He stopped at the front desk, and the receptionist gave him an appreciative stare. “I’m Garrett Lowry here for the Norfolk deposition. Can you let B.A. Hansen know I’m here?”
She made a call to the back, then gave him a friendly smile. “Ms. Hansen’s assistant will be with you in a moment to show you to the conference room.”
A pretty blonde opened one of the glass doors that cordoned off the back offices. “Mr. Lowry, if you’ll follow me.” As she started down the hall, he pushed all thoughts of Blair out of his head. If he screwed up this case, then he’d be the laughingstock of the office.
A middle-aged man greeted him outside the conference room. “Good morning, Mr. Lowry. I’m Rob Sisco Jr., one of the partners here, and I’m going to sit in on the deposition.”
Ms. Hansen’s assistant seemed taken aback by the news, and Garrett was surprised himself. Philip Lopez was no bumbling fool, which meant Ms. Hansen had to be on top of her game. Garrett had to wonder what could have precipitated this supervision.
Rob Sisco pushed the door open and allowed Garrett to enter.
There were two people already seated at the conference table—one was obviously the court reporter, and the other was a woman who looked to be in her mid-fifties. Her blonde hair hung to her shoulders, and while she had a few extra pounds around her middle, she was an attractive woman. She looked up at them, then glanced back at the door. “Where’s Blair?”
Good God. Was he so thoroughly haunted by his ex-girlfriend that the opposing counsel had her name? He suddenly felt like Ebenezer Scrooge—forced by the ghosts of his past to face all his wrongs and inadequacies.
Rob Sisco offered her a smile, but it came across as patronizing. “She’ll be here in a moment.” Then he looked at his watch and stifled a yawn.
Garrett swallowed the urge to ask the guy if he was bored. Instead he sat on the other side of the table, across from Ms. Hansen’s client, and pulled out his laptop so he could open the document of questions he’d prepared.
Sisco took a seat several chairs down and started drumming his fingers on the table, not stopping when Mrs. Norfolk shot him an irritated glance.
Garrett glanced up at the clock on the wall. 10:59. Jesus, this was going to be a long week.
He glanced toward the glass door, and his heart skipped a beat when he saw Blair—his Blair—standing in the hall, wearing a long-sleeve black blouse and a white skirt, her hair up in a twist. How could she be here of all places? But the dozens of questions running through his head gave way to concern as he studied her. She looked off, like something had upset her. But even as he watched, she steeled herself and shook off whatever was going on. He could tell by the way she straightened her shoulders and turned toward the door with confidence and authority. It burst open, and Garrett stood as she entered, still in shock. Why was she going by B.A. Hansen when she was Blair Myers? A moment of panic washed through him—could Hansen be her married name?—but then it hit him. Hansen was her mother’s maiden name, and the A was from her middle name—Anne.
He’d found her and he hadn’t even tried. They hadn’t seen each other since law school, and now they’d been thrown together twice in two days. This had to be the universe telling him to pursue her. He felt more hopeful than he had in years.
She stopped behind one of the empty chairs, her face turning several shades lighter as her eyes searched his face, probably trying to verify that it was indeed him.
“Blair?” Sisco asked. “Is there a problem?”
She gave an involuntary shudder, then forced a smile as she moved to the table. “No. Of course not.” She extended her hand to him over the table. “Blair Hansen. I hear you’re taking Philip Lopez’s place.”
He leaned over and shook her hand. So she wanted to play it like they were strangers. He understood the reasoning—he’d probably do the same thing in her situation—but it felt odd to pretend he didn’t know her when he’d held her in his arms the night before. “Garrett Lowry.”
“Have a seat, Mr. Lowry.” She waved toward his chair and waited until he took a seat before she did the same. As soon as she was settled, she placed a legal pad with neatly written notes on the table in front of her. He wasn’t surprised. She’d always preferred to handwrite her notes in law school versus using a laptop.
She studied her pad for several seconds, then reached for the water pitcher in the middle of the table and poured a glass. He saw a tremor in her hand as she lifted the glass to her lips. She was obviously shocked to see him, but she’d looked shaken up before she even stepped into the room. Something else had happened, something unrelated to the realization that they’d be sparring partners this week. She needed time to recover, and he was going to give it to her. He turned to the reporter.
“Do you have the physical address and email address of my office in San Diego?”
She looked up in surprise. “Of course.”
“Could you read it off to me so I can make sure it’s correct? We’ve recently moved offices.”
She rattled off both, then looked up at him with raised eyebrows.
“Thank you.” He smiled and caught a glimpse of Blair out of the corner of his eye. Most of her color had returned, and she looked more prepared.
She took a deep breath. “Let’s begin.”
In many ways, it was a routine deposition. Rowena Norfolk was accusing her husband of philandering with multiple twenty-something-year-old women. Garrett had read Lopez’s notes. She was right. Now Mr. Norfolk wanted to divorce the current Mrs. Norfolk and marry version 2.0. The current Mrs. Norfolk wanted to make him pay for his indiscretions, and Blair Hansen was pushing hard to make that happen.
There wasn’t much Garrett could do to discredit her story. Hers was the vanilla side of their divorce, and both attorneys knew it. For all intents and purposes, Mrs. Norfolk was the victim. The juicy details would come out when Blair deposed Lopez’s client and his girlfriends.
While Rowena Norfolk came across as the victim, it was Garrett’s job to find any discrepancies that might discredit her innocence, which meant he had to act like an ass. Fortunately for him, he was fairly good at it. He had a few nuggets to dig into from her answers in discovery. Rowena’s husband had suggested his soon-to-be ex-wife had hidden money before the separation, and what was more, had committed an indiscretion of her own. Garrett was fully prepared to weasel the information out of her—if there was any grain of truth to it—but try as he might, his usual tactics didn’t work. Blair and Rowena stonewalled him at nearly every opportunity. Blair was protective of the woman, stopping him multiple times when she thought his questions went too far.
Sisco left halfway through the deposition, and Garrett could see some of the tension leave Blair’s shoulders. Was this why she’d seemed so upset last night? Was she in trouble at work? He couldn’t imagine why. She’d sure as hell convinced Lopez she was a hard ass—the most coveted reputation an attorney could earn. He also knew Blair enough to know she was not the type to break rules or skirt the edges of morality. What could she be in trouble for?
When he finished his questions, he thanked Blair’s client and stood to leave. He wanted to talk to Blair, but he couldn’t do that in front of Mrs. Norfolk. He walked out of the conference room, taking satisfaction in the way Blair’s gaze followed him.