Page 19 of Only Fate

Essie and I don’t speak the rest of the night, but we keep catching each other staring.

I want her to forgive me.

This time, I want to have the strength to make her mine.

I want Essie’s hate toward me to turn back into love.

7

Crime in Blue Beech is the equivalent of it in Mr. Rogers’s neighborhood.

Marriages last lifetimes.

People respect their neighbors.

I definitely have my work cut out for me here.

But this morning, Brielle Huxley called me for divorce representation. I had gone to school with her and her husband, Rhett. They were high school sweethearts who married and had two children. Rumor is, Rhett was caught cheating with the nanny.

Brielle walks into my office, dark circles under her eyes and her blonde hair pulled back into a messy bun. She drops her Chanel bag on the floor and collapses on my patterned pink chair. “I want to take him for everything he has, Essie.”

Cheating rumor definitely true.

“I have faith in you,” she adds.

I stare at her from across my desk. “Does Rhett have representation yet?”

She nods. “As soon as I told him I was leaving his ass, he called an attorney. Terrance’s new guy. I forget his name.” She flicks her manicured fingers through the air. “Rhett said he was some hotshot attorney in the city before moving here.”

I gulp when she mentions Adrian but then hold back the urge to roll my eyes at her referring to him as ahotshot attorney. Don’t get me wrong. Adrian is a great attorney, but like me, he fell victim to Laurence and Charles. Neither of us was ever given a decent opportunity to show our strengths there.

“When can you start?” she asks between chomps of chewing her gum. “How long until I can divorce this bastard?”

“I can start right away.” I grab a notebook and pen. “Tell me everything I need to know and what you’re asking from Rhett.”

“I want half his money and a court order that forbids my children to be around his mistress.”

“Is she a danger to them?”

“No. But we hired her to babysit our children, not screw my husband.”

Understandable from her point of view, but I doubt the court would agree she’s a danger to the children if Brielle trusted her with them before.

We talk for the next hour, and I take notes while Brielle fills me in on their marital problems, Rhett’s infidelity, their finances, and how she thought their future would be different.

After she leaves, I debate on whether to call or email Adrian.

I decide on email.

The less personal, the better.

But there’s a slight problem with my plan.

The only email addresses I have for him are his old college and Adaway and Williams ones. Which means I have to call Terrance’s office and ask for it.

“Hey, Essie! How are you?” Ralph asks after I greet him. “I heard you opened a firm here. That’s awesome! But everyone knows there will never be a law firm secretary as fabulous as me.”

Ralph works with Terrance and at Down Home Brewery. Years ago, when I was in high school, I used to babysit him for extra cash.

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