“I bet this is where you spend most of your free time,” she grinned.
“Probably.”
“I can see why,” she agreed, eyeing the framed movie posters on the wall. “This is nice. Not too big that it’s uninviting, or too much like a movie theater. Still feels like we’re in a home.”
I picked up one of the remotes from the table.
“You think so, huh?” I pressed the button that turned on the music player. Within seconds, Janet Jackson’s “No Sleep” began floating through the speakers. Chanel’s smile was instant as I walked over, pulling her into my arms. “You like this song?” I asked, taking in the sway of her head.
“Yeah,” she sighed. “It’d be better without J. Cole, but…” She shrugged and wrapped her arms around my shoulders.
“What you got against my man Cole?” I asked, mock offense in my voice.
She giggled and my gut clenched. “He’s boring.”
“Ahh, man, not you too. You know he went platinum with no features, right?”
She rolled her eyes. “So says his fan club.”
“Whatever, man. Cole is cool,” I defended.
“If you say so.”
“And I do.” I pressed a quick kiss on the tip of her nose. I don’t know if she’d noticed how easily our bodies had fallen in sync with one another. Despite our height difference, she felt perfect in my arms as our bodies moved as one, first to Janet and then Lauryn Hill and D’Angelo’s “Nothing Even Matters.” I looked down at her half-lidded gaze as she began humming to the song. I pulled her in closer, not wanting even a slight bit of space between us.
“Can I ask you something?”
Her eyes widened. “You’re not going to ask me about Anne Marie, are you?”
I squinted, confused, until I remembered whom she was talking about. “No, it’s not about her.” I had thought about Chanel’s client and her son since that night, but more concerning whether or not Chanel was out late at night rescuing any more clients. I’d wanted to call her while I was away, but didn’t have her number. I made a mental note to remedy that before the night was over.
“Okay, you can ask me, then.” She grinned.
“How come you don’t work at your father’s law firm? I mean, I’m sure he’d be willing to start a family law branch to his practice, or you could work with his existing clientele.” While Elliott and Jason’s main practice was entertainment and contract law, I knew they handled a lot of clients who were also involved in divorces, custody battles, child support hearings, and all of that.
Chanel scoffed and turned her head, to avoid looking at me. “My father wouldn’t want me to work for him.”
I furrowed my brow, doubtful. “What makes you think that? He was practically salivating when Jay finished law school. He couldn’t wait for him to start at the firm.”
She shook her head. “He’d been grooming Jason to work at the firm since he was born, practically. Me? I was supposed to be a housewife like my mother.” Something heavy was in her voice.
“But once you started law school, I’m sure he had a change of heart, right?”
Her eyes snapped back to mine. “He didn’t even pay my law school tuition.”
I was stunned. Stopping our dance, I guided her toward the couch and onto my lap like it was the most natural thing in the world. “Are you serious?”
“Yup. He was willing to pay for undergrad, but that was it, he told me. He’d wanted me to find my future husband in college, and once married, he hoped I wouldn’t need to work.”
Her tone was laced with bitterness.
“So, how did you pay for law school?”
“Like ninety percent of other law students. Loans.”
“Damn.”
“Tell me about it. By the time I graduated, I’d turned twenty-five and had access to my trust fund, so I used some of it to pay off my debt.”
