“I think I’m standing on that precipice,” I admitted.
Jacob didn’t even flinch. I might’ve been surprised by my admission but he clearly wasn’t. “I know. The only difference is that you know it too and you’ve stopped yourself from taking the leap.”
“Only because of Katie. If I didn’t have her to take care of, I think I might have been well on my way to the bank by now.”
His jaw ticked, and he straightened his spine when he shifted forward on his chair. “Your lawyer asked you for more money, but what has he done for you?”
“Nothing,” I said simply. “He just keeps telling me he needs more time. It’s been months, and I have no idea what’s going on.”
“That’s unacceptable,” he said firmly. “I’d really like to help you if you’ll let me.”
I sat back, excitement clashing with uncertainty in my heart. “Are you trying to get another date or something?”
He snorted and shook his head. “I know you don’t trust my offer, but I don’t operate that way. I swear it. I can give you hundreds of client references if you want them, and I can have my senior partner sit in on all our consultations.”
“Why would you do this then?” I studied him carefully, but he gave no external clues about what was going on in his head. “What’s in it for you?”
“I don’t like seeing people not getting a fair shake, and I think this lawyer is taking advantage of you. Your case sounds like the type many lawyers only ever dream about getting, and he doesn’t deserve you as a client.”
“According to him, no one deserves me as a client,” I muttered.
He rolled his eyes, shook his head, and didn’t dignify Eric’s accusation with a response. “You and I can keep things strictly professional. I won’t even mention a date. Let’s wrap this thing up so you can move on.”
No words had ever sounded so sweet to me. I kept searching his expression while he spoke, and there was no indication at all that he wasn’t being totally sincere.
If he could ignore whatever moments we’d had in the past, then so could I. He was offering me a gift, and I wasn’t about to throw it back in his face just because we’d gotten off to a rough start and had almost kissed once.
“Do you really think you’ll be able to wrap it up?” I asked, hating the tendrils of hope that were taking root in every nook and cranny of my chest as much as I loved feeling them there again. God, my emotions are so confused right now.
Jacob nodded and there wasn’t a shred of doubt to be found anywhere on his features or in his posture. “This is what I do. At the risk of sounding like the complete prick you already think I am, I’m very good at what I do. Some even say I’m the best.”
Those tendrils of hope became shiny, lit-up threads winding their way between all the cracks that had appeared in my chest over the last year. “Let’s say I’d like to take you up on your offer. Where would we even start?”
He didn’t hesitate. “You have to fire your lawyer.”
I stood up, finished the last dregs of my coffee, and squared my shoulders. “I’ll go do it right now.”
He grinned. “I thought you might. Good luck. We’ll talk more when it’s done.”
A renewed sense of determination rolled through me while all the light from all that hope warmed my heart. Obviously, I knew Jacob couldn’t fix this overnight, but I also remembered all those things my dad had said about him.
He might not be able to fix it overnight, but he could fix it. At least a little. Even if he just looked over all the documents and told me I didn’t have a case after all, I’d finally get some closure on this whole thing.
Writing was funny that way. Sometimes, the words poured out at a mile a minute, and other times, they wouldn’t come at all. Without closure at the very least, I was afraid I would be staring at a blank page on my screen for the rest of my life. The mere thought of never being able to write again was enough to pulverize my very being.
I couldn’t live without writing, and I’d almost given it up because I had to be practical. But maybe, just maybe, Jacob could help me get my words back.
The urge to launch myself into his arms and kiss the hell out of him was strong, but we’d just agreed on keeping things strictly professional. It took a lot of effort to wave instead of kissing him like he was every good sign I’d been praying for—which he very well might be—but I managed it eventually.
Even so, I felt his eyes on my back when I marched out of the restaurant. There was a new spring in my step, and I wasn’t even deterred when Eric’s receptionist tried to stop me from barging into his office.
He rolled his eyes at me when I burst in. “Didn’t I just tell you I needed some space? I’ll call you when I need to talk, not the other way around.”
Standing as tall as I could, I grabbed the remote for the TV from his desk and switched the device against his wall off before crossing my arms. I’d paid him enough that he could give me his fucking attention for the five seconds this would take.
“I don’t think so, Eric,” I said, proud of myself for how sure and composed I sounded. “You’re fired.”
His eyebrows jumped and he sat up, finally giving me the attention I’d been paying him for all this year. “What?”
“You heard me. I’m tired of being made to feel like you’re doing me some kind of favor. You’ve gotten paid a lot of money for the lack of services you’ve rendered. I’m no longer sitting back, being made to feel like an errant child while funding your golf habit.”
He started to interrupt me, but I cut him off. He’d been talking for months while not saying much at all. It was my turn.
“You’re not entitled to me as a client, Eric. You’re not entitled to any work at all actually. You should feel honored whenever someone walks in here and trusts you with a case that means so much to them, not sit here lording it over us because you somehow think you’re better and smarter.”
I put my hands on my hips, and for the first time after all these months, it was me looking down at him. “You’re not better, and you’re not smarter. You simply chose a different career path, and you know what? Maybe you should’ve chosen differently because you’re really not very good at this. Goodbye, Eric. Good luck with your future endeavors because if this is how you treat all your clients, don’t expect to have many more in the future.”
Maybe I shouldn’t have been so outrightly bitchy about it, but after the way he’d treated me, I didn’t think there was any reason to soften the blow. I’d said exactly what I felt, and I wasn’t about to go apologizing for it.
After that epic scene, I walked out of his office with my head held high and feeling lighter than I had all year. In fact, I felt like a badass who might finally have found the stones to really take control of my life again.
Chapter 18
Jacob
Early on Saturday morning, Allie and I knocked at Laurie’s door. I had let her know we would be swinging by today, but I hadn’t given her a time.
When she opened for us, all my promises about keeping things strictly professional flew momentarily out the window. She was dressed in cotton shorts, a pale pink sweater, and her hair was in a messy bun held together by a pencil.