by Tanya Agler
“I also can’t afford to open my own office anytime soon, despite that being what I really want to do. So, right now, I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place.”
She sighed. She’d begun to accept the fact that she’d have to stay at her firm and work to get her student loans down or pay them off. But that could take forever, the way things were going, and then Burr’s unexpected offer had come in.
Anna’s mother had moved to Colorado to be with Anna’s aunt after her uncle died. Given Anna was an only child, there wasn’t a whole lot tying her down to Chicago. Except memories, and they would be with her wherever she went.
Burr had kept stoic, without comment and without frowning even once at what she’d said. So she kept going. “I don’t want you to think I see myself as a caped superhero, because all I want is to do right by my clients. That’s what drew me to the law when I was a kid. It seemed so simple. A person needed help and my dad gave it to them. He took a burden off his client. So simple in theory, but not very easy to find in this world.”
Burr finally spoke up.
“I understand what you’re trying to do. I had ideas and dreams but not much money when I started out. I was lucky because I was in a small town and my first office was in my garage. I’m not surprised by your struggle, or that this position is your last option for the near future. We aren’t fancy around here and most of our clients aren’t wealthy. The money isn’t nearly what you’d get where you are now, but we’re the only option for legal help in the area, so we won’t go broke, either.”
“I didn’t mean to offend you,” she said quickly.
“I’m not offended. Truth is never offensive.”
She took him at his word and laid out some basic truths. “Okay. I need to work somewhere that won’t suck the life out of me—where billable hours aren’t the holy grail. That’s not the atmosphere I want to work in.”
“Okay, I know what you don’t want in a firm but, specifically, what do you want?” Burr asked.
“This probably sounds a bit Pollyanna, but I want a law firm with a heart, that’s fair, that’s good at what they do, and when they talk about client care, they mean care, not how to offer clients a higher level of service to increase their billable hours, or talking about which restaurant is the best for client entertaining.”
Burr stood unexpectedly. “Coffee?”
“Yes, thank you. Black.”
Her dad had had a gift that had served him well when he’d practiced law. He’d been able to read people, to see them for what they really were, not what they wanted him to think they were. She wasn’t as good at that as he had been, but he had taught her a lot.
After being around Burr for a few days, she could tell that he had a heart for the law, a real love for it. He was smart, kind and patient. Now she was starting to think that the man himself could tip the scales in favor of her taking his offer—if she did. She genuinely thought he was as close to any attorney she’d ever met who had the same character she’d admired so very much in her own father.
Burr came back with a steaming mug and set it down in front of her, then took his seat again. As she cautiously took a sip, he said, “I was hoping this town would appeal to you.”
“I told you about my dad and how he worked, more with his heart than anything. He drove my mom nuts doing pro bono work or bartering for his fees. But Dad always did the right thing, and I loved him for that. He was my hero, and I wanted to be like him. I still do.” She leaned slightly toward him. “You know I appreciate your offer so much and your help getting me here, and this town seems great, but I just don’t know if I—”
“Oh boy,” Burr said, cutting her off but surprising her with a smile that twitched his mustache. “Here comes the old brush-off line ‘It’s not you, it’s me.’ So, before you say something I’ll regret, let me say a few more things for your consideration. Then you can tell me bluntly what you want to do. No hard feelings. I promise.”
She liked him even more now. “Okay.”
“You told me your plan had always been to work side by side with your dad at his law firm. I’m sorry that never happened for you, but you kept going after he passed away. I can tell you’re passionate about the law, the way I bet he was. Here, the legal needs of my clients, no matter where I find them, are for honest, solid service, and for me to care for them and about their lives. But I understand that you’re worth more than I can offer. You graduated law school second in your class. You could draw top money anywhere you want to go, but I have a gut feeling you’d fit in here perfectly.”
“I’m not going to walk away from something good even if it means I need to stretch payments for my student loans further.” She looked down at her hands cradling the warm mug, then back to Burr. “Dad didn’t get wealthy from his practice, but he was a huge success.”
Burr touched the gold horseshoe. “I understand that completely. That’s why I contacted you about the partnership when I saw your query in the law magazine.” He sat forward. “I did a full background check on you, just to see what would turn up. Do you want to hear something strange?”
Why not? “Sure.”
“I went to the same law school in Chicago as your dad did, but I was a year ahead of him. So we may have crossed paths at one time or another. Smith Watters, right?”
Anna had never truly believed in “signs,” but if this was genuine, maybe a very small sign had just hit her over her head. “Yes. Smith Watters was my dad. Law school’s where he met my mom.”
When he spoke, she could hear the sincerity in his voice. “I’m sorry you never had a chance to go into practice with him.”
Her chest tightened. “That is the biggest regret of my life. I was only thirteen when he died.”
“For what it’s worth, from what you also told me about him, I think you’re on the path to being a lot like him.”
She felt the prick of tears behind her eyes and swallowed. This was not what she’d expected. “I’m not there yet, but thank you.”
“Anna, I think you’d be a good fit in this town,” Burr said again. “These people are mostly soul-deep good people, and I’m hoping that since you’ve seen it on our tours and met them, you’re swinging toward taking me up on my offer.”
Anna could feel things changing for her. The whole idea of being here, practicing law in this town with Burr, was something she was pretty sure her dad would have supported. Burr’s honesty made that almost a certainty. “I like the town and the people I’ve met. But I’m not a small-town person. I’m not sure that I’d even understand where the people around here would be coming from.”
“Anna, people are people. You’re used to the big city, but believe me, this town is very easy to slip into and thrive.”
She took a deep breath and, even though she still had some misgivings, she knew what she was going to do—or try to do. She’d given the firm in Chicago five years, and she’d been miserable. Maybe the least she could do was give herself time to see if she could make it work with Burr and the people of Eclipse.
Burr watched her across the desk.
“Okay, I think I should see if I could fit in here,” she said before she could change her mind. “But the deal is, if I can’t make it work, I will go back to Chicago.”
Burr stood and came around the desk. “Is that a yes I hear?”
She looked up at the man in front of her who was starting to smile. Maybe working here with Burr was as close as she could ever get to what working alongside her dad might have been like.
“Yes, it is for now.”
Copyright © 2021 by Mary Anne Wilson
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ISBN-13: 9780369714329
The Single Dad’s Holiday Match
Copyright © 2021 by Tanya Agler
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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