Page 92 of The Suit

“Yes. Your counter arguments were always ingenious. Sometimes I’d wondered whether I’d have thought of them in the same situation at school, though I didn’t have a class opponent anywhere near as good as yours.”

“My opponent?” I’d never told her about having an opponent, given that this was the longest conversation we’d ever had outside of discussing a paper I’d written.

“Yes. Muscot told you to find an opponent, did he not? It was something we were all taught when we were at school.”

I frowned. I’d always put her at early forties when she taught us. I thought she’d joined Harvard after Muscot had retired, but if she taught with him, she must be at least mid-sixties now. She certainly looked good for her age. “You taught with my dad? With Muscot?”

She shook her head. “God no, he was my professor. I was in his last year before he retired, and his first instruction to us was always ‘find an opponent’.”

My eyes welled at the thought of him teaching. He’d have been such a wonderful teacher. He was so wonderful to me, but I always wished I’d seen him at Harvard. I bet Grannery had given him a hard time, too. I could imagine her as an opinionated first year student trying to get a rise from him.

“He would have been very proud of you,” she whispered.

“Thank you,” I sniffed, before I turned into the emotional wreck I thought I’d shut down on the car journey back. “Not sure about that, though.”

She ignored my muttering, not registering I’d said anything at all, and continued, “My opponent, Graham Bollins, quit halfway through second year, and no one ever saw or heard from him again. Could you imagine? From memory, Raferty Latham was no a quitter, and your feud was quite the talk of the staff lounge.”

I jolted at the mention of Rafe’s name, looking up to find her smiling.

“Really?”

“Oh yes, and I also doubt either of you would have achieved so much without the other. The law school faculty had a running tab on who would come out tops each week. I did quite well from you in the second semester of first year – I won two hundred dollars after you beat him in the Contracts Law paper.”

My mouth dropped open. I mean, I knew people were aware of our rivalry, but not to this extent - or that we became a source of entertainment. Thinking back on it though, we were incredibly childish, so it’s really not all that surprising. That our exulted professors were all in on it too? This revelationwassurprising. Then I remembered Rafe’s face when he’d seen our results and couldn’t hold in the laughter. He’d whooped my butt in the next three tests and made sure I knew about it.

“Yeah, he was pissed.”

“Yes, he was.” She stared pensively up at the statue. “I’d suppose he’s one of the partners over at Latham’s now, even without the name, it wouldn’t have taken him long. Can’t imagine you parted with fond memories.”

“Actually, he left Latham’s and he’s running his own pro-bono firm. He built it up from scratch and it’s become one of the biggest in New York, even the U.S. I think,” I replied, pride apparent enough in my voice that Professor Grannery raised an eyebrow. In reality, I was proud of Rafe. What he’d built and achieved was incredible. It was something I knew I’d be able to admit to, even if we still hated each other.

“Not Van Lancey’s?” It was her turn to be shocked, her eyes widening as I nodded. “Rafe Latham’s built that firm since you graduated?! Wow. Good for him. All I’ve been hearing the last two months is applications for the summer internships there.” She tilted her head at me. “So I’m guessing you kept tabs on each other?”

I shook my head. “No, no. I saw him two weeks ago for the first time since we graduated.”

Fuck, two weeks. Was that really all it had been? The longest two weeks of my life.

The most exhilarating two weeks of my life.

My world had been turned upside down, or perhaps the right way up.

“I’d have paid good money to have been present atthatreunion.”

I matched her grin with one of my own, the tension rolling off my shoulders and down my back as I did. “Nothing had changed, it was still warfare,”

“I’m sure. You two always were a perfect match.”

I didn’t have anything to say in response. Instead, I watched a female student run out the doors of the English building and straight into the arms of whom I assumed was her girlfriend, given the way they were barely coming up for air.

“So, Holmes, where are you off to laden with all these bags?”

“My friend works here.” I met her piercing stare again as I replied with all the confidence of having known Kit for the entirety of a holiday weekend.

“Well, I hope to see you soon, Beulah. Call me if you decide you’ve had enough at that terrible firm.” She handed me a business card. “Come and teach with me. You’d make a great professor, just like Muscot I’d imagine.”

She leaned in and kissed my cheek, then I watched her walk off with that same confident stride I’d always tried to emulate. I looked back down at her business card, running my thumbs over the sleek navy embossing of her name and number as I replayed the last five minutes. What were the chances of seeing her? About as low as the chances of seeing Rafe had been.

Fucking New York was really kicking my ass all over the place.

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