Page 54 of Danny Hall Gets a Lawyer
He leaned his head back, probably leaving an oily slick on the back of the couch. “Okay, Mom.”
“Fuck you,” I said, but I still didn’t push him away.
And so we sat there, me a ball of misery and Wilder a ball of sweaty, oily, muscled solidarity, until Chase got home.
He came into the living room with one hand over his eyes, saying, “There’s not naked lawyer ass, is there?”
“Shut the fuck up,” Wilder said so I didn’t have to.
Chase glanced around. “Where’s Miller?” Then he looked at me more closely. “Shit, have you been crying? What gives?”
“I don’t wanna talk about it.” I got up and stalked to my bedroom as my misery swelled, and I threw myself across my bed with all the drama of a teenage girl in a vampire romance. Except the teenager in that vampire romance got her happy ending at least.
Me? All I had was a roommate who sparkled on the nights he worked as a stripper.
I punched at my pillow for a bit but it didn’t make me feel any better, so I just lay there, sad and alone, until I fell into a restless sleep filled with dreams of being sad and alone forever.
CHAPTER 14
MILLER
“Miller, good to meet you. How was your flight?” Ezra Fisk extended his hand, and his grip was firm and commanding as I shook it. I’d talked to him over Zoom, but he was far more imposing in person. He was taller than me and his solid build made me think of the quarterback on my college football team. But his smile was wide and genuine, and I felt myself relaxing. This was really happening.
I flashed him my best smile and said, “It was fine, thanks. And the hotel’s great.” The hotel was adequate, but that saying about gift horses and mouths also applied to hotel rooms that a potential employer had paid for.
“Glad to hear it,” he said. “Shall we go up to my office?”
See, this was how you ran a law firm. No dog baskets, no cousins dropping in for chats, and no interns with flamingos on their shirts. Just straight down to business.
“I’d like that.”
We took the elevator up, and then Ezra led me along a series of corridors, past rows of cubicles and then offices, until we reached a set of glass doors and he ushered me through to his office. It was a big, open space with soft lighting, dominated bya large wooden desk covered with neat stacks of files. Over in the corner of the room there was a leather couch that probably cost more than my car and a side table with a potted plant. This high up the constant traffic noise was muted, and views of the city spread out in front of me. Ezra caught me glancing out the windows and chuckled. “Impressive, isn’t it?”
“It’s a far cry from Hopewell, that’s for sure,” I said.
Ezra gestured to the chair opposite his. “So.” He pulled a file toward him and opened it. “Let’s talk.”
I nodded. My gut churned just like it had when I’d been about to sit the bar exam, and the stakes felt almost as high.
But my nervousness turned out not to be necessary. Sure, Ezra asked the expected questions about my experience, my strengths and weaknesses, and my salary expectations—the pay was a lot better here than in Hopewell, but the cost of living was also a hell of a lot steeper, so financially I wouldn’t be any better off. Career wise, though? There was no comparison. I got the impression Ezra had already found out what he wanted to know in our initial interview, and this was just a formality.
It was barely ten minutes later when he flipped the file closed, leaned back in his chair, and smiled. “Well, that about covers it. I think I can confidently say we’ll be extending a formal offer.”
“Wait, really?” My mouth dropped open as he confirmed my suspicions that I had this in the bag.
So much for the cool, calm, and collected guy I’d been pretending to be up until now.
Ezra raised an eyebrow in amusement. “Really. I think you’ll fit in well here. Welcome to Winston, Baker and Fisk, Miller.”
His words hit home, and excitement raced through me. “Thank you so much,” I said, unable to stop the grin from spreading across my face. “You won’t regret it!”
Ezra stood, buttoning his jacket, and said, “Shall we go and meet some of the team?”
The rest of the morning passed in a blur as Ezra gave me a tour of the offices and showed me where my office would be. It was nowhere near as fancy as his, but it was adequate, and it would be mine. He also introduced me to people whose names I’d doubtless forget by the end of the day, and I gave them all a wry smile when they commented on my accent. I wondered how long it would take for me to sound like them. Forever, probably.
By the time I was shaking Ezra’s hand one last time and walking out the front door with an assurance that I’d be back the next morning to get my paperwork in order, it was almost noon. I debated catching a cab back to my hotel since it wasn’t exactly close, but I decided to walk. It would be a good way to burn off the nervous energy that was itching under my skin. I’d walked three blocks when my stomach gurgled, reminding me that I’d been too nervous to eat breakfast, so I stopped in at the next coffee shop I saw.
I gave my order at the counter, then found an empty seat and dropped into it. I tapped my fingers on the table surface restlessly as I waited, and had a sudden overwhelming desire to call Danny and tell him the good news. I dismissed the idea immediately. I was pretty sure he’d see me calling him to confirm I was leaving as a dick move—and he’d be right.
