Page 49 of Danny Hall Gets a Lawyer
“What’s that?”
“When this is all over, who’s buying the beer?”
He laughed and ended the call.
I went and locked my office door before making the next call.
“Winston, Baker and Fisk, how can I help you?” the receptionist answered brightly.
“Hi there, it’s Miller Clarke calling for Ezra Fisk.”
“Let me put you through,” he said, and a moment later soft jazz drifted from the phone as I was put on hold. The fact that the firm had a receptionist who didn’t call people “bro” seemed like a good sign, and something like excitement fluttered in my chest. This was actually happening. I was one step closer to escaping.
My phone beeped with an incoming call. When I checked the screen, I saw that it was Danny, but I barely hesitated before I hit the decline button. I’d call him back. This was more important right now.
“Miller!” a voice said in my ear. “That was quick! I take it you got my email?”
“I did,” I said. “And I’d love to meet in person.”
“That’s great.” His accent was New York. Definitely something I’d have to get used to if this all worked out. “We’d love to show you around.”
He was a lawyer, so of course he wasn’t going to give anything away and tell me outright I’d gotten the job. But since Winston, Baker and Fisk was willing to pay for my ticket to New York and my hotel, I figured my chances were more than good. They sure as shit wouldn’t be doing that for anyone they didn’t like.
“How’s next Tuesday for you?” Ezra asked.
I mentally ran through my caseload. There was nothing that couldn’t wait while I was out of town, but I didn’t want it to seem like I was irresponsible enough to drop everything at a moment’s notice. “Let me check my schedule and confirm, but that sounds good,” I said. “I’ll get back to you before the end of the day.”
“I like a man who doesn’t waste time,” Ezra said with a laugh, and I laughed along with him.
We ran over a few more details, and when I ended the call I stared at my phone in stunned silence. I wasn’t sure what itwas that had made me stand out from the other candidates, and frankly I didn’t care. It was enough that they’d seen something they liked. All I had to do was turn up, nod and smile, and seal the deal. This was something I’d been working toward ever since I decided I wanted to be a lawyer—a job at a top firm in New York and, one day, a partnership—and now it was within reach. It would make all those long nights in the library at law school worth it. The long nights, the endless classes and tutorials, and the crippling student debt. There had been plenty of times I’d thought I wasn’t going to make it—looking at you especially, bar exam—but finally it was all going to pay off.
Now I just had to figure out what to tell Callahan when I asked for time off. I’d just decided to go with the evergreen “a personal situation” when there was a knock on my door. “Hey, Miller, your door’s locked,” Marty called out.
“It sure is,” I called back.
He rattled the handle. “Oh, are you sexting Danny?”
“Marty, Jesus!” Two guys who’d never been mentioned in the same sentence before for any positive reasons. I got up and opened the door. “I’m not sexting anyone!”
But shit, I needed to phone Danny back after rejecting his call before.
Danny, who lived in a town even smaller than this one and who definitely didn’t fit into my New York plans. Because how could he? He wasn’t meant to be a part ofanyplans.
So why did I get a sinking feeling at the thought of leaving him behind?
Marty held out a coffee mug. “I know I forgot before, but then I remembered. Here. Creamer and two sugars, right?”
Wrong, but close enough. I took the mug. “Thanks, Marty.”
He opened his mouth to say something—there was literally no way of knowing what—and I closed the door again before he could barrel in and make himself at home.
Then, deciding the New York thing wasn’t the kind of news I wanted to break over a phone call, I sent Danny a text apologizing for not taking his earlier call and asking if we could meet up for dinner.
CHAPTER 13
DANNY
It had been something of a letdown when I couldn’t go and see Miller over the weekend, and I had to admit that when he declined my call today my paranoia flared for a hot second. I was suddenly convinced that he was ghosting me or that he’d met an old flame while visiting his family and realized how far out of my league he was.
