by Krista Lakes
“It's a good place to work,” Ms. McDonald agreed, cutting off my nervous babble. She set her legal pad down on the edge of the desk and took a sip of tea. She frowned down at it and blew on the steam. It must have been too hot.
“Ms. McDonald, I'm sorry if I bothered you last night. I shouldn't have gone over the associates' heads like that, but I thought you should have the information and--”
“Lena,” Ms. McDonald said gently, cutting me off again. She placed one of her hands on mine. “You're not in trouble.”
“I'm not?” Relief flooded through me and I no longer thought I might have a heart attack.
“No.” Kathryn smiled and shook her head. “Quite the opposite, in fact. I'd like to offer you a job.”
I stared at her, utterly confused. “I already have a job... unless I was fired and didn't realize it.”
She laughed gently. It was a pleasant, normal sound I wasn't expecting. “I guess it's more of a promotion than a job,” she explained, sounding a little unsure of herself. In my head, Kathryn McDonald was a mythic lawyer of epic proportions. I had forgotten that she was human, but sitting here with her, I was slowly changing my opinion. “I'd like you to be my personal paralegal.”
“What?” I started to shake my head no. There was no way I was qualified to be a personal anything for a lawyer as good as Kathryn. “You have plenty of associates and more qualified--”
“Lena,” she cut me off again. The quirk of her mouth at least suggested she was finding my babbling amusing rather than irritating. “Most of the files I get from the associates have your initials on them. I've seen your work. You do as well, if not better, than several associates I know. You may not have the letters after your name, but you have experience and I'd rather have someone with experience and a brain helping me than fancy letters.”
I sat there, in the presence of my legal hero, completely shocked. My ability to speak completely vanished. She was offering me a dream job as well as giving me the best compliment I could ask for. I couldn't find the words. Kathryn sipped on her tea again, this time finding it the right temperature.
“Did you know I was a paralegal?” she asked, conversationally. I was fairly sure I had to be dreaming. I shook my head no and she continued. “I was. I became a paralegal because someone said I would be good at it. I became a lawyer because I knew I would be fantastic at it.”
I was still a little in shock as she sipped her tea again. She watched me, her green eyes taking in every detail and analyzing it. I hoped I didn't look like a disappointment.
“I tell you this because you remind me a lot of myself.” Kathryn set her cup down on the desk. “I've been searching for someone since my previous paralegal retired. She was good, but you're better. What I need is another me and you're the next best thing.”
“So you want me to be your personal paralegal?” I asked, sounding like a very confused parrot. I was still trying to get over the fact that she was just sitting here telling me her life story like a normal person. This was beyond what I thought could happen today.
“Yes. I want you to work solely on my cases. You report to me and only me. You will attend all court hearings with me and accompany me on meetings.” She picked her cup back up and took another sip. It smelled like some sort of green tea. “You will work closely with my secretary and the associates under me. It will be long hours, there will be travel, and I expect perfection.”
“All court hearings?” I whispered. Just seeing her once in court would be amazing, let alone getting to go to all of them.
“Yes.” She frowned over her tea cup, thinking that I was going to object. “Is that a problem?”
“No!” I managed to choke out. That was the opposite of a problem. It was a dream come true. “It's fantastic! I've got to be dreaming. This is too good to be real...”
Kathryn grinned, obviously enjoying this. “It gets better.”
“Better?”
“You get a raise. A good one. Better than good, really.” She sipped nonchalantly on her tea as she slid a piece of paper with an absurdly high number on it across the desk.
I couldn't find the words for the millionth time that day. Instead, my mouth just hung open in disbelief.
“There is one downside, though,” Kathryn informed me. She lowered her cup to her lap. “You would be ineligible for the Grooming the Future Mentor Observation with Elijah Smith. You can't observe his cases if you're busy with mine.”
“I'm all right with that! I'd be observing you instead,” I gasped. My heart was singing hymns. This had to be a dream.
“You'd be doing more than just observing. You'll be working. You want the job?” Kathryn asked. Her voice was controlled, but her eyes sparkled with the joy of offering someone their dreams.
“Yes!” I practically shouted. “Yes, I want the job!”
She grinned. “Excellent. Hand off your current workload to someone else and clean out your desk. My secretary will show you your new workspace next to my office.”
I was moving up the the sixteenth floor. I was going to be in court with Kathryn McDonald. For that, I would have taken a pay cut, but instead I was getting a pay raise. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face. I wanted to pinch myself, but I didn't dare. I didn't want to wake up from this. “Yes, ma'am. I'll tell Mr. Smith about dropping the mentor program on my way.”
“No need,” she informed me as she stood and put her chair away. “I told Elijah to pick someone else for your spot last night.”
“But you just asked...”
Kathryn laughed and her green eyes shone with cleverness. “I already knew you were going to take the position. I was counting on it. This was just to make sure you knew where to look for your new desk.”
One hour later I stepped into Kathryn's office, ready to start my new job. I was all moved in to my new office space just outside of Kathryn's corner suite. Even the desk was bigger and better than anything we had down stairs. Alexa's desk was just plywood with a nice paint job-- this desk was solid wood the whole way through with the McDonald, Smith and Ward MSW logo on the front. I kept expecting a camera crew to jump out at any moment and tell me it was all just a big prank.
“All settled?” Kathryn asked coming around to greet me. “What do you think?”
“That you're going to realize I'm just a paralegal and send me back,” I answered honestly.
Kathryn evaluated me with keen eyes. “Do you know how much money and time you saved my clients by finding those pictures? Millions.” She motioned to a stack of files nearly ready to fall off her desk. “Every single one of those files has your initials all over them. I know good work when I see it. If you think I would make a mistake as big as hiring an incompetent personal paralegal, then you should leave right now. Go back to The Dungeon.”
I stayed put. I wasn't lower level.
“That's what I thought,” she murmured as she sat at her desk. “Now, you see that stack of files? I need you to go through them and get me ready for trial.”
I swallowed my stomach back down. I could do this. I was ready.
Opening the first file, I smiled. This case was easy. I recognized it as the case I had worked on for Joffrey.
“Yes, ma'am. I'll get right on this.” This is what I was made to do.
Chapter 8
After three days of officially working as Kathryn's paralegal, I still felt like I was a very small fish in a very big ocean. I knew almost all her cases from front to back, but the newness of the position and the sudden change from nobody to somebody was messing with my head.
It wasn't that I didn't know what to do, quite the opposite really. Working for Kathryn let me use all the skills I had accumulated the past few years. By the end of my first day, Kathryn was already telling me how pleased she was and how I had accomplished more than she had even hoped I would.
It was just that I had this terrible fear that I would be fired from my dream job at any moment. This was just so wonderful that I couldn't see how I deserved it.
It was too perfect. I kept pushing the limits of my skills, expecting to fail like I always did. Yet, Kathryn kept telling me what a wonderful job I was doing and how I was making her life easier.
“You are afraid of success,” Darcie told me that morning on our way up. I loved getting to ride the elevator with her the whole sixteen floors now. “You have got to believe in yourself. Kathryn believes in you, I believe in you, and that piece of paper from cute Book Guy you keep in your pocket believes in you.”
“I hate you sometimes,” I informed her. I had no idea how she knew about the paper.
“Yeah, well.” She shrugged. “Just wait until I sign you up for that ball kicking class. Then you'll love me again.”
With that I rolled my eyes and started my third official morning as Kathryn's paralegal. I walked in to her office and she looked up from her writing and frowned. I smoothed my hands down my slacks, suddenly feeling under-dressed and unworthy in her gaze. I knew it had been too good to last.
“We need to get you some new clothes. I can't have you dressing like that in front of clients.” That was not what I had been expecting. She picked up her phone and hit a button. I looked down at my clothes. I had on simple black dress pants and a cute polka-dot blouse. I thought it was a very work appropriate outfit.
“I have suits I can wear,” I offered. I was determined to make this work. I wanted to keep this job.
“Are they Prada?” Kathryn raised her eyebrows as she waited for the other line to pick up.
“No. JC Penny,” I admitted. There was no way I could afford anything close to Prada level suits on my salary. Maybe one or two with my new salary, but definitely not any with the old one.
“I need you to look like you work for me. My clients pay a lot of money to have the best, so I need you to look like the best. Consider it another perk of the job,” she explained.
I looked down at the spot where her desk met the floor. I had no way to pay for an expensive suit.
“It goes on the company credit card,” Kathryn informed me. “Don't you worry about the money. It counts as a business expense.”
I shifted my weight as she focused her attention to the phone conversation. I liked my clothes, but I understood Kathryn's point. It was time to dress to impress. With clients worth billions of dollars, she needed me to look like I belonged among them.
“Claire, schedule a fitting with Raoul this evening for Lena...” she ordered. The person on the other line responded and she frowned before putting her hand over the mouthpiece. “What are you doing right now?”
“Um, whatever you tell me to.” I shrugged nervously. “I just finished the last item on the list you gave me”
Kathryn's eyebrows raised in approval. “Excellent. Remind me to give you more tomorrow.” She focused back on her phone. “Yes, now will work.”
The phone call ended with a click. My palms were sweaty and I was glad I had double checked all my work. If I hadn't, I would have really been freaking out that I had missed something. As it was, I was just partially freaking out. I wanted to be good at this.
Kathryn scribbled something on a piece of paper and handed it to me. “You are to go to this address and do whatever Raoul says to do. He's going to make you look like the McDonald, Smith and Ward employee that you are. Understand?”
I nodded. “Do I need to bring anything?” I was really glad I had chosen to wear my newer underwear this morning.
“Just your smile and my name,” Kathryn replied. “Go have fun.”
The address was one of the Magnificent Mile's fashion boutique. As the company cab pulled up, I nearly called Kathryn to confirm I had the right place. It was the kind of shop that looked so expensive window-shoppers had to pay a fee.
A soft bell chimed on the door as I stepped inside. White walls with artsy black and white photographs hung at strategic intervals throughout the store, but there was a surprising lack of clothing. I picked up a sequined covered dress on a nearby hanger to see a price tag that would pay my rent several times. I nearly dropped the hanger before realizing that would be even worse.
“You must be Kathryn's,” a man said, emerging from a back room. He wore simple black pants and a black shirt that hugged his thin frame with a bright blue scarf around his neck.
“That's me,” I replied with a laugh. The man grinned, his teeth white against his dark skin. He came closer and I realized he had the most amazing blue eyes. “I don't really know what I'm doing here.”
“Well, the clothes out here aren't really for you.” He motioned to the sequined dress. “I doubt Kathryn would appreciate that in her office.”
I giggled at the image of me sparkling while preparing her legal documents. “No, probably not.”
He held out a friendly hand. “I'm Raoul.”
“Lena,” I replied, taking his hand. His fingers were calloused and his grip strong.
“Come with me, Lena.” He grinned. “I'm going to make you look like a star.”
Three hours later, I had tried on more clothing than I had ever even owned in my entire life. I was exhausted. I had no idea how just putting on and taking off clothes could take so much energy. Suddenly, I could see how the socialites of the world stayed so skinny. All they did was change their clothes.
The door leading to freedom opened and Kathryn walked in. “How's it going, Raoul?”
“Fantastic. I think we have a good base,” he answered, handing her his bill.
“A good base?” I repeated quietly, looking at the pile of clothes I had tried on. It was a mountain, yet all I had to show for my work was three suits, two dresses, some dress shirts, four pairs of shoes and the appointment card for another fitting. Apparently, despite trying on fourteen sets of suits that I thought looked great, Raoul felt I needed to get some custom made. I was due to come back for round two in a couple of days.
Kathryn signed the bill for my clothing without even looking at it. I had a feeling I didn't want to know how much it was for. If I did, I wouldn't dare breathe in any of it for fear of ripping a ten thousand dollar stitch.
“Lena,” Kathryn asked suddenly. “Do you have a swimsuit?”
“Uh- swimsuit?” I imagined myself walking through the halls of the office in a skimpy bikini. I couldn't imagine why I would need a swimsuit for this job. I was fairly sure that Kathryn was in to men.
“I have some in stock,” Raoul said helpfully. “It's off season, but everything is at this time of year.”
“Go ahead and bring it out,” Kathryn told him. “Can't have her wearing a three-thousand dollar suit to the meetings and a ten dollar bathing suit to the beach.”
“Bathing suit?” I asked once Raoul disappeared into his storage room. Kathryn sat down on the couch next to me. “Beach?”
“You are accompanying me to the Travel, Inc. legal meeting,” she informed me matter-of-factly.
“What's that and why does it require a swim suit?” I was still confused, but at least it wasn't for the office.
She reached for her briefcase and began looking for something. “Our firm heads all legal council for Travel, Inc. Every year, Travel, Inc. and MSW meet to discuss the future.”
“In swimsuits?” I had the sudden image of an entire board room full of high powered business executives in swimsuits. There was a towel on the center of the table and everyone was drinking fruity drinks.
Kathryn must have imagined something similar because she laughed. “The meeting is held at a resort on Key Island.” When I showed no recognition of the name, she added, “in the Caribbean.”
“Oh.” I raised my eyebrows as understanding hit me. “We're going to the Caribbean?”
“I told you this job had travel,” Kathryn said, still rooting around in her briefcase for something. “I believe my exact words were, 'It will be long hours, there will be travel, and I expect perfection.'”
“I was thinking travel like to Toledo. The Caribbean sounds great,” I said, trying to sound calm and mostly succeeding. This job just kept get
ting better and better. “You said it was a legal meeting for Travel, Inc.?”
“Yes,” she responded. She handed me the file she had been searching for. If I was going to be her personal paralegal, I was going to have to help her manage her files better. “We're the lead firm and will head the meetings.”
I flipped through the folder. “I'm afraid I don't know much about Travel, Inc. other than their commercials,” I admitted. The file in front of me said they were the world's largest travel website and had recently added a “concierge travel” service that was destroying the competition by leaps and bounds. “Do they not have their own legal department? I would think a billion dollar company would have their own lawyers.”
“They do. In addition to their in-house lawyers, they contract out to 15 firms to handle all their legal work,” Kathryn explained. “This meeting is where the partners of these firms and the key players for Travel, Inc. meet to make sure we're all on the same page.”
“In the Caribbean.” I grinned. Screw Texas, I was going to a tropical island instead!
“At a beautiful, all-inclusive resort in the Caribbean,” Kathryn amended. She grinned.
“What do you need me to do?” I was already excited. We'd probably be stuck in meetings all day and barely get to see the beach, but I didn't care. I was going to the Caribbean.
“Make me look good. Everything's already prepared, but I need you to make sure I make it to meetings on time, have my presentations up and running, and to help wrangle some of the other firms.” She shrugged and leaned back in her chair. “It should actually be a pretty low-key event. Almost vacation-like, really.”
“I can do that. When do we leave?” I hadn't taken a vacation in a very long time. I hadn't seen the ocean since I was a kid and we went to Florida for a family trip in high school. I remembered I really liked the water, even though it had been nearly brown with sand.