He smiled grimly. “Well—maybe that’s true.”
I felt the muscles in my face relax slightly. “I know it doesn’t look like it, but I feel happier than before you FaceTime-bombed me.”
He laughed. “I’m glad you picked up. Now sign that thing so I can lock down the Benz.”
Chapter Forty-Four
I hung up with Ben and walked dazedly toward the elevator to the lobby, then down the escalator of the MetLife Building to Grand Central Terminal. For the first time since I started working at Abramson & Klein, I took a second to look up at the constellations magnificently etched in the ceiling.
I walked slowly down to Joe’s. I paid for my coffee and ambled back through Grand Central. I climbed halfway up the stairs to the East Balcony and sat down on the side rail.
I stared down at the incoming FaceTime in my call history. Six minutes and twenty-two seconds.
I didn’t feel like Sam the divorcée or Sam the aspiring lawyer. I was just me.
I stood up and put in my right earbud as I called Leo’s office from my cell phone.
“Hi, Adele. It’s Samantha DeFiore. Is Leo available?”
“Let me see if I have him.”
I jogged down the stairs back to the concourse and spiritedly tossed the empty cup of coffee into a bin.
“Sam. How the hell are you?”
I raised my voice over the hubbub of Grand Central. “Never better. How’ve you been?”
I thought I heard the sound of kids playing in the background. “Uh, you know. Just okay, actually. One of our twins was diagnosed with a pretty severe learning disability, so I’ve been working from home quite a bit.”
I paused. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
He said he and Jessica were working on their marriage. He asked how life was, post-investigation. I admitted to only billing two weeks of work in February.
“I’m calling because I want to bring in a new client, and I’d like you to be the partner on the matter.” I gave him the rundown. Who he was, why he wanted us to represent him.
He chuckled. “Sounds like the firm is going to have to let your low February billables slide now that you’re a rainmaker.”
“And I billed almost four hundred hours since December. Is that a yes?”
“It sounds like the kind of thing we should be involved in. I’m not shy when it comes to taking down studios. And I’m vaguely familiar with Frank’s work. It seems like he’s got a great career ahead of him. Is he based in New York or LA?”
“New York.”
“Great. You can handle client relations then.”
“There’s just one more thing.” I paused, taking a deep breath. “After Montana, I was scared that you would never staff me on another case. I felt likeIhad done something wrong.”
I could hear him start to say something, so I spoke louder. “Please, let me finish. I don’t want to revisit what happened, and I’m sure you don’t either. I still want to work together, because there’s a lot I can learn from you, and I have a lot of respect for you as a lawyer. But I need to know that you have respect for me as a colleague.”
“Sam. I overstepped. Big time.” His voice sounded small. “I was going through a lot of personal turmoil. You know that. But it’s not an excuse for putting you in that position.”
I physically bit my tongue, not allowing myself to say anything that would give him an out. I knew he was intelligent enough to read between the lines.
“It won’t happen again.”
“Thank you,” I said graciously. “Then I’ll run a conflicts check today and prep the engagement letter.”
I slept in on Saturday and woke up just in time to meet Caroline after her morning spin class. As I walked to the farmers market, I remembered a podcast episode that Eddie asked me to listen to as background for a potential new client. I reached into my bag and dug around for my earbuds.
