Page 48 of King of Justice

I didn’t happen to know too many people who had to switch entire worlds to accommodate a relationship, but was the Jones family destined to suffer through it one way or the other?

Without thought, I picked up my phone and called Silvain, my brother.

“How do you know if you’re in love?” was the first thing he heard through the line.

I heard him clear his throat. “Uh—You know I’m at the hospital, right?”

“You could’ve answered me!”

“What’s with you?”

“I’m having an existential crisis.”

He chuckled. “Can it wait? I’ll video call tonight.” I heard the PA say something in French in the background. “They’re calling me. I have to go. Tonight, d’accord?”

“Fine. Go, save a life.”

“Bye!”

A couple of hours later, and after I’d handed in a draft I was working on, Alexander called me into his office. I went in, ready to take notes of his comments.

“Sophie, please sit down,” he said as he took off his reading glasses, setting them down on his desk.

I did as he asked and kept my eyes on his face while he rubbed his eyes. “I don’t know what happened between you and Nathan Wright, but you know this can’t interfere with our work here… right?” He finally looked at me.

“Of course!” I quickly nodded. “May I ask why you’re—”

“Because he called me asking about you last week, and again yesterday.”

That was the last thing I’d expected someone of Nathan’s status to do. Petrified, I wished I could lie to my boss. Instead, I cleared my throat and decided to go for a more direct approach. “I’m sorry you got mixed up in that. I did a stupid thing and… I’m willing to take full responsibility for it.”

Chuckling, Alex leaned back, slightly rotating his chair just a few degrees. “Sophie, I don’t care if you and him had a thing. He’s a good man, and you’re great! All I’m saying is that he’s coming today to discuss the case updates with Ryan McFadden. Luckily, you don’t have to attend, but—”

Leaning forward, I blurted out, “Things are civil, I promise you.”

He narrowed his eyes for a moment, then smacked his lips before saying, “Then why does it sound like you handled the breakup badly? Nathan is a proud man, and he’d never tell me any details, but… for him to call and ask if you’re still in town, if you’re still working here, I—” He spread out both his hands, a baffled expression drawing itself up on his face.

Sighing, I got up and walked toward the door, closing it before going back to sit across from him. “Alex, you know you’re my friend,” I calmly stated.

Pressing his palms together, he silently nodded, waiting for me to continue.

“I…” I shook my head. “I feel terrible about the way I left things with him; it was juvenile and not a reflection of who I want to be. But that was two weeks ago, and now I’m afraid it’s too late to go back and apologize.”

“I disagree.”

“What?”

Kindly smiling, he leaned closer, resting his elbows against the desk. “I’m not saying you should do like I do, but you just said we’re friends, right? I can offer my unsolicited advice?”

“Please.”

He deeply exhaled. “I tend to treat everything in life like a case. Nothing is ever concluded without a final verdict and a clearly communicated sentence.”

“You mean closure.”

“Precisely. Now, you can go on with your life pretending like you don’t owe Nathan Wright anything, and I’m sure he’ll move on and forget all about it eventually. Or… you can do the mature thing and open a channel of communication, even if your intention makes it the final one. Nathan is a great person to have as an ally.”

Even though I felt like I was being schooled, I knew that Alexander was right. In the few times Nathan and I had interacted, he hadn’t done a single thing to warrant such treatment. Despite my desire to believe otherwise, I actually did owe him an explanation, or at least an apology.

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