Page 44 of Cocky Counsel

Twenty Two

Eva

The day had been long and exhausting, playing my conversation with Ethan this morning over and over in my head. I knew that I needed to walk away and move on, but there was this newfound ache that I felt every time I thought about it, and it was starting to annoy me. We hadn’t known each other that long and hell, aside from sex, I wasn’t sure that you could say that we really knew each other.

It was almost five o’clock and Ethan was still in his meeting with Graham and some woman that he had brought with him. I assumed it was his girlfriend the way his eyes constantly wandered back to her when she would laugh or smile. She was naturally gorgeous, and very low maintenance, which didn’t strike me as the kind of woman that someone like Graham would go for. Her long, black hair was pulled up into a high ponytail, the tips dyed royal blue which matched the silky shirt that complimented her figure.

I pulled my attention away from the meeting when my phone vibrated on my desk. I looked down to find a text message from Brittany. It was Thursday which meant that she wanted to get together for tacos and margaritas like we did every week. I wrinkled my nose at the thought and swiped my phone to unlock it, hoping that maybe she was sending a text to cancel instead.

Brittany: Tacos and margaritas tonight. I’ll meet you at your office in twenty minutes.

I groaned and let my head fall back dramatically. It was too late to cancel now if she was meeting me in twenty minutes. I sent a quick text back to her confirming that I would see her soon and tossed my phone back on my desk.

My phone vibrated again, and I felt a smidgen of excitement that maybe she had changed her mind after all. Instead, it was a text from Lucy. Why was I so popular all of a sudden?

Lucy: I spoke with Art and I have a meeting with him on Monday. He spoke with Lance’s attorney and they agreed to start with mediation to see if we can resolve this outside of court first.

Me: Jeremy. He spoke with Jeremy.

I watched for a few minutes as the dots bounced in the text message then disappeared. Finally, her text came through.

Lucy: Sorry. I know how much you hate talking about him.

Me: I hate even more that he is representing Lance.

Lucy: Me too.

Me: When are you guys doing the mediation?

Lucy: Tuesday at 1:00, Jeremy’s office.

Me: Seriously? Did he push to have it at his office?

Lucy: I didn’t ask how they came to an agreement, I’m just going where I’m told to go and praying that Art is as good as your boyfriend says that he is.

Me: He’s not my boyfriend.

Lucy: I’m not going to call him the other word. Gabi and Brit can keep that for themselves.

I raised my eyebrows, wondering what they were calling him behind my back.

Me: What do they call him?

The screen started bouncing with dots again, my foot tapping impatiently as I waited.

Lucy: Your f*&@ buddy. That’s the best I can do.

I rolled my eyes and let out a chuckle. Movement across the hall caught my eye and I found Graham getting up to shake Ethan’s hand as they all said their goodbyes.

“Hey, are you almost ready to go?” Brittany said as she popped into my office, startling me. Had it already been twenty minutes?

“Yeah, just give me a second.” I sent a quick message back to Lucy letting her know that I had to go but we would talk this weekend. I turned off my computer and pulled my purse from the bottom drawer before getting up and walking over to where Brittany was standing, staring—no, gawking, at Ethan.

“Is that him?” she whispered, her eyes wide as if she had just seen a million dollars.

“Yes,” I snapped, gently pushing her into the hallway as I pulled my door shut behind me. If we hurried, we could get out of there before Ethan walked out with Graham and the woman he was with.

“You dirty little liar,” she hissed, refusing to move as I tried to nudge her down the hallway.

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