“I’d love to do that,” her mother said.
“It’s not too much work?” she asked. “I mean now you’ll be cooking.”
“I’d rather have more time at home and relax than for everyone to feel rushed. Matt is in court and wasn’t sure when he’d get out. Eve is out of town today and is going to be late. This is much better, but we thought you might have wanted to leave in the morning.”
“We’ll go after lunch,” she said. “We’ll just check out of the hotel and come over mid-morning if that works?”
“It does,” her father said. “But I think you are dying for sushi tonight and no one else was going to eat it.”
She crossed her eyes at them. “Fine,” she said. “I am. I don’t think Elias will eat it either. I’m getting it for lunch.”
“Some things never change,” her father said. “Let’s go over some work first. You’ve got work to do here, I’m assuming.”
“I do,” she said. “There are a few other cases I need to meet with people on.” Ones that she’d handed over if she couldn’t finish here. She hated to do that, but trying to be in court two hours away last minute wasn’t always so easy.
“Your office is vacant for you today. People have been signing it out, but we blocked it off for you.”
“Glad to know someone is using it,” she said, forcing a smile. She didn’t know why she was having mixed reactions over it.
Guess it went back to her not being able to decide as much as she hoped she could.
“I can’t tell what is going through your mind,” her mother said, pursing her lips.
“Nothing,” she said. “I feel as if everything is falling into place and then I come here and have all these thoughts.”
“Like what?” her father asked. “You seem very busy even if it’s not a lot of big things right now.”
“More divorces and business law right now. A few criminal too. I had another call for family court.”
“And you hate to pass that on,” her father said. “But someone took it here and the client seemed fine. Tiff has no problemdriving there for court when it’s time. She’s meeting with the client via video calls.”
“I know it’s working out,” she said.
“Are you thinking you want another attorney on staff now?” her mother asked.
“No. Not yet. At some point. No reason to push. I like that I’m busy but not overwhelmed.”
“We don’t want you overwhelmed,” her father said. “I hope you don’t think we are monitoring you for any reason more than we would any other staff. But you are our child and we care about your well being too.”
She smiled softly. “I know. I care about my well being too. The funny thing is, I think this is the best it’s ever been.”
“As a parent, that is what I want to hear,” her mother said.
“But as my boss, you’re not happy with it,” she said. “Are you? I promise you, work isn’t affected.”
“Stop right there,” her mother said, putting her hand up. “I never once thought that and I never will. I understand more than anyone how hard it is to prioritize a career and your personal life. I want the best for all of my children and know you’ve got to figure out how to get that on your own.”
“Thanks for that,” she said. “I know I do, but I can’t wait to see what you think about Elias. And of course, this isn’t work like we said we were going to talk about.”
Her parents looked at each other. “We’ll talk about this first,” her father said. “Because I can see you need to and I want to. Your mother is the one who told me not to push it.”
She laughed. “It’s fine. I know I’ve always wanted everyone to stay out of my business before.”
“But this time you don’t,” her mother said. “Do you love him?”
She shrugged. Her mother didn’t let up the stare though. “I think so. I feel different. He makes me feel different. I think at times he feels a lot of what I do.”
“Like what?” her father asked.