sam looked at me as though he didn’t feel it was his place to tell the story. “Well,” I started. “Remember that car accident I was in last week?” I reminded everyone at the table.
“Yes?” Helen asked curiously.
“Sam was the fire fighter who got Renni out of the backseat.”
“No way!” Tate said, obviously impressed. “Nice one, man.”
Sam smiled. “Just doing my job,” he said modestly. “Much like you guys. If you’ll excuse me for a second, I’ll just go and see to those drinks I promised you.”
The moment he was gone, everyone turned to me, Kelly and Helen in particular. “He is foxy!” Kelly said appreciatively. She was looking at Sam as though he were a piece of meat. “Are you sleeping with him?”
“Of course not,” I said affronted. “I barely know the man.”
“Since when has that been a reason not to sleep with someone?” Kelly rolled her eyes. “He’s hot.”
“He certainly is,” Helen nodded. “If only I was twenty years younger.”
I laughed. “Shush, the lot of you,” I said. “He’s heading back here.”
Everyone was on their best behavior when Sam came to the table again. He wore a bright smile. “Your second round of drinks will be here in a minute.”
“Thanks, man,” Tate said, patting him on the back. “I think I’ll hit the dance floor now.”
Sam turned to me. “What about you, Mia?” he asked. “Dance much?”
“I’m an awkward dancer actually,” I admitted. “I’d much rather watch other people dance and judge their dance moves internally.”
He laughed. “What about pool?” he asked. “Any good at that?”
“Actually, pool sounds great,” I nodded.
Sam led me off to a corner where a huge pool table had been set up. We settled into the game, and I found myself having a really great time. Sam was funny and easy to talk to, and I had to admit, it was refreshingly nice to have a handsome man pay so much attention to me. I could sense the chemistry between us and wondered if he could sense it, too.
I suspected he did because he made it a point to move close to me, even brushing against me from time to time. I had never played a more sensual, sexually-charged game of pool in my life. I wasn’t sure if it was the game or the slow-moving effects of the alcohol, but I didn’t want the night to end. Despite my desires, I still wanted to call in and check up on Renni.
I put all my concentration into the last shot and the ball went in smoothly. “Yes!” I said, throwing my fist up into the air. I gave Sam a sly smile. “I think I just won the game,” I said triumphantly.
He rubbed the back of his head. “Damn, that was embarrassing. I actually thought I was a pretty decent pool player until now.”
“You know how to get better, right?”
“How?”
“Compete against a superior player,” I teased. “Like me.”
Sam’s smile was disarming, and I could see the desire in his face. I felt myself get a little hot under the collar, and I took another sip of my drink. Sam took a step toward me, but
I stepped back.
“I…have to call Vanessa,” I said.
“You need to check on Renni,” Sam said, without my having to explain anything to him. “Of course.”
I gave him a smile and stepped outside the bar so that I could have a peaceful conversation with Vanessa. She answered almost immediately, and her tone was expectant.
“Hi you,” she said. “How’s the night going?”
“Good,” I replied. “How’s Renni?”
“She’s doing fine,” Vanessa said. “We finished her homework, had dinner, and now we’re going to watch a movie before bed.”
“Can I speak to her for a second?”
I heard the phone change hands, and then Renni’s little voice came through from the other end. “Hi, Mommy,” she said. “Did you save the man?”
“I did, sweetheart,” I nodded.
“Yeah,” Renni crowed. “I knew you would. I’m proud of you!”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Thank you, angel. That means so much to me. Now how are you? Did you have a nice day at school?”
“Uh huh,” Renni said. “Aunt Vanessa and I are going to watch a movie now.”
“I heard,” I said. “What’s the movie?”
“The Secret Life of Pets,” she said excitedly.
“Sounds great,” I said. “Have fun, my angel, and go to bed when Aunt Vanessa tells you to, okay?”
“Okay, Mommy,” Renni agreed easily.
I smiled. “That’s my girl,” I said. “Can you put Aunt Vanessa on the phone, please?”
“What’s up?” Vanessa asked, as she took the phone back.
“Guess who’s here?” I asked, without any context whatsoever.
I could hear the amusement in Vanessa’s voice. “Umm…who and where?”
“We decided to try out this new bar in town,” I explained. “And, I ran into Sam.”
“No way!” she said excitedly.
“Yup,” I nodded. “He bought the whole group a round of drinks and then challenged me to a game of pool. I kicked his butt.”
“Sounds like you’re having a blast,” she observed.
“I am, actually,” I admitted.
“Good,” she said. “You deserve it. Don’t worry about anything over on this side. I’ve got it all under control. Stay as long as you want and enjoy yourself.”