“She needs to be realistic.” Her mother shot Peter a withering look. “If she wants to get back into a big-city firm, she can’t get involved in something that’s certain to fail. If she wants to do entertainment law she needs industry clients.”
“Weren’t you listening to me?” Zara threw her napkin on the table. “I don’t want to get back into a big-city firm. I want to stay at Cruz & Lovitt.”
“Darling . . .” Her mother sighed. “They advertise with a tiger. That does not scream professional.”
“Maybe I don’t want to be that kind of professional,” Zara shot back. “We have name recognition. We have loyal and happy clients who refer their friends and family to us. And we have a great track record of success. We’re the number one personal injury firm in the Bay Area.”
“Are you sure they’re going to make your position permanent?” Her mother shared a look with Peter. “I’ve heard they’re struggling to bring in clients and their profits are down fifty percent. They haven’t had a big settlement in over two years. You can’t run a law firm on slips and falls. There is a lot more competition in the personal injury market than there was even five years ago.”
A sudden coldness hit at Zara’s core. “How do you know all that?”
“The legal world isn’t that big, and I like to know what is going on with my daughter’s firm. I also know that you bumped into Lucia the other day. She said her offer to join her corporate litigation department is still open. I know you prefer a more relaxed atmosphere, but beggars can’t be choosers.”
Zara’s mouth went dry. Why hadn’t Tony told her the firm was in trouble? Why hadn’t he given her a heads-up that they might not be able to keep her on? “It might not be true,” she said, more to reassure herself than to challenge her mother. “I’ll talk to Tony tomorrow.”
“Tony is not going to tell you anything different.” Her mother sipped her wine. “You have a problem accepting that bad things sometimes happen, darling. When we told you about the divorce, you stood on the side of the road for hours screaming for your dad to come back, and then for weeks you pretended he was just away at a conference. I had to pack up all his things and repurpose the studio just so you would understand that we had to move on. When he finally got his own place, you pretended he was house-sitting for a friend. It went on and on. Really, it became rather tedious.”
“It sounds to me like she was in a lot of pain,” Peter said gently. “She was only what? Ten or eleven? That’s a hard age to have your life upended.”
“It was hard for everyone but we all got over it,” her mother snapped. “I expected her to do the same.”
Except she hadn’t gotten over it. She still expected every fight to end a relationship and every relationship to end. Her deepest fear was losing the people she loved. It was the same kind of worry, the same fear that Jay had shared with her. That one day the person she cared about most would be gone.
“I have to get going.” She couldn’t stay here any longer, couldn’t listen to her mother coldly dissect one of the worst nights of her life. She wished Jay had been here with his strong arms, warm hugs, and quiet understanding. Jay didn’t judge. He liked her for who she was. So why had she told Rick they weren’t together? Her words had hurt him. She’d seen it in his face, in the way his hand had tightened around his glass, in the speed with which he’d called her a cab when the night was done. And she’d felt it. Because when he’d agreed with her, she’d hurt, too.
* * *
• • •
“Let’s have a toast to a long and fruitful business partnership.”
Jay and Elias clinked glasses with Thomas and Brittany in the upscale French restaurant Thomas had booked for their celebration. With the Triplogix lawsuit out of the way, Thomas had assured them that board approval of their international financing was all but guaranteed.
“That was the best call I’ve had all week,” Thomas said. “To be honest, I was worried you wouldn’t be able to get the lawsuit dismissed. The optics were pretty bad, given you are a security firm.”
“We’ve put new procedures in place to ensure our clients are fully protected from disgruntled employees in the digital space,” Elias said. “It’s actually opened up a possible new area of business for us. Digital security is the next big thing.”
“Delighted to hear it,” Thomas said. “Brittany has a particular interest in digital security.”
“I wrote a paper on it while I was doing my MBA.” She smiled at Jay. She had been doing a lot of smiling at him across the table and he was picking up an uncomfortable vibe.
“It will give you two a lot to talk about when you’re traveling,” Thomas said. “Once we’ve got all the approvals, I’m planning to send Brittany with you when you open each of the international offices. We need eyes on the ground for our investment.”
“We’ll be spending a lot of time together.” Brittany’s smile widened. “I’m looking forward to it.”
Jay felt something brush his pant leg. Christ. Was she seriously playing footsie under the table with her father right there? And what about Elias, who had been staring at her for the entire dinner? The dude was totally smitten, but Brittany didn’t seem to know he existed.
“Excuse me.” Jay got up and walked to the restroom to get away from Brittany and her under-the-table activities. How was he going to get out of this situation? One wrong step and he could blow the whole deal.
Five minutes later he exited the restroom only to find Brittany waiting in the hall. He should have known “Daddy’s girl” wouldn’t be denied.
“Fancy bumping into you here.” She took a step closer, smoothing down her fitted black dress. “I was thinking we should get to know each other better since we’ll be spending a lot of time traveling to the new offices. Maybe dinner at my place on Friday?”
Six weeks ago, he would have accepted her offer. She was in a position to make sure the deal happened, to bring him closer to his goal. But there was only one woman he wanted even if she didn’t feel the same way about him. “I’m flattered, Brittany, but I’m seeing someone.” He didn’t want to lie. He hated lying. But Brittany wasn’t the kind of woman who was easily put off, and a girlfriend was the simplest option.
“Elias said you were single.”
“It’s recent.”
She gave him a calculating smile that made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. “I would love to meet her. Maybe you both could join us next weekend at a celebrity charity event. The bank is the sponsor.”