This receptionist could be my grandmother, and with one smile, she gave the impression of trustworthiness. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Asche. Mr. Kohl briefed me on your case this morning, and of course, I met—”
Arch stepped out of his office then. “Hey, guys! Come on in! Ellie, you look well.”He noticed the changes. Crap, it wasn’t subtle enough.I sent Todd a death glare over my shoulder.
We followed Arch into his office. He pointed to a posh seating area in one corner. “Iamwell, thanks.” I started to sit beside Todd on a leather couch, Arch’s fancy diploma hanging on the wall, framed with a picture, distracted me.
I walked over to get a better view. A younger Arch stood with two men and a woman in the picture. “Your family?” He nodded. I read his diploma, caught up by his name, printed in script. “Archibald Duke Beaumont?” I pointed at his name. “Is this for real?”
Arch sighed. “Yes,” he said with an embarrassed voice. “Can we get down to business?” I laughed and agreed so he’d continue. “I’ve got the contract here. As discussed, our partners, Adrian Kohl and Marcus Stedmon will take your case. They should be here any moment. We’ve delegated their other cases to junior partners in the firm.”
“I don’t mean to impose. Is my case going to be difficult?”
“Not difficult, necessarily, but there will be leg work involved. And we don’t take on a lot of cases over the holidays if we can help it. This works out nicely for everyone. We’re happy to accept your case.”
He pulled a stack of paperwork out of the file. “This is a standard contract. It covers their time, fees, and work they’ll do for you. I encourage you to take it home, read it in full.” He slid the small pile of papers into the folder. “Maybe have Charles take a gander at it. When you’re satisfied, sign it and include the first retainer.”
He showed us all of his teeth in a winning smile, and Todd took in a small breath. “Dear lord,” he whispered, barely audible.
“What was that?” Arch asked.
“Nothing, clearing my throat,” Todd replied. As a giggle escaped me, the door opened, and Gray and Wes walked in.
“Sweet mother of all, it’s a trifecta of...I don’t even have a word for it.” I didn’t think Todd meant for me to hear him, but that didn’t stop my giggling. It was the first time he’d seen Wes and Gray, though he’d heard plenty from me.
“Hi, guys!” I said after I took a moment to mask the laughter in my voice.
“Hey, Ellie,” said Wes. He wore a dark blue polo. His biceps strained the material of the sleeves.
“What’s so funny?” asked Gray. He also wore a polo, burnt orange. His biceps weren’t stressing his shirt quite as much as Wes’s, but plenty distracted the eye. His loose hair cascaded down his back.
“Todd made a, uh, funny noise. Inside joke,” I replied lamely. “Arch has been explaining everything to me. I appreciate you guys taking me on.”
“Hey, it’s no problem,” replied Wes.
“Ellie, forgive the personal question, but how are you set on money? They will, of course, need access to all of your accounting records, but is there an immediate need for them to unfreeze any assets?” asked Gray.
“You’re sweet for asking, but I was given my trust fund when I turned eighteen. I don’t think I could spend all of the money my father gave me if I tried. A large portion of it is tied up in investments, of course, but I’m fine. I don’t need the income from the company, and that’s not why I’m doing this.” I didn’t care about the money from the company. I cared about the legacy.
We stood to leave. “Wes, Gray, this is my best friend Todd. Todd, meet Wes and Gray.” Todd gave the guys a bit of a sizing-up glance, then strode forward to shake their hands.
“It’s nice to meet you both,” Todd said in a deep voice. “I’m sure we will see more of each other soon.”
Wes grinned at me over Todd’s head. “Any friend of Ellie’s, and all that.”
We followed Wes and Gray out and they took off for destinations unknown. Before I shut the door to his office, Arch stopped me. “Wait, Ellie.”
I turned. “Yes, Arch?”
“Could we have dinner sometime?” He rubbed his neck and glanced down, like a teenager asking a girl out for the first time. My eyebrows flew up. “I mean, it can be as friends!” He blurted out, amending his original sentence.
“Yeah, sure. We could hang out sometime. Just call or text me. You’ve got my number.” I turned and walked out of the office before I could melt into a puddle on the swanky office floor.
The kindly receptionist led Todd and me to a conference room to meet the other partners. Mr. Stedmon and Mr. Kohl were older, jovial men, perhaps in their mid-fifties. They showed signs of middle-of-life spread but seemed happy for it. Our meeting was a positive one. I gave them every detail about my stepmother I could think of, with several interjections from Todd.
“Miss Ellie, don’t worry. We’re good at what we do. I’m convinced it won’t take much to show a judge you deserve to follow in your father’s footsteps, according to his wishes.”
“Thank you. You eased my mind tremendously. Please, contact me anytime if I can help with the case.” They assured me since the next meeting was a further informal hearing with the judge I wouldn’t be bothered much by them; it would be all on their plates.
It wouldn’t be until we went to trial that I’d begin to spend a lot of time being prepped and coached to be effective in front of the jury. I shook both of their hands, and we made our exit.
