Page 96 of Passionate Defense

Lanie waved goodbye as she picked up her phone.

Ethan: Where are you?

Glancing at the clock, she saw it was past eight. He wouldn’t like her answer.

Lanie:Still at the office.

After a moment, her phone buzzed again.

Ethan:Facetime

In seconds, his handsome face appeared on her screen.

“Hi, honey,” she said. “I miss you.”

“Miss you, too. What are you doing at the office this late?”

“Practicing my opening statement.”

“You had it down last night. What’s the real reason?”

“I’ve tweaked it a little since you heard it. And the real reason is I didn’t want to go home if you’re not there. Beth just left, so even though we were both working, I had company.”

“Did you eat?”

“I had salad.” That wasn’t a lie; he hadn’t asked when. She still felt a pang of unease over the half-truth and added, “It was a while ago though.”

“Why don’t you head on home? Pick up one of those Reubens you love so much from Gordon’s Deli. A glass of wine and a long hot soak in the tub will help you relax and get a good night’s sleep, which is going to help more than rerunning your opening another ten times.”

“You’re right, and that all sounds nice, but there’s one important thing missing.”

He knew, of course, where she was headed with that. “I’ll be home tomorrow.”

Ethan was right in front of her. If only he was there for real, holding her, kissing her, loving her. Since he wasn’t, she preferred to deal with her stress over tomorrow’s trial with more preparation, not wine.

“Will you listen to the changes I made and see how they sound?”

“How many times have you gone over it?”

“Not many.”

He gazed at her from the screen and repeated, “How many?”

“A few,” she amended.

When he said nothing, only waited, she squirmed, compelled to fill the silence with words. He knew it and had used this trick on her often in the past. Then, as now, it worked.

“Three or four, I guess.”

“Lanie.”

“Okay, three or four in the past hour.”

“You’re obsessing. Let’s put this into perspective. This is not a capital case, where a murderer or rapist is going to get off based on something you do or don’t do in court. This is a civil case. And you don’t need to prove your defense beyond any doubt only to the preponderance of the evidence. Simple as that, right?”

“Yeah, but I owe it to my clients.”

“I’m not suggesting you do a half-assed job, Lanie. But think about it. They wanted the firm exposed, especially Simons, who, in no small part because of you and your team, already has a felony conviction. The firm is damaged by that alone, as well as the scandal about the harassment that’s been going on there for years. That’s what your clients wanted. Any award is gravy.”

---