Page 4 of Just for Her
She shook her head.
“You mention it to Vinnie?”
“No.”
“Maybe you should.”
“If I have a reason to, I will. It’s probably nothing.”
“Trust your instincts, Gina. Always.”
“I know. I will.” She twirled some pasta on her fork and changed the subject. “FYI, Ma’s not happy that you missed last Sunday’s dinner.”
In our family, not showing up to family dinner was practically a mortal sin, but I had a good excuse. I’d driven six hours to get a signed affidavit for a custody hearing coming up.
“Couldn’t be helped. What did I miss?”
“Not much, really. You know Ma and Sunday dinner. It’s important to her to have everyone together.”
I frowned. I understood that, but I had cases to prepare for, cases that were important to my clients. It was hard to justify taking time for myself when I had so much to do.
My face must have displayed some of my thoughts because Gina followed up with, “You will be there this Sunday, won’t you?”
“Of course.” I’d make it work. Somehow. I still had a few days before then.
“You should hire someone to help.”
“I did. I hired Stella.”
Gina rolled her eyes. “I mean, someone who actually does something. Why do you even keep her around anyway?”
I didn’t admit that I’d asked myself the same question only a few minutes earlier. I knew why. “She’s had it rough. I’m just giving her a break. A chance to put some cash in her pocket while pursuing her paralegal certification.”
Gina snorted and shook her head. “You’re such a sucker. She’s playing you. The only certification she’s interested in is an M.R.S. degree from PCU.”
“PCU?”
“Paulie Cerasino University.” She grinned and then grew somber again. “Seriously though, the longer you keep stringing her along, the harder it’s going to be.”
“I’m not stringing her along!”
“Maybe you don’t think so, butsomepeople mistake kindness for something else. Trust me on this, okay? Before things get ugly.”
“I’ll take it under advisement,” I said to appease her.
“You do that. In the meantime, it’s getting late. We’d both better get to it.”
We cleaned up, and I brewed a fresh pot of coffee. It wasn’t nearly as good as the stuff I got from the café downstairs, but it was hot and caffeinated and would have to suffice. Then, I left her in the conference room and went back to my office to get more of my own work done. It was going to be a long night for both of us.
