Page 9 of Love Is Brewing

“Just something I’m playing with. Lots of time yet. It’s a conversation for West first, but I don’t need him for this.”

Which he was happy to say.

He had more than enough money and wealth to do it on his own.

“I hear you gloating over that statement,” Braylon said.

“I was trying to,” he said, laughing.

“You keep killing it so that my next bonus check is bigger,” Braylon said. “I’ve got a meeting in a few. You know where I am if you need me.”

“Yep,” he said. “Bye.”

Elias hung up and went to make another cup of coffee at the small single cup machine in his office.

He might drink more than he should and didn’t always like to go into the break room where he’d get stuck talking to staff.

He shouldn’t think of it as being stuck, but when he wanted to work, he would rather focus on that rather than the guy that always stopped to give people the attention they deserved.

Everyone should be treated with respect and it was how he lived his life.

But sometimes it backfired on him too.

3

THINGS LINGER

“How did the interviews go yesterday?” her father asked.

“Not bad,” she said. “I scheduled one to come back for a second interview on Friday with me and Ellen.”

“That’s great,” her father said. “It’s difficult to find staff and you knew it’d be harder there.”

She’d picked this location because it felt like it was a good spot in the middle of a triangle of three big cities. Charlotte where her family firm was located about two hours away, Durham was about an hour away, and Fayetteville was an hour away. It was a large area for people to come to her without going into one of the bigger cities.

So far it was working in her favor because business was booming already even if she felt a little alone in her two short weeks here.

No clubs or social events to go to meet people and mingle.

She wasn’t into small-town gossip and rumors, and so far, that was about all she’d heard when she was out and about.

“I know,” she said. “And I hate to ask this, but I think I should start thinking of another attorney. Is it too soon for the budget?”

It bothered her she had to get a budget from her father, but she had no choice.

She’d wanted to put her own money into this and her parents said no. This was helping the firm overall and they would do it.

It made her think they didn’t believe she could do it on her own, but she kept those words locked in like always. Her grandfather always told her not to whine when she tried to plead her case.

Guess some things never leave your mind.

“We have the money in there for another one. I know in just a few weeks you’ve been pushing some work back to us here.”

“I have to,” she said. “I can’t do it all. I’ve gotten four calls today and one is for family court. It’s not my thing, but I don’t want to turn it away either. Divorces, sure, but child custody agreements take a lot more work.”

She did and could do just about anything, but didn’t specialize in family court. It was the one thing that she had put little time into because she always felt they should get more attention than she could give when she was balancing so many balls in the air.

“I think it might not hurt to look,” her father said. “It could take you time. If you want to see if you can take that case and have them work with attorneys here, we can do that. Otherwise you might have to turn it down.”

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