Page 60 of Escape Girl

They exchanged inscrutable glances.

“Great!” Tess said brightly. “Then we can have dinner after all.” Before I could protest, she unpacked the food on the small table in the corner of the room. I lowered myself back into my desk chair, unsure if I should be grateful for the food delivery or irritated at the intrusion. Tess handed me a plate loaded with everything, and my hand dipped a chip into the guacamole and shoved it into my mouth before my tired and cranky brain could second-guess it.

“Oh!” I exclaimed, in spite of myself. The limey, cilantro-garnished guacamole was so fresh it made my taste buds ache. “That’s really good.”

I ate quietly while Jo and Tess made plates for themselves and chatted about their workdays. Tess complained about her boss for a few minutes, and Jo talked about reaching a halfway point to some sort of fundraising goal.

“How about you, Emily?” Tess asked. “How’s the case going? Max texted me that you might have had some sort of breakthrough today?”

I shook my head. “Not really.” I explained about the Hiltan James reveal. “I was excited at first, but if we proceed, we’re still facing a long, uphill legal battle. Bella doesn’t have the resources for that kind of fight, and my firm won’t let me be MIA much longer.”

“Do you love your job at this firm?” Tess asked curiously.

“I don’t hate it.” Both Tess and Jo frowned at my response, and I scoffed at them. “Oh, c’mon. Who actually loves their job?”

“I do,” they said in unison.

Show-offs. I stood to look out the window. “Let’s pretend,” Jo said slowly, “that you could start your career over tomorrow. Any career. Any job. What would you choose?”

I hated how she was always asking me uncomfortable questions. “Are you trying to psychoanalyze me?”

“Don’t take it personally.” Tess popped a chip in her mouth and attacked it with a loud crunch. “She does it to everyone.”

Jo had the good grace to turn a bit pink. “Guilty. Sorry.”

“It’s an interesting question though,” Tess mused. “Would you do something totally different? Astronaut? Travel blogger? Detective? Chef?”

Even the thought of cooking for a living was enough to make me shudder and smile. “I actually think I’d still be a lawyer,”I said, after thinking a moment. “There’s a lot about the legal profession that suits me.”

“Including the actual suits,” Tess punned. Jo rolled her eyes.

“Maybe a different kind though.” I thought of how quickly I’d jumped at helping Bella. How it was so refreshing to work on a more personal level after years and years of being buried in corporate paperwork. How nice it was to call all the shots myself, without having to worry about the opinions of firm leadership.

“I loved my engineering courses in college, so IP law was just a natural transition.” But I’d been so fired up lately, so infuriated by Taggert’s behavior. How fulfilling it was going to be to face off against him! “Maybe I should have been a DA instead.”

Jo cocked her head. “What appeals to you about being a prosecutor?”

Tess produced yet another shopping bag from somewhere and pulled out a six-pack of Corona. She deftly popped a slice of lime in one and handed it over. What the hell? I took a swig.

“Taking down bad guys, I guess.” It sounded pretty dumb to say aloud. “Obviously, I grew up in an ivory tower, but my family was always very invested in the health of our society. My dad comes across as this scary guy, but he’s actually quite a philanthropist, and my mom spent most of her time doing charity work. I make a lot of charitable donations, but I always feel sheepish that I don’t contribute in a more active, hands-on way. Maybe being a prosecutor would have been a good way for me to contribute.”

I shrugged. “I’m smart, I work obsessively, and I’m a little mean. Talk about a good fit.”

Tess and Jo both grinned around their beer bottles. “Here’s to being a little mean,” Tess hooted. She paused, bottle halfway to her mouth. “Is it too late to change? I don’t know anything about lawyer stuff, but since you don’t love your job, could you switch to being a prosecutor?”

I turned away from the window and flopped on the bed. “Eh. It wouldn’t be impossible, but it would be very difficult. And while there are parts of it that appeal to me, I’m not sure it’s really my dream job either.”

“You should think more about this. Come up with a new dream,” Tess said.

Maybe. But, “A new dream sounds very tiring,” I admitted.

Tess put slices of limes in two Coronas and handed one to Jo, almost like a relay baton being passed.

Jo kicked off her shoes and pulled her legs on the bed to sit and face me. She took a deep breath. “We came to see if you were OK tonight. Because I saw Bobby today, and he is very much not OK.”

The Corona transformed into corrosive acid in my esophagus. “Oh—is? He—ah? What did—um? How—?”Jesus, shut up, Emily.What the hell did I even want to ask?Is he destroyed? Is he angry? Is he taking care of himself? Does he still love me?I bit the inside of my bottom lip so hard it bled into my mouth.

Jo watched my verbal struggles. “Then Tess and I get here tonight, and you’re also very much not OK.”

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