I shook my head slowly. “Not anymore. There was someone, but we ended it before I moved to New York,” I said, carefully choosing my words. I couldn’t imagine telling this sophisticated partner that I had been married. There was no way he would take me as seriously.
Leo nodded approvingly. “Fresh start.”
“Do you think Eddie’s actually coming?” I asked nonchalantly, hoping to maneuver back into more casual territory.
“Unless something more important has come up, yes. Anyway, just to go back to the LA-versus-New-York debate, every June I host a summer barbecue for the firm at our house in Montecito. You should plan to come out for that. I have a feeling if you spend more time in the LA office, you’ll rethink New York.”
Before I could answer, Eddie appeared and dropped his briefcase next to Leo’s chair.
“Sorry. I’ve been playing inbox catch-up for the last two hours. Can I get you both a drink?”
I shook my head. “I’m okay with this one.”
Leo checked his martini glass. “I’ll stay and have one more with you. We should probably let Sam get back to the hotel soon. I’ve been dictating my memoir for the last hour, and I’m pretty sure she’s second-guessing her life choices.”
I laughed. “Not even close.”
Leo slapped Eddie on the back. “Seriously though, we’re old friends now. Bad idea to show up this late. You missed all the pleasantries; we’re already onto invites to the summer barbecue.”
Eddie nodded seriously. “Great. I figured you two would hit it off.”
“Actually—and sorry for thinking out loud here, but this just occurred to me—I signed a new client this morning. A billionaire tech guy who invested $20 million in a slate of movies and lost every penny. He’s based in New York. He hired us because he wants to file a lawsuit but wants someone to dissect the investment first. Probably makes sense to have a New York associate. I’m going to have to come out next week to get the whole download anyway.”
It was impossible to hide just how cool that sounded. I was dying to take on more entertainment work that was directly related to film.
“When did that come in? I haven’t seen it on the new matters list,” Eddie asked.
“Just this morning.”
Eddie mulled it over. “As long as you don’t need someone on it full-time.” He looked over at me. “If you’re interested in taking it on, you have my blessing.”
Chapter Fifteen
I woke up jet-lagged at 4 a.m. with a text from Andie.
Staying in LA through the weekend?
I rubbed my eyes. My contacts were welded to them. It was Friday morning. We had one more witness interview before I was scheduled to fly back to New York.
I texted Andie back a few hours later with my schedule. She responded immediately.
Push your flight. Come to this barbecue in Malibu tomorrow. Lots of industry people.
Eddie would probably kill me. I was just beginning to get a sense of Andie’s social network from her poker days.
Let me check with Eddie. He might be weird about that kind of thing. But if not, I’d love to go.
She responded with a devil emoji.Eddie’s your boss at work, not when you’re in LA for the weekend.
I instantly regretted saying I needed to run it by him. I quickly texted back.
Send me the details in case I can make it.
As Eddie and I packed up our things after the witness interview later that day, I told him about Andie’s invitation.
“Are you going to go?” he asked, looking concerned.
“I’d like to. But if you’re not okay with it, I won’t.”
