Page 2 of Objection
Freshly showered and redressed, I sat at the desk in my home office. Looking around the space, I realized that I would need to do better than this space. The office opened into a second dining room separated by beautiful glass French doors. Yes, second dining room. My home was a large one, and I was proud of it. I was born into a family of wealth; ‘old money’ many called it. I had decided at a young age to earn where I ended up in this world. So, when I came into my inheritance at eighteen, I didn’t touch it. I invested it. I compounded the interest and reinvested. I learned about stocks and investment through my broker, and I was smart.
Now, I could live off of the interest alone, and I chose to make my money work for me. My career as a lawyer was a lucrative one, but I had done well for myself across the board. It was time for a remodel. Pulling out my phone, I called the one person I knew was right for the job.
“Go for Jace!” the goofy voice called from the other line.
“Jace, it’s Soren—”
“Soren, my man! How they hanging?” I rolled my eyes. I swear, for as well as the man had done for himself, my former college roommate was still quintessentially stuck in college. He lived life with a humor that I just couldn’t fathom. Especially not after Laurel.
“I was wondering if I could call in a favor,” I began. Jace’s attitude completely shifted.
“You’re actually going to call in a favor? Well, shit and sunshine sucking faces, I thought I’d never see the day! Name it!” Jace chuckled.
“I need a remodel and I need it quick. You’re the only person who came to mind.” I looked around my space, deciding just how I wanted to go about this change. “I need to open up my second dining room and combine it with my current office. I need a dedicated office space. Enough to look professional and suit myself and one other. Yes, one additional person should do it for now.”
“You finally trekking out on your own?” he asked seriously. I could hear his pencil scratching against paper as he spoke.
“Yeah, last-minute decision, you could say,” I said softly, my eyes were focused on the space. I could see it, a nice sized home office for me for the next year. Then opening up my own space after hiring on other lawyers. I could open up a space right now. Lord knows I had the money, but it wasn’t about that. It was about the marketing. I needed to take some time. Work up a name for myself away from Farley’s firm. I wasn’t arrogant enough to think that was something that happened overnight. I could work here and work day and night if needed; build that name I wanted, build my dream into the reality I deserved.
“Anything you know you want? Anything you know you hate?” Jace asked.
“Clean lines. Glass. Metal. Blues and grays, but make it welcoming. Welcoming, masculine, and professional. I trust you, Jace. You know me better than almost anyone,” I conveyed. Yes, this was going to be good. The Wellington Firm. The Law Offices of Wellington & Associates. Well, someday. The Wellington Firm was more like it. A good start to a growing business. My own business.
“I’ll come by for some measurements tomorrow, if that works for you?” I refocused my attention on Jace’s question.
“Yes, that works perfectly. Thank you again, Jace. I’ll send you the details and see you tomorrow, let’s say around 5:30 pm? I’ll order in dinner for us so we can catch up,” I offered, feeling genuinely excited to spend time with him. Our weekly get-togethers became monthly and were now closer to quarterly. Some time with him would do me good.
“See you tomorrow, bud,” Jace signed off, ending the call. Now, time to get all the other logistics together. Set up an LLC or something similar, figure out marketing, and start getting cases flowing in. I knew with word of mouth from my previous cases, it wouldn’t take long for word to get around that I had left Jack’s office. Now, to add to that gossip that I had my own firm.
Hours later, I sat in the evening darkness, finally ticking off the next-to-last checkbox on my to do list. It was coming together quickly, but I had one thing left on my list. Support staff.
I needed support staff to start. I had an accountant already who was willing to take on the business, and I could handle the legal work on my own. I just needed a paralegal. I knew I could easily draft an online job ad for the position. If I did that, I would be inundated with job seekers. I would have to filter through countless applications, exhaustive interviews, and then a full training process on how I wanted things done. That sounded like pure misery.
No, if I were being honest, there was only one person who fit the bill, and required no training.
Posey Adams.
Sure, she got on my nerves, occasionally, but everyone did. She was hard working, often the only paralegal to stay late to complete the tasks assigned. She often went the extra mile at work, and it did not go unnoticed by me. She wasn’t experienced enough to be arrogant or lazy, like Graham. She wasn’t new enough to need hand holding. No, she could honestly run half of my cases for me, if asked. But that was the biggest draw: she did what was asked, and she did it well.
I would just have to ignore those pencil skirts and stockings she always seemed to favor. As annoying as she could be, she could wear a damned pencil skirt. Too bad it was my kryptonite. Mind over matter, though. I would just be professional. Simple, right?
It was time to draft an email.
And then, time to call Samantha. I needed to work off some tension in a purely non-professional way. Yes, a night of flogging should suffice.
I pulled my computer back open and got to work. Time to hire a paralegal.
2
Posey
To say that David,my boyfriend of six years, was pissed when I arrived home that night would be an understatement. I walked into my modest two-bedroom home to find David sitting on the couch, already ignoring me.
“I’m so sorry. I got caught up at work and—”
“Save it, Zee,” he spat at me, still not looking at me. I cringed at the nickname. I wasn’t a fan of it, and he knew it. Seemed I was right about him being in a mood.
“Listen, there was a big commotion at work. Someone quit, and I had to gather case files to have the cases redirected to other attorneys. I wasn’t trying to be late on purpose,” I tried to explain.
