Page 113 of Indiscretion

“Pretty sure it’s because most of them get disbarred for a real reason—they’re dodgy or incompetent. Naomi is the exception to the rule. But that’s great that she’s working out well. What about the other front? You two looked happy at dinner when we got together, and I heard through the grapevine that you’re exclusive. You’re usually more theelusivethanexclusivetype when it comes to relationships. Are things getting serious?”

I rubbed the back of my neck. “I think I’m in love with her.”

“Whoa!I’ve known you since before you were even interested in girls, and I’ve never heard you use the L word.”

“No shit.”

Ben smiled. “Give me the signs. What makes you think you’re in love?”

I made a face. “You want me to braid your hair while we talk about our feelings?”

Ben’s goofy smile widened. “These are modern times, dude. It’s okay for men to talk about their feelings.”

I pointed to the door. “Get out of my office.”

But of course, he didn’t. “You’re not good at sharing. I get it. It’ll get easier. Why don’t I start?”

“Start your ass marching out of my office,” I grumbled.

Ben ignored me. “You know how I knew I was in love with Lily?”

Okay, so I might’ve overreacted a bit, and now I really did want to hear his answer. Though I knew my buddy, and if he thought he was torturing me, he would definitely continue. So instead of asking him to elaborate, I folded my arms across my chest as if I was annoyed.

That did it. He couldn’t resist.

“I’m glad you asked.” He grinned. “For one, I started making plans for our future without even questioning whether it was a good idea. Like, we started dating in April, and a few weeks later I was making plans for a ski trip in November. Never occurred to me that maybe I should wait because we might not be together like it would’ve when I dated other women.”

When I spoke to my mother last week, she mentioned that she redid her guest room, which had two beds. I was happy to know she’d replaced them with one queen, so Naomi wouldn’t fall through the middle when I pushed the two twins together when we visited. Though I pursed my lips shut rather than share that shit with Ben.

He pointed to my face and chuckled. “You’re doing the same. I can tell by how hard you’re trying to look annoyed right now.”

“Don’t you have to get back to work?” I sighed.

“I also started volunteering for shit I had no interest in doing, just to make her happy. Took a slam poetry class once because the friend who had signed up with her had to cancel. Dude, Ihatepoetry. Even Dr. Seuss rhymes annoy me.”

I’d gotten up to walk Leonardo yesterday. Cleaning up dog shit before six AM.

The receptionist buzzed my desk phone, interrupting our girl talk. “Dawson, I have Mrs. Altmann on the phone. She said it’s important.”

“Alright, I’ll take it.” I looked over at Ben. “Get out of my office.”

He stood and gloated like he’d won something. When he got to the door, he stopped. “Let me know if you hear anything about Frannie so I can pass it along to my beautiful bride.”

I picked up my desk phone but fell short of pushing the button to pick up the call. “I will.”

“You going up to the hospital today?”

I shook my head. “No, I’m picking up Molly and Ryder from school. They have swimming lessons.”

He smirked and lifted a brow. “Volunteer for that?”

In fact, I had. “Go away.”

Ben laughed all the way down the hall. And he didn’t even know I’d alsovolunteeredas a bone-marrow donor.

Chapter 34

DAWSON

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