I blew out my breath in an O. “Wasn’t my first pick of cases. But the older guys were already tangled up, so I took it.” And most days I wished I hadn’t. “What about you? Any interesting cases you’re working on?”
He snorted. “Interesting? A literal time suck would be more like it?”
I crinkled my brow.
He expounded. “Last week, I saw an eviction case on a woman who had twenty-seven cats in her apartment. She was allowed two. The owner brought in pictures. I can’t even tell you. Crap, literally, everywhere. Carpets were ruined and I can only imagine the smell. But for two hours we had to look at the lady’s pictures of every single cat and listen to everything she’d done to take care of them as if somehow that overrode her rental agreement.” He shuddered. “And taxpayers are paying my salary for this?”
“Sounds mind-numbing.”
He chortled. “Things are really good. That one was just…something else.” He cocked his head. “Look, I wanted to talk to you for a minute. Bounce something off of you.”
I leaned against the wall. “Shoot.”
He ran a hand over his mouth, brows raised. “Denise’s been hounding me to retire. She wants to snowbird in Florida for the winters. Her arthritis is getting pretty bad.”
I nodded. Denise had had achy joints as long as I’d known Jedd.
He cocked his head and pressed his hands together like he was about to pray. “Thing is, I don’t want to step down as D.A. until I know there’s someone solid to take my place.” All ten of his fingers slowly lowered until they were pointing at me. “Your name is the one I keep coming back to.”
I looked at him for a second. “Jedd. I’m in DC?—”
“But you could be here. You grew up here. People like you. Dupree is a well-respected name in this town.”
I shook my head. “You and I both know there are plenty of people that don’t feel that way. And I’d have to win an election.”
“Holden.” His head bobbled confidently. “Those people are fewer than you think. And the ones who do are simpletons and anyone with any sense knows it. The naysayers will be exponentially outnumbered by people with good old-fashioned common sense.”
My mouth opened, closed, and opened again. “I mean, yeah, but…I just…I wasn’t planning to come back here.”
He scoffed. “That’s all you used to talk about. You used to rib me about how, as soon as you took the bar exam, you were going to come put me out of a job.”
My hands flew out. “That was before…”
His gaze pinned me and I could feel it coming. The lecture about how I couldn’t let the past dictate my entire future. He’d given it to me many times. So had my parents. But coming back to Seddledowne wasn’t in the cards for me. Visiting for the weekend was one thing, but living here? Running into people from high school? To this day, I wouldn’t go into Food Lion to get my mom a gallon of milk, for fear I might see certain individuals. One individual, really. A lifetime of that? No thanks.
He cuffed my shoulder. “Just think about it, please. DC lawyers are a dime a dozen. I know you, you have to hate the traffic up there. You’re a cowboy in your heart. Don’t tell me you’re happy with your quarter-acre yard.” It wasn’t even a quarter of an acre, but I wasn’t going to tell him that. And yeah, having no land made me crazy. It’s one of the reasons I went to the gym so much.
He held his hands up when I started to protest. “Fact is, I’m retiring one way or another and Seddledowne is going toneed a good D.A.” He smiled. “Bet your momma would like to have you closer.”
I ran a hand through my hair. “I’ll think about it.” I would. But I already knew what my answer would be. No way would I make as much money here as I would in DC. But that wasn’t even the real reason. I simply didn’t belong in Seddledowne anymore.
We shook hands and pulled each other into a bro hug, complete with a back slap.
Then I walked to my car, ready for some hot, buttery, garlic-slathered breadsticks, a big plate of Lucy’s lasagna, and some family merrymaking like this town had never seen. I pulled my phone out to send my order to Anna so I wouldn’t slow them down.
But I stopped dead, in the middle of the sidewalk, in front of the building where all my lawyer dreams had begun. Because there, on my phone, was a text that felt like the end of my dreams.
Wellington Sipsby: You screwed up majorly by not being here. Your schizo, space-cadet intern completely offended Bromhorst and he fired us. We just lost millions of dollars because you left that lunatic in charge. You’re done here, Dupree. Pick up your crap ASAP and leave your key on the counter at the front desk.
My hand shoved into the front of my hair, tugging.“No, no, no, no, no.” I speed-dialed Trixie, certain Sipsby was confused. There must’ve been some kind of misunderstanding. Even if Bromhorst had taken his business elsewhere, this wasn’t my fault. I’d covered my butt.
But ten minutes later, it was verified. Trixie had come down with a stomach bug the night before the big meeting. She’d told Audrey to call me. But Audrey, taking me literally,had been too terrified to reach out, and she decided to head up the meeting herself. And she’d bombed it spectacularly. In fact, the meeting never happened.
While waiting for Bromhorst and his wife to arrive, Audrey had left the boardroom door wide open while chatting on the phone with her cousin. The Bromhorsts distinctly overheard her say, verbatim, “That man would hump anything on two legs and some things on four. I wouldn’t let him near my dog. I could write his next election slogan, ‘Bromhorst’s office: Where the men are men and the sheep are scared.’”
Just, wow.
Yup. There was no coming back from that. Audrey had been let go immediately. And I was kicking myself for being too kindhearted to have not fired her months ago. I called Sipsby, but he wouldn’t answer. Only sent another nasty text telling me not to bother. And not to bother with the other partners either. They were unanimous in their decision.
