When I Saw You

by Laura Branchflower

  “Why not?”

  “Because she was so nice,” she said and then instantly felt foolish, realizing how naïve she sounded. “I’m an idiot,” she sighed. “You’d think I would have learned by now.”

  “Learned what?”

  “Not to trust people.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “Why would you say that?”

  “You’d have to know my history to understand.” The smile she gave him didn’t reach her eyes. “I seem to be missing the BS detector.”

  “I don’t think you should fault yourself here,” he said, his voice low, almost gentle. “No one would have expected this at a corporation as large as Zurtech.” He tossed the legal pad back onto his desk.

  “Most of the new hires were transferred out. They were smart enough not to date the clients.”

  He leaned back in his chair, his eyes continuing to meet hers. “You’re very critical of yourself.”

  “Yeah, well.” She shrugged. “At some point I have to stop being the victim.”

  “So what are you doing now?”

  “Hmm?” She frowned, not following him.

  “Are you working again? Or are you going to take some time off?”

  “I’m looking for a job. I can’t afford to take time off.”

  “What would you like to do?”

  “Not marketing.” Again she smiled without humor. “I’m good with numbers, so ideally a financial analyst position. I don’t have any experience though, so I’ll probably just try to find an entry-level position somewhere.”

  “What geographic area? Northern Virginia?”

  She nodded. “But at this point I don’t know how picky I can be. I just need a job.”

  He leaned forward and opened his top desk drawer. “Send me your resume.” He slid his business card across the desk. “I have contacts.”

  “You don’t have to—”

  “I want to. I’ll be in touch after the holidays.”

  “Thank you.”

  “As far as the case is concerned, I’m going to do some research on my own, and then I’ll let you know how I think we should proceed.”

  “Mommy, are you done yet?” Taylor’s voice preceded her entrance into the room. “My show’s over.”

  “Yes, we were just finishing up.”

  “I’m hungry,” Taylor said as she climbed into Lia’s lap.

  “Do you have big plans for the holidays?” Joseph asked as he began to gather up his notes.

  “Not really. We’re going to spend the night at my mother’s place. She lives a few minutes away.”

  “And Santa Claus knows I’m going to be there,” Taylor said. “Mommy sent him a letter and told him.”

  Joseph smiled at Taylor as he closed his briefcase. “Your mom’s a smart lady.”

  “How about you?” Lia asked, deciding if it was okay for him to ask personal questions, she could as well.

  “I’ll be in Gstaad, Switzerland over the holidays.” His eyes again met hers.

  They lived in different worlds. “I’m sure it’ll be beautiful.” She wondered if he’d be with Kathy Paige. “We should go. I’m sure we’ve taken up enough of your Sunday.” She gently pushed Taylor off her lap and stood.

  He walked around the desk and retrieved Lia’s coat from the rack beside his door before moving up behind her. “Thanks again for coming in,” he said as he helped her on with her coat.

  “Are you a lawyer?” Taylor asked.

  “Yes, I am a lawyer.”

  “My daddy’s a lawyer,” Taylor said.

  “Really?” Joseph glanced down at Taylor.

  “Right, Mommy?”

  Lia was facing him again. “That’s right.”

  “Where does he work?” He took Taylor’s jacket from the rack and knelt down beside her.

  “Blackman and Associates,” Lia said.

  “Ned Merrick,” Joseph said. “I thought he worked for the DA’s office.” He finished fastening her coat and stood up.

  “He changed sides a couple of years ago.”

  “So your husband’s a lawyer.” His lips turned up in amusement.

  “Ex,” Lia corrected. “I gather you know him?”

  “I’ve met him.”

  “Did you try a case against him?”

  “Not personally, but my partners have.”

  “I’m sure you don’t run in the same circles, but…” She hesitated. “I don’t want him to know about this.”

  “Of course.” He watched her for a long moment. “Everything, including the fact you’re my client, is confidential.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Mommy, I’m hungry,” Taylor said. “When are we going to eat?”

  “Right now.” Lia glanced down at Taylor and stroked her hand down the back of her head. “You’ve been great today. And I noticed a restaurant right across from where I parked.”

  “Let me take you to lunch,” Joseph offered.

  “Yeah!” Taylor said, jumping up and down. “Let’s go to lunch with Joseph.”

  Lia glanced at Taylor, surprised again at her reaction to this man who was a perfect stranger. “No, thank you.” Lia smiled politely as she met Joseph’s eyes. “That isn’t necessary.”

  “I know it isn’t. I’d like to. It’s the least you can let me do after I dragged you in here on a Sunday.”

  There were a thousand different reasons she should have said no, but at that moment, looking into his eyes, she couldn’t think of one. “Okay, if you’re sure.”

  “I’m sure.”

  Five minutes later, they were walking towards the lobby exit when the glass doors opened. Lia instantly recognized the woman entering the building. It was Kathy Paige, and as she strolled towards them it was painfully obvious pictures didn’t do her justice. Even dressed casually in blue jeans and a dark leather jacket, her blonde hair loose around her shoulders, she was the most beautiful woman Lia had ever seen.

  Joseph slowed his steps, almost coming to a stop as she approached.

  “Surprise!” Seemingly unaware of the woman and child beside Joseph, Kathy wound her arms up around his neck and leaned her body into his, kissing him fully on the mouth. “I came to take you to lunch.” She pulled back slightly and moved her thumb over his lip to wipe off the trace of her lipstick.

  “Kathy, I—”

  “Thank you for everything,” Lia said, not looking at the couple as she reached for Taylor’s hand. “Come on, Taylor.” She hurried off towards the door.

  Joseph cursed softly under his breath. “Wait! Lia, wait!” He stepped around Kathy and trotted after her. “Lia?” He caught up with her as she reached the glass doors. “I thought I was taking you to lunch.”

  She raised her eyes to his. “It’s okay. You didn’t know your girlfriend was going to show up.”

  “I told you I’d take the two of you to lunch.”

  “It’s okay,” she said, forcing herself to smile. “We eat on our own all the time. We’ll be fine.” She pushed open the door. “Say goodbye to Mr. Craig, Taylor.”

  Taylor held up her small hand and managed a light goodbye before her mother dragged her away.

  Joseph dropped his chin to his chest as he sunk his hands into the pockets of his coat.

  “Who were they?” Kathy asked as she stopped beside him. “Who was the woman?”

  “A client. I told you I had a meeting today, remember?”

  “Yes.” She stepped in front of him and gripped the lapels of his coat. “But I missed you.” She leaned forward and kissed his lips. “And it looks like my timing was perfect.”

  Hours later, Joseph sat behind the desk in his study, looking over his notes from his meeting with Lia Merrick. He took off his reading glasses and tossed them on his desk, leaning back in his chair as he stared, unfocused, at the ceiling. Moments later he was glancing at his watch and then reaching for his cell phone.

  “Sam. It’s Joseph Craig…Great…Good…No, just tying up some loose ends before the holidays. I need you to check some
thing out for me…No, it can wait until after the holidays…Right…I have some information and I need your help finding the proof. If you need to hire additional help, don’t share anything that isn’t absolutely necessary.” He went on to explain what he knew about Zurtech. “Oh, one more thing, Sam,” he said as they were ending the call. “I want you to do a complete background on someone for me…Lia Merrick.”

  Twenty miles away in Tyson’s Corner, Lia was sipping red wine while she flipped through images of Joseph Craig on her laptop. There were pictures of him on the rowing and debate teams at Yale, pictures of him with Supreme Court justices and dozens of pictures of him with beautiful women. It would have been so much easier if he’d been full of himself. Then she wouldn’t have thought about him incessantly all day and typed him into her search engine as soon as Taylor was in bed. But there was something about him. She sighed as she trailed her index finger over the image of him on her computer screen. He had the nicest eyes. What if his girlfriend hadn’t shown up? She would have had lunch with him. She closed her computer. He was dating a supermodel, and she’d sworn off men. Why was she even fantasizing about him?

  8

  Lia was at her small kitchen table going through her bills when a knock sounded on the door the Sunday after Christmas. “Hi, sweetie.” She smiled as Taylor came into the foyer.

  “Mommy!” Taylor hugged Lia’s waist. “I missed you.”

  “I missed you too. Did you have a good time?”

  “Yeah, wait till you see all the things Santa left me at Daddy’s. I think Santa was confused and thought I was going to be there on Christmas.” She glanced back at her father. “Candice thought so too. Right, Daddy?”

  “That’s right.” He was dressed casually in jeans, a black sweater and a wool coat. All clothes Lia didn’t recognize.

  “You’re going to get the stuff from the car, right Daddy?”

  “Right.” He smiled down at Taylor. “Let me just get rid of these.” He was laden with bags of gifts. “Should I put them in her bedroom?” he asked Lia.

  “That’s fine,” she replied coolly, thinking how much shorter he was than Joseph Craig as he walked away.

  “I have lots of new toys,” Taylor said. “We left a lot at Daddy’s house because there’s so much more room there.” She slipped off her coat and handed it to Lia.

  “Would you go watch TV for a little while?” Lia asked as she turned to the closet. “I need to talk to Daddy alone for a minute.”

  “Okay.”

  “Where’s Taylor?” Ned asked a few minutes later when he returned from his car with more gifts.

  “She’s watching TV. I need to talk to you.” She felt a stirring of anxiety in her stomach.

  “About what? Candice is waiting in the car.”

  “I need to borrow some money,” she said, not quite meeting his eyes. “I’m broke.”

  “How are you broke? I thought you had some great job with Zurtech.”

  “I stopped working there a week ago.”

  “You mean you were fired?”

  “I quit,” she corrected. “And I don’t want to talk about it,” she added when he looked like he was going to say more. “I just need enough to help me cover the rent and some groceries. Fifteen hundred or so.”

  “You quit? Jesus, Lia.”

  “I don’t want to discuss this with you.”

  “Oh, but you want to borrow money from me?” He opened his eyes wider. “Maybe you should have looked at how low your bank account was before you quit your fucking job. You’re unbelievable.” He turned and reached for the doorknob. “Borrow the money from your mother.”

  “Ned, no.” She grabbed his arm. “I can’t. I owe her too much already. She paid for my school.” She hated the desperation she could hear in her voice. She should have just taken another advance on her credit card.

  He looked pointedly at the hand gripping his arm. “You aren’t my responsibility anymore.”

  Lia dropped her hand to her side. “Well Taylor is, and based on the cars you drive and the clothes you wear, you aren’t hurting for money.”

  “My clothes and cars are none of your business.”

  She stared at him, wondering why he hated her so much. He was the one who had left her, and yet he treated her as if she had done something to him. “I’ll pay you back.”

  “I won’t hold my breath.” He turned and reached for the doorknob.

  “Where are you going?”

  “To get my checkbook from the car.”

  He was back several minutes later, a check in hand. “You can thank Candice for this. And we do expect to be paid back.”

  The check was from Candice Merrick’s account. She wanted to rip it up and throw it at him, but she couldn’t. She needed the money. She’d overspent in October and November, not realizing her job would suddenly come to an end. And now she was in trouble. She only had one hundred and twenty-five dollars in her checking account, and her rent was due on the first of the month.

  “You will tell me when you get a raise, right?” She looked up from the check.

  “What do you mean?”

  “The child support is based on your income.”

  “So?”

  “So, are you still making the same amount of money you were when we came up with the agreement?”

  He turned to the door. “I hand you a check for fifteen hundred and you accuse me of not paying you enough?” He shook his head. “Yeah. I’m still making the same money.”

  “Aren’t you going to say goodbye to Taylor?”

  “Say goodbye for me.” He opened the door and hesitated. “This is the last time I’m bailing you out, Lia.”

  “Happy New Year, Martha.” Joseph stopped in front of his secretary’s desk the day after his return from Switzerland. “How was your holiday?”

  “Wonderful,” she said, looking up from a stack of mail she was sorting. “I see you made it back in one piece.”

  He smiled. “No tree jumped out in front of me this year.” The year prior, he’d returned from his winter holiday with a cast on his arm.

  “And how about Ms. Paige? Did she fare as well?”

  “Yes, I brought her back in one piece too.”

  “Good. I hope it was relaxing.”

  “It was.” He set a ring box on her desk. “Please return that to Cartier. You can find the receipt in my email. And would you get Nick Prossi on the line for me?”

  Lia was reading an online job posting when her cell phone began to ring just after 10:00 a.m. She glanced at the display and, after identifying a Washington DC exchange, brought he phone to her ear.

  “Happy New Year, Lia,” said an achingly familiar voice.

  “Hi, Joseph.” She was surprised and pleased at how normal her voice sounded. She’d been consumed with thoughts about him since their meeting.

  “How are you? How was your holiday?”

  “It was fine,” she lied. She’d actually had a terrible week, worrying about money and trying to find a job. “I’m sure it wasn’t as nice as yours.” She closed the computer and stood up from the kitchen table, the room suddenly not feeling big enough.

  “Gstaad is beautiful at Christmastime. Do you ski?”

  “When I was younger, but I haven’t been since I was married. Ned didn’t ski and I…” She trailed off, realizing she was rambling. “No, I don’t ski anymore.”

  “You should take it up again. Taylor’s at the perfect age.”

  “I should,” she said, knowing she was a long way from being able to afford to take Taylor skiing. “When did you get back?”

  “Yesterday.”

  “You must be tired.” She dropped down onto her bed.

  “Not particularly. I slept on the plane.”

  “Ah, first class,” she guessed. “You couldn’t say that if you flew in economy.”

  He chuckled softly. “No and, uh, I wouldn’t go to Europe if I had to fly economy. I’m too big for those seats.”

  “That’s true,” Li
a agreed, imagining him. He was at least six foot four, maybe taller.

  “How’s your job search going?”

  “Slow,” she sighed. “Everyone’s been away for the holidays.”

  “I just got off the phone with Nick Prossi.”

  “Of Prossi Designs?” Prossi Designs was a high-end athletic clothing line.

  “That’s the one. He’s my law partner’s brother and a personal friend of mine. He’s expecting your call.”

  “Really?” She couldn’t hide her excitement.

  “Really. Do you have a pen?”

  “Yes.” She jotted down the number he recited. “What kind of job? I mean, I’m not being picky. I just want to be prepared when I call.”

  “I told him you were interested in finance, but your degree is general business so there are other options as well. Nick’s a good guy—you’ll enjoy working with him.”

  She gripped the phone. It sounded like he was saying she already had a job. “Thank you, Joseph. You have no idea how much I appreciate this.” She closed her eyes, afraid she might cry.

  “I’m happy to help. Are you going to call him now?”

  “Well, I thought I would do a little research first and then call him in an hour or two.”

  “Or you could call him now,” he said, and she knew he was telling her the job was already hers. “He’s expecting your call.”

  “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome, Lia. I’ll be in touch.”

  “Hi.” Kathy smiled, stepping back from the doorway as Joseph entered her foyer later that evening. “What are you doing here?”

  “I needed to see you.” He touched her waist as he met her lips for a brief kiss.

  “You needed to see me?” She snaked her hands up around his neck as she leaned into him. “You just spent ten days with me.”

  “I know.” He gripped her hands and slowly pulled them from his neck. “We need to talk.”

  “We do?” She frowned as she stepped back from him, crossing her arms over her chest. “What do we need to talk about?” Her blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail and her face was free of makeup. “What’s the matter?”