Lovable Lawyer

by Karen Deen

  “Girlfriend.” Her voice goes up an octave. “That won’t be happening. You are becoming delusional. No son of mine will be with someone who is okay with being mauled like that in public.”

  Standing in front of me is the high-society woman with her uppity attitude. Although I always knew it deep down, I’m now understanding more, that she is so far from what I’m looking for in a woman. Her cream pants suit, perfectly pressed. Black sensible patent-leather dress shoes with a matching black handbag hanging over her arm. Her makeup plastered all over her face so that she looks like there isn’t a single old-age wrinkle on her. Immaculate hairdo, like she’s just stepped out of a hairdresser, which she probably has.

  I want the messy bun on the top of a head. Wispy hair, hanging down the side of her face. Or her hair all hanging out and moving in the gentle breeze that’s blowing in the sunshine. No makeup, or very little, like today. So I can kiss the hell out of her and not worry about me wearing her lipstick for the rest of the day. A free-flowing floral dress, that moves with her body as she walks across the room to me. Flat little sandals with straps that wrap up her delicate ankles. Showing me her cute toes that are peeking out the end of them. The same feet that I longed to massage to take away some of her strain.

  “Mother, enough. Why are you here?” I just want to dismiss her and leave, but like I’m demanding respect for Mia, I can’t show my mother the disrespect she deserves. It’s not in my DNA.

  “Because I haven’t heard from you to apologize for the last outburst, so I decided I would need to come to you to hear it. Disgusting, really. But now I see why you haven’t been home. You have made yourself busy.” She rolls her eyes, and I just want to storm past her. “Now, are you going to open the elevator so we can attend your apartment? We don’t need to be discussing these things here where everyone can hear.” She places her hand on her hip. The signature move, when she wants you to bow to her commands.

  I’m past obeying her.

  “No, actually we are on our way out. So, it looks like that discussion will have to wait for another day. Before we leave, though, I would like you to meet my girlfriend, Mia Kennedy. You need to apologize to her for your harsh words because she is going to be in my life for a very long time to come. Mia, this is my mother, Elouise Jefferson, who is not showing her best manners today but I’m sure is happy to meet you. Aren’t you, Mother?” I know throwing in the comment about her poor behavior, it will be killing her wondering what other people in the foyer are thinking.

  One of my proudest moments comes from Mia happening just a split second later. Feeling her standing up that little bit taller, she holds her hand out to my mother as a peace offering.

  “Lovely to meet you, Elouise.” Although she is trying hard, her voice is very timid.

  “Mrs. Jefferson to you.” She thrusts her hand into Mia’s with a lot of aggression behind it.

  I am not prepared to put up with one more minute of this.

  “Thank you for stopping by, I will call you next week. Have a nice day, Mother.” She takes one look at me and knows I mean business. Not wanting to make any more of a scene than she already has, she drops Mia’s hand.

  “We will be speaking sooner than next week, Alexander. Good day.” Turning on her heel, we listen to her stomps echoing across the foyer

  “Well, that’s not quite how I was going to introduce you to my family, but too late now.” I shrug my shoulders, not knowing what else really to do. “I’m so sorry, Mia, for the way she spoke to you. That little performance was more about me than you.” I can see the unsure look on Mia’s face.

  “Have you upset her, Lex?”

  “That’s a very simple question which unfortunately has quite a complicated answer. Let’s just say you aren’t the only one with a fucked-up story to tell. But that’s for another time. Right now, I’d like to take my girlfriend on our first coffee date before she tries to head for the hills, and this time not just to get away from me.” Taking her hand and walking towards the car outside, I know her head is spinning in circles again. My mother would do that to the strongest person upon meeting them, so poor Mia didn’t even stand a chance of holding up a defense against the snarkiness of my mother.

  “Why did you say that?” she asks as we’re approaching her side of the car.

  “Say what? There have been a lot of words since we finished that lip-smacking kiss in the elevator. Which, by the way, I would like to go back to?” I raise my eyebrows at her, trying to break the moment.

  “Don’t do that. It’s not a joke, Lex.” Her face becomes quite concerned.

  “Sorry, baby. Say what?”

  “That I’m your girlfriend? To your mother. Did you just say it to shock her?” Her face drops a little to look at her feet.

  “No fucking way!” I lift her up into her seat in my SUV, standing in between her legs and sliding her tight against me.

  “I said that because to me that’s what you are. I’m proud to tell the world that. I don’t give a shit what my mother thinks anymore. And just for the record, I have never been engaged to anyone, much to my mother and Jacinta’s dismay after their manipulating behind my back.”

  She draws in a big breath. “Lucky you, Lex, unfortunately I have, and that ended up in a marriage. You can’t be calling me your girlfriend when I’m still married.”

  Placing my hand on her neck, I feel her pulse point beating fast. “Do you feel married, Mia?” She shakes her head at me. “Then you aren’t married in my eyes. After next week, we will have filed the divorce papers. It will be in the process and you will soon be free. But I want you to answer me this question.”

  “What?” Mia looks a little frightened at what I’m about to say.

  “When your eyes are closed and I’m holding you, kissing you. Who are you dreaming that I am in your fantasy? Honest truth.”

  With a little hesitation she answers, “My future husband.”

  “Good answer. So, from today onwards, you are my girlfriend, and the rest I’ll work on later. Just keep that dream alive.” Kissing her cute little nose, I spin her around in the seat to buckle her in, and she suddenly starts to giggle, like a nervous laugh.

  “What happened to slow as a snail?” I hear her say as I close the door. Running around to my door, I open it and jump in.

  “Just picture me as a Jack snail. That’ll work.”

  “There is no way that can even exist in this world, Jack doing anything slow. It’s physically impossible.” I love hearing her laugh, and to be honest, I wasn’t sure how I was going to handle her reaction after that crazy encounter. Every day I see her getting that little bit stronger. For every time she stumbles, she comes back slightly more confident. If we can get through next week, I can’t wait to watch that strength grow even quicker.

  We sit down at the table in the quaint little café not far from Paige’s apartment. There aren’t many tables but more moon-shaped couches that circle around a little table that’s covered in a few books and the daily papers. While we are waiting for our coffees and cake, I know I’m on limited time, so we need to have the talk that we’ve both been avoiding.

  “Let’s get the boring, annoying thing out of the way first. We need to talk about Monday and what’s involved.” Watching her body language change straight away, I keep pushing on. “Your court time is nine am on Monday morning. We need to be there about thirty minutes before. I will handle everything that is going to happen and all you need to do is answer any questions that the judge may have about why you believe your safety is at risk. We can run through some likely questions a little later, so you get comfortable with that. Does that sound okay?”

  “No, but I have no choice if I want to end this.” Her voice is a little short.

  “Sadly, that’s true. But I’ll be with you every step of the way. Plus, we will have Ashton with us.”

  “I’d rather he stays with the kids, I don’t need him, I’ll be with you.”

  “That’s what we need to talk about. Mia,
we will need to go and stay in Bellevue on Sunday night to be there early enough for court. We can’t afford to get stuck in traffic or have anything hold us up.”

  “I don’t want to stay there.” Listening to the panic coming, I know I just need to say it and let it boil over so I can help her through it. There is no way I can stop it from happening.

  “I know, Mia, but we need to. Just take a deep breath and listen to my plan.” Her walls are coming up, but I see her trying. “You, Ashton, and I will stay in a hotel together on Sunday night. Mason and Paige will look after the kids at home, and Ashton will have one of his team guarding the elevator entrance for her apartment as well. The kids will be completely safe the whole time. They won’t leave home even once while we are away. I will also organize for the guys and girls to be around to help.”

  “Lex, no, I can’t leave the kids. What if they need me? How will I know they’re safe? What if they get scared and I’m not there? You’re asking a lot.” Her hands are fisted tightly on her lap and she’s tapping her foot with nerves.

  I know I can’t take away the fear, but maybe Ashton can help with something. The thought has just crossed my mind.

  “I’m going to ask Ashton to set up a nanny cam so you can watch the kids from your phone whenever you like. Plus, we can call Paige and Mason at any time and speak to Jack. You know he blurts out everything, so if there are any problems, we will hear about it. I mean, he seems happy to throw me under the bus all the time.” I’m trying to lighten the moment but it’s not working.

  The waitress chooses that moment to arrive with our order. Mia tries to smile and be polite and it almost breaks her.

  “Thank you,” I tell the waitress, acknowledging her and waiting for her to leave.

  I lean over and take both Mia’s hands in mine. Slowly unfolding her fists until she is instead gripping my hands like a vice.

  “You can do this, baby, for them you can do it. They need you to be strong and fight for all your freedom to live a life without fear. If you can’t do it for you, then do it for the kids.” Finally, I see her brain registering some of the things I’m saying.

  She’s processing the words.

  “Even if I call them a hundred times?” she asks, looking at me for confirmation.

  “I don’t care if you call when we leave and don’t hang up the phone until we get home again.” Leaning in close to her and lifting her hands to my lips, I kiss them both gently. “I promise nothing will happen to them. They are already in here.” I lift her hands and place them on my heart. “No matter what, I will always protect them.”

  “Thank you,” is all she manages with her eyes welling up with tears.

  Kissing her on the cheek then letting her go, I take her coffee from the table and put it in her hands.

  “This will help you feel better, plus the chocolate brownie I ordered. Now teach me, is this an appropriate time to use chocolate?” I hold both my hands up beside me and shrug. A slight smile creeps up her face.

  “Lesson one of chocolate and women. If you are delivering shitty news, then make sure there is some on hand ready. So yes, you passed lesson one.”

  “Thank god. I didn’t want to crash and burn on the first attempt.” Sipping my coffee, it is really hitting the spot.

  “How do you do that? Always manage to change the conversation and have me feeling that I can do this.”

  “Ah, now that is my special trick and I can’t tell you, otherwise you will find out how ridiculous I really am. You see, this super-hot and funny lawyer persona I’ve got going on is just a disguise. The guy underneath the costume is just some geeky man with a bad sense of humor.” If only she knew how true that is. The man that’s behind the career is not quite the guy they all think I am.

  “Who said he’s…” Mia sips her coffee, deliberately not finishing the sentence.

  “If you say I’m not super-hot then we have a big problem.” I point my finger at her to pretend she is on the hot seat.

  “I was going to say funny, but the rest might be debatable too.” She tries to move from me on the couch.

  “Not a chance. You don’t get to crush my ego and then leave me sitting here broken.”

  “Oh my god, can we add drama queen to that list too?” The more she’s bantering at me, the more I know I’m pulling her back out of going inside her head.

  “You wait until you spend time with Tate tonight. You will then learn I’m certainly not the drama queen of the group.” I take a pause to see her body language when I mention tonight. She doesn’t seem to act any different, which is good.

  “I’m actually a little excited to meet everyone again. That first night is such a blur, and listening to you talk about them, they sound fun. I mean, that group text message, I couldn’t stop laughing. You’re lucky to have such great friends.”

  “That is so true. But be careful what you wish for tonight. You think my jokes are bad and ego is big. You ain’t seen nothing yet.” We both laugh and sit back trying to relax a little.

  Mia’s right, though. I’m so grateful for them, but I also know that tonight it’s my turn to receive all the payback. That’s what happens when you’re happy to dish out on your friends in front of their new girlfriends. It comes full circle, and bingo, now it’s my turn.

  I try to keep the conversation light and away from anything that will make Mia sad. She seems to be hedging around wanting to say something but doesn’t quite know how.

  Noticing the time on the old-fashioned Roman-numeral clock on the wall, we’ve been here longer than I’m sure Mia realizes. I promised I wouldn’t keep her away from the kids too long.

  “As much as I could sit here and talk to you all day with no distraction, I should get you back home.” It’s like that was enough reason for her to blurt it out.

  “What is it between you and your mother? That was intense. I’ve never seen you like that except with that other lawyer at your office. I just don’t see you as that person, and you talk so much about how you love having a close family. Yet your mother is obviously not included in that.”

  Sitting back into the couch and running my hand over my chin, I try to decide how much to tell her right now. I don’t want to hold anything back from her, but I need more than ten minutes to explain the world that is my mother and the constraints that come with high society.

  “I’m not hiding anything from you, but to explain everything that I want to say is going to take more time than we have. But so you have an idea… My childhood was nothing like Jack and Kayla’s in so many ways, but the biggest difference is that they are surrounded by a mother’s love.”

  “Oh Lex.” She puts her hand on my leg and squeezes it to let me know she’s there.

  “I was brought up by my nanny, more than my own mother. To her I am just a token to parade in her social circle. My father I’ve learned can’t stand up to her either. Anyway, let’s just say she isn’t talking to me because I finally decided to take my own life back, and she isn’t happy about it. Hence the little spat in the foyer. She doesn’t know how to handle me not obeying her wishes.”

  “It’s okay, Lex, you don’t have to continue. I shouldn’t have asked, I just couldn’t get her horrible words out of my head.”

  “I just ignore them now, let them wash over me. If I keep my wall up, she can’t hurt me.”

  “You are talking to the queen of walls here,” she says, pointing to herself.

  “Don’t I know it,” I mumble in a playful voice.

  “I didn’t ask for your smart-ass comment, thank you very much.” Then shocking the hell out of me, Mia leans forward and kisses me on the cheek. “Just remember it works both ways with us. You need to share your soul with me too. When you’re ready, I’m here to listen.” Standing up, straightening her dress and picking up her bag, she looks down at me to make sure I’m following. I’m sure all she sees is my shock. This is the woman I know is hiding inside. The confident yet compassionate and loving soul that is the true Mia.


  For once it’s me that is at a loss for words, which rarely happens.

  Today is the first day that I’ve ever wanted to tell anyone what I hide inside.

  To be honest, I don’t want to tell just anyone.

  I only want to tell Mia.

  “I can’t believe you took poor Mia to a coffee shop for your first date.” Grayson throws a scrunched-up napkin across the table at me.

  “Well, we can’t all be perfect and meet at a masked ball. I mean, when I think about it, that’s probably the only reason you got the girl. She didn’t really know what you looked like at first, then she didn’t know how to tell you to get lost.” Throwing the napkin back.

  “Um, this little sparkly rock on her finger means she doesn’t want to get rid of me. In fact, she’s happy to have me hanging around for a lifetime,” Grayson replies, looking proud as punch.

  “You mean hanging around like a bad smell?” Mason smirks at him from across the table.

  “Hilarious, Mason. Where did you pull that one from, is that one of Jack’s jokes you stole?” Everyone is now laughing together.

  “Hey, Mia, I can’t believe you let the counselor here debate with you the reasons for letting him hang out with you. I mean, do you really understand what you’re taking on? He’s the most complex little man we know.” Tate is laughing at himself, before he’s even finished delivering the joke.

  “Are you all finished here? I’m sure Mia doesn’t need to hear every little, stupid story you want to bring up.” I try to give the hint that it’s time to let up on me.

  “Maybe I do,” she proudly announces.

  “Please do not encourage them. They will just keep going and going. Honestly they have years of stories to call on to embarrass me.” Looking at her and almost begging her playfully to help me out.

  “Oh,” Grayson blurts out, “do you remember that time he got locked in the janitor’s storeroom in high school?” The boys roar laughing.