Page 29 of Cocky Counsel

“Eva,” I sighed. “Her name is Eva.”

“That’s right, I remember her telling me that when I stopped by on Wednesday.”

I nodded and felt my lips pull into a tight smile as I tapped my knuckles against the table.

“She seems nice,” my mom said as she walked over and set a cup of tea down in front of me before taking a seat across the table. She lifted the cup to her lips and took a small sip as she waited for me to talk about her.

“She’s very nice. And smart. And overqualified for the work she’s doing there,” I laughed, thinking about how I still had yet to find time to train her or give her any projects. In all fairness though, she had missed quite a few days when she was out sick, so it wasn’t like there was as much time as it seemed.

“So, what’s the problem?” she asked.

“The problem is that I can’t be with her, yet I can’t stay away from her.” My eyes lowered and focused on the cup of tea before I raised it and took a sip.

“Because you work together?”

“That for starters,” I sighed. “A lot is happening right now, and I don’t want to risk jeopardizing my career by doing something stupid.”

We sat in silence for a few minutes while sipping our tea.

“You know, you’re not like your father,” she said suddenly, taking me by surprise. I lifted my head and studied her, finding the hurt on her face that I had seen so much of when I was growing up. I reached over and gently squeezed her hand.

“I don’t know about that,” I blew out. “I’m currently in the middle of a sexual harassment lawsuit because I wasn’t smart enough to say no to Cora when she wanted to have sex in the boardroom, then later tried to blackmail me to get a promotion that she wasn’t qualified for.”

My mom laughed and covered her face with her hands before looking at me.

“Ethan, Ethan, Ethan,” she chided. “What am I going to do with you?”

I shrugged and felt myself smiling along with her as she let out a soft, light-hearted laugh.

“I don’t know,” I chuckled.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself. So, you got yourself into a sticky situation at work—you know what you do when that happens?”

“Grab some peanut butter and make s’mores?” I suggested, grinning at the memories of my grandma.

“It works every time.” Her face lit up with happiness and I knew that she was having the same happy memories as me.

“But seriously,” she continued. “You’re a smart guy and you guys have an amazing legal team at work, so I don’t doubt that you won’t find a way to work through this lawsuit. Own up to the mistakes you’ve made and learn from them. But at the end of the day, you’re still not your dad. I would never judge you for the choices you make as a single man, Ethan. But I think that you owe it to yourself to stop and think about what you want from life and whether that includes someone special.”

I swallowed hard; my throat suddenly dry. If only solving this problem was as easy as she made it sound.

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