Page 2 of The Interns

She blinked a few times in quick succession, hoping this was just some triple espresso-fueled hallucination. How was he already here? She was the early bird, always the first to arrive and last to leave work and school. And in her office?

“Sorry, that view is really somethin’.” He turned and strolled across the room with a big smile and outstretched hand. “Nice to meet you.” A thick southern drawl rolled out of his mouth as slow as molasses.

She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. It was so unexpected coming out of his mouth, especially in a high-rise in downtown Atlanta where people had a slight twang at the very most. She tried to summon a professional countenance as she shook his hand. “Nice to meet you, too.”

She hoped against all hope that, despite appearances, he wasn’t like the good ol’ boys she knew growing up who stuck around Georgia and got by on their good looks and southern charm. Who went to law school or business school, settled down with pretty girls eager to take their last names, and worked just hard enough to afford their suburban McMansions, luxury SUVs, and big-screen TVs to watch college football on every fall weekend.

She wanted more than that for herself. She wanted to be a part of a firm where intelligence and hard work meant more than personality and connections. Where people were passionate about their work. She thought that’s what this summer associateship was all about, but now she wasn’t so sure.

“Well, how about this? The Dream Team of summer associates,” Mr. King declared. “I have a good feeling about this summer.”

She did not. She felt kind of ill, actually, but wished she shared her boss’s unrelenting optimism.

“Why don’t I let you two settle in? Feel free to take off and explore the office and the neighborhood. The day is yours. We’ll go over your case assignment tomorrow morning, but if you need anything before then, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

They thanked him and waved him off, then watched him walk out of the room, silence lingering for a few moments in his wake. Maya stared out the doorway, unable to face reality just yet, when Reed finally spoke up.

“I, uh, I just set my stuff at this desk,” he said motioning to the one behind him, “but I’m open to either one.”

“You’re fine. You can have that one and I’ll just take this one.” She slid the black leather tote off her shoulder and placed it on the desk before easing herself into the chair and turning to face him again. Things were not going as expected, but she would try to make the best of it. She had to. “So Mr. King said you’re from Atlanta?”

“Yeah, about seventy miles east of here. A town called Clayville. You heard of it?”

Ah, hence the thick accent. Saying he was from the Atlanta area had been a leap. “No, I’m afraid I haven’t.” She wasn’t too proud to feel slight embarrassment over being an oblivious city girl.

“That’s okay, not many people have. How about you?”

“Here.” She idly twisted in her chair and cast her eyes out the window over the familiar city view. “Just down the road actually.”

“Four-oh-four, huh?”

She swiveled her chair toward him again, finding him watching her with a proud grin over his quip about her hometown area code. “Yeah.” She couldn’t help but grin. Bless his heart for sounding like an out-of-towner. She’d be willing to bet he probably referred to the city as Hotlanta, too. “But I go to school in Philadelphia.”

“Yeah, I heard that about you.”

He went quiet as he leaned back in his chair, staring at her with his blue eyes and the affable perma-grin that made his dimples a constant presence on his chiseled face. His brand of southern charm was a reminder she was home, and she hadn’t missed it much since moving up north for school. Living in a city like Philly really suited her. The faster pace. Not having to smile all the time or exchange empty pleasantries in passing on the sidewalk. In fact, a little edge seemed to pass for its own kind of charm up there, which worked for her.

“How about you? As far as I know, there aren’t any law schools in Clayville.”

“Nope.” His dimples deepened as he smiled through her challenge. “But there’s one in this little town close by called Athens. You heard of that town?”

Of course she had. Athens was home to one of the best universities in the state of Georgia. She had to admit he’d stepped it up with that one. “Yeah, I’ve heard of it,” she smarted.

She pushed herself up from her chair and walked over to the window, then folded her arms across her chest as she looked out over the expanse of green tree-tops beyond the metal-and-glass high-rises of downtown.

“So why come back home for the summer?” he asked.

“The opportunity to work one-on-one with one of the leaders in intellectual property law. I’ve been following his work for years.”

He chuckled softly at her answer, and she knew exactly why, since it must have sounded precocious coming from her twenty-four-year-old mouth.

“What exactly brought you here?” she asked, peering over her shoulder at him.

“Al did.”

Her nose crinkled at the familiarity with which he referred to their boss. Al? Seriously? This was not a good sign at all. What if his dad played golf with Al on the weekends and he gave Reed a spot since they were buds? Or what if Reed didn’t get accepted for an associateship anywhere else, so Al gave him a last-minute position as a solid to his father. Ugh.

“I was in law enforcement for a few years before I went back to school,” he explained, “and we met on a case I worked. He’s been buggin’ me to come work with him ever since even though he knows I want to practice criminal law, but Al is Al, so here I am.” He finished with a shrug, and of course, that grin.

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