Page 123 of The 1 Lawyer

The confession made me smile. “What did you name him?”

She whispered, “Slowpoke.”

When I laughed, it made her blush. She took a sip of water from her glass and looked around. “Stafford Lee, I still can’t believe you brought me here. All the time I’ve spent in New Orleans, I’ve never had dinner at Brennan’s. This is a first. I’m a fish out of water in this place. But I’m loving the experience.”

I’d reserved a table for two in the Chanteclair room at Brennan’s, looking out on the courtyard. I wasn’t a stranger to the restaurant, but the occasion marked a first for the two of us.

Our relationship had commenced during a tempest in our lives. We’d clung to each other as we confronted obstacles, fear, strife. We’d never had the opportunity to get dressed up, go out for a special evening.

I wanted to change that. Jenny needed a break from the storm that still whirled around us. We both did.

She said, “Have you ever seen such a beautiful place? After tonight, my new favorite colors are pink and green. This was a wonderful surprise, Stafford Lee. It’s nice to get out somewhere without everybody looking at me.”

It was good to have a change of scene, a relief to enjoy some anonymity. My murder charge had generated unrelenting public scrutiny. After Jenny took out Joey Roman, the stir she created in Biloxi was overwhelming. We couldn’t go anywhere in Harrison County without attracting notice.

“You turned heads when we walked into Brennan’s tonight, Jenny. But it’s because you’re beautiful.”

Jenny always looked great. But that night, wearing a blue silk dress with her hair down around her bare shoulders, she was striking.

She glanced at me. “Want to know a secret?”

I nodded.

“I used to daydream about a night like this. With you, us going out on a real date.” She hastened to add, “Not when Carrie Ann was in the picture. That’s a line I never crossed, even in my head. But after that, I’d think about it. In the daydream, I knew all the right things to say and do. I was a siren.”

I reached across the table and took her hand. “Well, that’s all true. You are a siren. Completely irresistible.”

She looked away. “I kept a scrapbook.”

I scooted my chair closer to the table. “Beg pardon?”

“All your trials. I cut the articles out of the Sun-Herald. Kept them in a big binder. I’ve got over a decade’s worth. I told myself I was doing it for professional reasons. But then I’d go over the articles sometimes just to read your quotes. Look at your pictures.” She lifted her shoulders. “It was a crush. I was a total fangirl.”

I was astonished. “Where have you been keeping that scrapbook? I want to see it.”

She laughed and said, “You’ve never seen it because it’s hidden in the bedroom at my place. And I better unearth it before Rue finds it. God, she’ll think I’m nuts.”

The soup had gone cold. The waiter removed it, replaced it with entrées of blackened redfish and striped bass. As she cut into the bass, Jenny assured me she hadn’t kept any fish as pets.

At length, Jenny nudged my knee under the table and said, “You’re not playing by the rules.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“We were playing Truth or Dare, and you haven’t taken your turn.”

I sipped my water before I responded. “What if I take the dare?”

“I dare you to tell me the truth.” She leaned toward me and whispered, “Tell me something about you I don’t know.”

I gave the question some thought. “Okay. Here’s a true fact. I started to fall for you when I was in rehab.”

“No! Really?”

“Yeah, really. I thought about you all the time. But I wouldn’t admit what I was feeling, not even to myself. Not for a long while. Through all these dark times, the only light I could see was you.” I swallowed hard because I hadn’t said it to her yet. “I love you, Jenny.”

It took considerable courage to admit it out loud. I studied her across the table, waiting for her reaction.

Her eyes were bright; she dabbed at them with her fingertips. “I have to go to the restroom. I need a Kleenex.”

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