Page 52 of Ghostly
“You don’t remember anything from the past three days?”
“No, I—I was inside that for three days?” She glided to the sofa. “I missed all the Christmas movies.”
Gabriel put a palm to his forehead. “I was worried sick about you, and you regret missing Christmas movies?” He didn’t know whether to be angry or laugh.
He definitely wanted to laugh just seeing she was fine, though.
“Oh, dear.” Ida sat down and covered her mouth. “I was so angry. I think I popped in there as a preventative measure before I destroyed anything. Hurt… you.”
She leaned toward him, but stopped before they collided. In a bit of awkward maneuvering, she ended with her head almost touching his shoulder, and he wrapped an arm around her, suppressing a flinch when he accidentally passed through her back. It wasn’t much of a consoling hug, but it seemed to help her.
If only he could hug her properly, share the warmth, feel her soft heartbeat. Feelher.
“I’m so sorry,” she said.
“I provoked you. I’m sorry.” He sighed. “I get touchy on the whole forgiveness subject. It wasn’t your fault.”
“Then I won’t prod again.”
“No. It’s fine.” He closed his eyes. “When I came to law school, I was just the scholarship kid. A nobody. A son of a mechanic and a shop assistant. I know, I know, it’s hard to believe I haven’t always been my amazing self.”
Ida snorted, and he relaxed. “Don’t get me wrong—I don't mind what my parents’ professions are. But it doesn’t mean I didn’t want more for myself. Unfortunately, the road to success in my new world was most often paved with good connections and first impressions.”
Ida shifted slightly out of his hug, listening intently.
“Make an impression on the right professor, they tell you there’s an opening for an internship at a good firm, one thing leads to another, you know how it goes.”
“Times haven’t changed that much,” she said.
“I thought I’d start with getting into the good graces of a classmate, Anderson. Rich, popular, the golden boy of our class. We were paired together for a mock trial. It’s where you prepare for a case, like a proper lawyer. The case is fake, but you present it in front of a real court, a real judge. It’s very exciting.”
“Sounds terrifying.”
He smiled, but it quickly faded. “Anderson said he had some personal issues and asked me if I could help him with his part, as well. ‘Personal issues’ turned into ‘I don’t feel like doing anything’ and I, being the dumbass I was, offered to do all of his work. Research. Crafting arguments. I wrotea closing statement worthy of an Oscar.” He tilted his head left and right. “So I thought, anyway.”
“They didn’t like it?”
“No, no, it was good. When the time for the trial came, Anderson was back to his old self, reportedly, and we went through it. I did my part, and Anderson—well, he did his part…”
“Which was actually your part, too.”
“It went splendidly. The judge loved it. The professor was drooling. I thought Anderson would give me some credit, but he stayed quiet. They praised him, and he… he took it all.”
“So as revenge, you told the truth, and it ended badly?”
“No. I was dumber than that. I kept quiet, thinking Anderson may take the praise, but on the inside, he’d be grateful to me. Maybe he’d even talk to his fancy dad and get me an internship at their family firm for the summer.”
Gabriel traced the armrest of the sofa. “In a week, he didn’t even remember my name.”
Ida was quiet.
“Turns out he never had serious personal issues, just didn’t feel like doing the hard work. But I forgave him. I let it slide. And for what…” He gripped the armrest. “I only made it harder for myself. There was my first chance of getting noticed, all gone because I was a damn idiot.”
“But Anderson succeeded?”
Gabriel’s mind flashed to the courtroom, to Anderson and his snobby, matching legal team—to the smug smile on his face—the photos spilling out on Gabriel’s palm—
Anderson may have lost that one, but he’d won plenty of other cases. And most importantly—that day, he’d humiliated Gabriel, again.
