“Exactly.” He clacks on his keyboard for a moment. “Okay, the malpractice lawsuit is something I can get for you. It’s general civil litigation, not family law. But it was filed twenty-two years ago, so you’ll have to fill out a form for that one, so it can be retrieved from the archives or microfiche, or whatever. You’ll probably have the documents in about a week or so.”
I’m giddy. “Thank you so much, Charles. Oh my gosh. You’re a rock star.”
I fill out the form he gives me, listing the address for delivery of the documents as the offices ofRock ‘n’ Roll—not River Records—even though Owen has kindly set me up with a cubicle down the hallway from him. I don’t know what, of interest, I’m going to find in Eleanor Rivers’ twenty-two-year-old malpractice lawsuit, if anything. But, whatever is in that file, I sure as hell don’t want Reed walking in on me in my cubicle and discovering that I’m reading it.
“Thank you again for all your help, Charles. You’re the best.”
“No problem. I’ll be back in a jiffy.”
When Charles leaves, I take a rickety chair in a corner, pull out my laptop, and make furious notes. But a few minutes into my note-taking, I get a phone call from Reed.
“Why, hello there, Mr. Rivers,” I say.
“Hello there, Miss Ricci. My meeting just ended. Where are you?”
My stomach tightens. “At a coffee place.”
“Which one? I’ll pick you up.”
I glance at the empty spot at the counter, where there’s still no sign of Charles. “Actually, um, the writer assigned as my mentor atRock ‘n’ Roll—this woman named Zasu—happens to be downtown, so I’m going to hook up with her for a bit. I’ll grab an Uber after that and meet you at your house.”
“I can hang around and do some work in a conference room at Leonard’s, if you won’t be too long. I know you’re excited to sit in on my weekly team meeting.”
“Oh, I am. Will you be having another weekly meeting next Monday?”
“Yes. But won’t that fall outside the week you’ve earmarked forshadowing me? Are you sure you want to keep following me around after your obligatory week is up?”
Reed’s tone is flirty and fun, so I throw back more of the same.
“Hey, whatever it takes to write the best possible article about you, I’m willing to make the sacrifice. Although, to be clear, an extra day of following you around will be ahugesacrifice.”
I can hear his smile across the phone line. “The Intrepid Reporter strikes again.”
My stomach somersaults. I look around the clerk’s office, feeling guilty as hell. But why? I’m not doing anything wrong. I’m only doing exactly what I was hired to do:dig a little deeper. Exactly what ReedknowsI was hired to do. I mean, come on, as fun as this surprising romance with Reed is, it’s not like it will lead to anything serious. It’s fun, yes. So fun, it should be illegal. But I can’t let it sidetrack me from my higher purpose, which is writing the most kickass article I can, and getting myself my dream job.
“I think I’ll catch the weekly meeting next week,” I say. “And meet you back at your house later, after I’m done with my work.”
“Okay. Work hard. Play hard. And I’ll do the same.” He chuckles. “Although, I must admit, I’m gonna have a bitch of a time trying to get you off my mind during my weekly meeting. I could barely do it during my meeting with Leonard and the expert witness.”
My heart skips a beat. He’s so freaking yummy, I can barely stand it. “Yeah, I can honestly say I’ve been thinking about you, pretty much nonstop, since I left Leonard’s office. How was the meeting with the expert, by the way?”
“Couldn’t have gone better. She agrees the copyright infringement lawsuit is total and complete bullshit—nothing but a meritless money-grab by an unscrupulous plaintiffs’ lawyer.”
“Oh, that’s great news.”
“It is. I already knew the lawsuit is bullshit. But the legal system is such a crap shoot sometimes. It’s nice to hear an expert confirm what I already know.”
“I bet. You’ve been sued a lot, huh?”
“Oh, God, Georgie. So many times, I’ve lost count. It would boggle your mind if you saw an actual list of all the times one of my companies has been sued for one thing or another over the years.”
I look down at the printout of lawsuits that’s coincidentally sitting on my lap at this very moment, and my stomach tightens again. Why do I feel like I’m doing something terribly wrong by having this printout? Why do I feel like I’m doing something disloyal by being here at all, and not telling Reed about it? Truly, I need to take a chill pill, keep my eye on the prize, and my mouth shut—at least, for now, until I know what’s in the documents I’ve ordered. For all I know, I’ll read the entire stack and think,Yeah, so what?
“Hey, maybe I should come to the coffee place and meet this other reporter,” Reed says. “I could reschedule my team meeting...”
“No!” I take a deep breath. “Don’t do that. Just go about your normal life. I don’t want to be a disruption.”
He chuckles. “Well, it’s too late for that. You’ve already knocked my world off its axis, Georgina.”
