‘O-kay,’ I say, and I don’t know if this is the right or wrong answer, because it seems really weird. I mean, why does he want me to come in with him? But, he’s the boss and you do what you are told. Same way as when Mr Kinnehan, the vice principal at school, asked people to stay behind and do the litterpick-up in the playing fields, we all stayed behind and did the litterpick-up in the playing fields – except for the people who put the litter there in the first place, who really couldn’t care less and were truanting from school.
‘Of course, I’ll just tidy up here.’
I run into the bathroom first, because I know I pull my hair out of my ponytail when I’m concentrating and I want to look perfectly professional. I sweep the brush through and retie it up: there, the picture of a professional young woman.
Daisy said I looked really nice today when I went out.
‘You’re finally moving away from the waitress uniform,’ she said approvingly.
I felt the little cardigan with the embroidered flowers around the top was really nice. The little flowers sat just above my collarbone, so it’s bothwork-like,lady-like and suitable for a legal office. My skirt is a little bit below the knee because I can’t afford to get it turned up, and I’m wearing black fifteen denier tights. A lot of the women in the office wear ten deniers, but I can’t really afford them yet because they rip so easily. So, I’m still on the fifteen deniers. Cheap ones, too. With my hair freshly brushed, I grab my bag, turn off my computer and pick up my extra bits and bobs, and my coat in case it’s cooler on the way home. I walk in the direction of Alex Quinn’s office. The man with the Henry the Hoover is obviously in another part of the offices, because I can hear the drone, but I can’t see him. The partners’ offices are richly glamorous in a different area to where us newbies and the secretarial staff work. Our part of the office is very boring, but theirs is full of nice wood, big doors, high ceilings and huge windows looking out onto busy streets. They reek of money, entitlement and knowledge. Huge legal books line the wall. And I think that maybe one day I’ll have an office like this. I think of all the sorts of law I want to practise and I think, I could get there, I just need to find my way up the ladder, that’s all.
There’s a large desk, what I believe they call a partner’s desk and it’s bare of practically everything, except one of those Lucite lamps that look intelligent, as if having one on your desk raises your IQ by about 25 per cent. All the files are neatly locked away. And there’s a picture of a very attractive woman of Alex’s age, blonde, lovely, with two young children in the background.
‘Your family look nice,’ I say and I think that’s cheeky, I shouldn’t have said that. Personal comments shouldn’t be made.
‘They are,’ he says, ‘they’re wonderful, busy lives, of course. You know, when you are in this business you spend a lot of time in the office.’
‘Of course,’ I say, making a note to self: have to spend a lot of time in the office. Well, I do spend a lot of time in the office. It’s a Friday night and I’m the last one here, except him and the lovely cleaning man.
There’s a round antique desk with antique chairs set around it. And then there’s an area with a couch and two armchairs and a coffee table in front of it. It’s a huge office, absolutely enormous. The tiny little apartment that Daisy and I share could fit in here three times over.
‘Sit down.’ He gestures in the direction of the couch, and I sit. Knees primly together. Maybe he’s going to talk to me about mentoring me, I think.
He opens the bottle easily. My hands take a very full delicate wine glass, full to the brim of red wine.
‘Gosh,’ I say, ‘it’s a big glass.’
‘Oh, we’re celebrating,’ he says.
He takes an equally full glass and sits down on the chair opposite me.
‘So tell me about yourself, Sidonie, I want to hear everything.’
‘OK.’ I take a sip of wine. It’s lovely, not that I know anything about wine but. Still, I’m sure it is.
‘What made you decide to study law?’
This I can talk about.
‘I grew up with a lot of people who didn’t have a lot of money and I felt that it would be wonderful to know how to help them when they got into trouble.’
‘And yet you’re here. We don’t do much pro bono work,’ he says. ‘Commercial law might not be your arena.’
‘I know, oh I know, I need to know all about the law. I mean, you know, you have an idea in the beginning and then maybe find the right thing for you. But I like how the law makes things right, sorts things out, it’s so important, isn’t it?’
‘You’re very young,’ he says, paternalistically. ‘Have some more wine.’ He shoves over a little dish of cashew nuts and I start nibbling. They’re lovely but dry, so I have to keep drinking the wine to stop my throat from tickling. And it’s ages since I had lunch and that was a very quick three quarters of a cheese sandwich, because I was late.
Before long, I’m somehow drinking a second glass of wine and he’s regaling me with stories of his early career and ideas he had for the law and what he was going to do. His father was a lawyer and his father before him.
‘It’s in the family,’ says Alex, one long arm encompassing the beautiful office. His watch is some gold expensive thing and I know I should recognise it. I think that Lois would definitely recognise it, but I haven’t a clue what it is. I’ve always been terrible at expensive stuff.
‘You’re from Wicklow but you’re living in Dublin? With whom?’
‘With my friend Daisy; we grew up together in Greystones and we thought it would be good to have an apartment in town. Well, it’s really a flat,’ I slur, realising I’m definitely on the way to being drunk. ‘You know, an apartment is bigger and better and a flat is just like small and a bit messy. We can’t get the bath clean. We’ve tried everything, scrubbing and more scrubbing. So we just have showers. I’m going home this weekend and I can’t wait to have a bath.’
He leans back against the couch. I know at this point that I am drunk, because two huge glasses of wine, very little lunch and a few cashew nuts are not really enough for a person of my size. And I’ve just told my boss I want a bath at the weekend.
‘And is it pretty, this little flat?’
