Page 111 of Masters of Control

Camille: I’ve had better days. I’m really sorry about my client. Are you available for a call?

Normally, she hated talking on the phone but some of what she wanted to say, the explanations she wanted to give, were way too much to type out. Anxiety rippled through her, but to her relief, it only took a few moments for her phone to buzz with a response.

Freddy: Sure, can I call you in five minutes?

Camille: Yes, I’m totally free this evening.

That was an understatement. She mindlessly scrolled through the streaming options without finding anything she wanted to watch, which was what usually happened. How could there be so many options yet none of them feel right? Half the time she ended up watching a bunch of trailers and adding them to her watch list but not actually watching anything.

It was a relief when her phone rang, not just because she was feeling anxious about talking to him and wanted to get it over with but because she needed something to tear herself away from the television, she wasn’t even watching.

“Hello?”

“Hello… uh, I’m not sure what to call you.” The little stumble made him laugh and Camille smiled.

“Camille is fine outside the club and work.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He cleared his throat. “I’m at Marquis tonight. I just took a break from the front desk, so my wires are feeling a bit crossed.”

She could understand that. It was probably the same way they’d both felt earlier today when their professional and personal worlds had collided for the first time.

“My wires have felt crossed all day.” She sighed. “I just wanted to apologize, personally, for my client’s behavior. I wish I could say I’ll be able to better control him in the future, but I can’t give you that guarantee. As much as I wish today had been the end of things, I seriously doubt he’s going to give in that easily.”

“He’s an ass.”

“Off the record? He’s the worst. Not even the partners want anything to do with him, other than when they’re playing golf. That’s how I got saddled with him in the first place. I don’t really want to talk about work, though, other than as it relates to us… if today didn’t totally turn you off.” Might as well put it all out there on the table.

The two glasses of wine she’d had while she was eating helped with the blunt honesty.

“It was a shock, but I’ll get over it.”

She winced. Apparently, she wasn’t the only one going for blunt honesty.

“Trust me, I’d much rather be working somewhere like Addison, O’Shane, and Smith, but they weren’t hiring when I was looking. Donaldson was, and they offered the right amount of money.” Her voice lowered. “My mom is in a memory care unit, and it’s expensive.”

There was a short pause.

“I’m sorry to hear that. I’m glad you got her into a care unit. That can make a huge difference. I know it did for my grandmother.” The sympathy in his voice was like a balm to her frayed nerves.

He’d judged her for where she worked. She didn’t blame him because she judged herself, but she did have her reasons. As much as she didn’t want to care what he thought, his opinion already had weight with her.

Talking about falling in deep, fast.

Part of her didn’t know why she was already telling him all of this. Was she really this desperate for human connection? Or was it specific to him?

“Thank you. It’s been… rough. While I might not always love what I have to do, it pays the bills.”

“I can understand that.”

Freddy

Talking to Camille was making him feel better about today. Morgan had been right. He’d been judging her too harshly, and part of that was because of how protective he felt about Brittany. Since Camille was representing Brittany’s husband, who was a colossal douche, it could have been easy to paint her as someone who didn’t care about how her job affected people, but it was clear she did.

The fixer in him wanted to run straight to the partners of his firm to see if they had any openings for her or knew of any other firms that might have an opening, but he doubted she would appreciate the efforts. More likely, she’d take it as an insult. Not only that, but he didn’t think the partners would be very impressed either, considering he knew very little about her.

The urge to help was still there.

“So… does that mean you’d be willing to scene with me again?”