Page 5 of Imperfectly Perfect

Athena narrowed her gaze, her lips thinning ever so slightly, a few more lines appearing at the corners of her mouth.

Savannah hurriedly started again, her voice wobbling with nerves. “And uh… w-well, I uh… I started to bring him flowers, and then I figured I should probably research him and see who he was. And that’s when I found out what he did.” Savannah’s voice broke completely. “And so I found his wife, and I started bringing her flowers last month out of some misguided guilt, trying to feel better about this awful mistake I’d made, and so I was there today bringing flowers to the graves like I try to do as often as I can, and then… well…” Savannah gulped “…that’s where I ran into your assistant.”

Athena hummed and set her pen down on the paper, but she kept the silence between them.

Savannah had no idea what else to say. Should she try to continue blathering or shut up? She really had nothing else to add to the story, but surely Athena could tell she wasn’t lying.

Athena finally picked up her pen again. “You’re here to sue Saint Catherine Hospital and specific doctors for medical malpractice.”

“I am.” So that was that. Savannah would never get a chance to explain what happened, and she was going to be thrust into this space of awkward tension because no one would let her explain. Living with that was going to be hard. “For my brother.”

“Why isn’t his wife suing?” Athena shuffled some papers around.

“Kyla isn’t in a place where she can tackle something like this. She’s still grieving and struggling with not having Conrad there to support her anymore.” Savannah leaned into the fact that nothing would ever come of that mourning. She shifted her focus away from her own struggles and put everything into explaining why she was here in this moment. It was so much more important than fixing her screw up from earlier that day.

“She really should be the one bringing forth this suit.”

“I’m doing this for her, and for the kids. They need the financial support more than anything, but they deserve to know that something happened afterward. Something that means justice.” Savannah knew her passion shone through her words. She’d been told too many times over the last year that she was overdoing it. But this was where that could work to her advantage.

And when Athena looked up at her impressed, she knew she’d managed that at least. “Let’s talk details, because I’m going to need a lot more information than what you gave me in order to contemplate filing suit.”

“Yeah, for sure. We can do that.” Excitement rose up in Savannah. That sounded promising, didn’t it?

They spent the next hour and a half in that small room, going over so many details that Savannah’s head spun. She had so many pages of notes that she wasn’t even sure she could decipher them when she got home that night. But she would, because this was important.

Athena finally stood up, but she held out her hand in a stop motion. “Wait here.”

“Okay?” Savannah said as a question.

“I’m going to talk toFallon.” Athena nodded sharply, the emphasis on Fallon’s name wasn’t lost on Savannah. Athena didn’t miss a beat, did she?

“Yeah, sure.” Savannah shifted in the chair, trying to un-numb her butt while she continued to wait.

She was the older sister.

Savannah should have been able to figure that out, shouldn’t she? Except, she hadn’t spent that much time trying to figure out what happened to the girls. She’d been too appalled by what had happened to the family. Once again, she found herself wringing her hands together under the table tightly. This was almost worse than speaking with Athena.

Except, Athena had clearly used the last two hours to check Savannah out, to judge if she was being genuine or not. God, Savannah was such an idiot. She should have known that was going to happen before Athena dropped personal information like that. She was a lawyer after all.

The door opened sharply. Athena stood there, her fingers wrapped around the handle, and she jerked her head toward the main office. Savannah scrambled up, grabbing her jacket and her purse and made her way out of the room.

Fallon sat at her desk, a sour look on her face, as if she was being forced into this conversation. Which, perhaps she was. This was the opportunity of a lifetime. Savannah glanced at Athena, waiting for some kind of indication of what she wassupposed to do or say, but she didn’t get it. Athena moved to stand by the edge of Fallon’s desk, arms crossed, and she stared Savannah down.

“You need to listen to what Ms. Logan has to say,” Athena said, staring straight at Savannah, but clearly speaking to Fallon.

“I don’t see what difference it’ll make.” Fallon winced, her gaze moving down and up Savannah’s body.

Savannah had never felt more on display as she did now. She’d never felt like she was on the receiving end of a beatdown either, but that was definitely what this was. Or it was about to be. Wasn’t it?

“It’ll fix your mood.” Athena’s lips twitched before she walked away, her heels clicking on the floor like the last few seconds of a time clock.Click. Click. Click.Savannah’s time for floundering was up, whether or not Athena had meant that with her shoes was an entirely different question that Savannah wasn’t going to ask.

Fallon stared Savannah down.

Cold rushed through Savannah, then heat. Like the worst hot flash on the planet. Sweat pooled in her pits, in the backs of her knees, under her boobs. She wouldn’t be able to fix this. Fallon’s look told her that.

“Can we do this somewhere other than here? Like over coffee.”

“There’s coffee here.” Fallon pointed toward the room Savannah had just come out of.

---