Page 1 of Sawyer
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Sawyer Silvers
Ilook around this small, pokey office and sigh.I can’t believe the things I do.
“It has everything you need,” Tanner watches me as I place my briefcase on the office desk that looks like it’s stayed in this exact same spot for the past few decades.The thick legal books line the dark timber shelves, and I wonder what a small-town lawyer would ever need them for.
My jet landed in Whispers early this morning.I’ve already handed over the keys and paperwork to the old florist building to Tanner’s son and one of my closest friends, Connor, before meeting Tanner here.I’m now spending more and more time here in this town than I ever thought possible, thanks to the Whitemans.This father-and-son duo run this town, their whiskey distillery the backbone of Whispers.
“Think you could work out of here a few days a week?”Tanner asks, and I whip my head around to look at him.It might be his hometown, a place where he’s spent his entire life, but it isn’t mine.This is as far removed from my usual life as you can get.
“I’d rather eat cardboard.”I’m honest, because Whispers is not part of my life plan.But Tanner and Connor Whiteman and Whiteman’s Whiskey certainly are.The two men whom I’ve worked with for years are now firm friends I would do anything for.Including entertaining the fact that they want me to be the new local lawyer.The whole idea is preposterous.
A town of about two thousand and thirty something, Whispers is quaint, with the population tripling in size on the weekends due to the distillery, spa, and soon-to-be new accommodations down on Distillery Drive.What Tanner and Connor have done for this town is nothing short of amazing.I just prefer to be in Manhattan, with my town car, Michelin star restaurants, and my penthouse in the sky.
“Get a junior in to run it when you aren’t here,” Tanner adds, knowing that I’m not sold on his idea.
“I don’t have time to train anyone.”I’m worth fifteen hundred per hour, and there’s no way I’m spending my time teaching some country kid the basics of law.
“Make it a secondment from one of your city offices.”
I look at him, deadpan, and shake my head.With a main office in New York and a smaller office in LA, I have teams positioned to take on any client at any time of the day.My business over the past few years has skyrocketed.So much so, I now have my own jet, a real estate portfolio, and investments in smaller businesses that bring in a great profit for me each year.
“Yeah, like any city lawyer will want to come out here and do wills and land titles and deeds when there are commercial deals for the millions being made in the city.”I admire his efforts, but hell, this is crazy.I mean, technology has made it so people can work from anywhere so, it’s possible I can run my legal empire from here, especially since the grind of the city that I used to thrive off is now wearing me a little thin.But moving to Whispers is a jump too far.
“You’ll need to find a secretary.Jerry’s wife handled all his paperwork, so now that he’s going, she will too,” Tanner tells me, and I roll my eyes.
“Of course she is.”I look around, seeing Jerry’s half-packed boxes on the floor.He’s still in the process of moving, with a few active files he needs to finalize.
“He also sponsors the local kids’ baseball team, so you’ll need to take that on too.”
“Oooh, this just keeps getting better and better.”What’s the upside for me in all this?
“Being a lawyer in a small town like Whispers is nothing like you’ve ever experienced.”
“How so?”
“Well, you do the law part, but there’s also the community part.”He’s full of pride.His love for this town is almost comical.
“Do I dare ask?”I walk around the office, seeing if I can picture myself here.It’s a nice office, with high ceilings and bright light coming in from the large windows.It needs a bit of a refurb, but it’s adequate.
“This isn’t just a clock-on-and-clock-off, charge-everyone-for-every-minute-of-your-time deal.You work the files, and the cases you acquire, you spend time getting to know the people, learning about their lives, their businesses, offering free advice, opening your fat wallet when someone needs a hand…” He’s watching me carefully with every pointed word.
“I get it.I do.But it just isn’t me.”Can’t he see that I’m the furthest from a small-town guy as you can get?I grew up in New York.The concrete jungle.Multimillion-dollar deals are my life.
“I want all my affairs to be run from this office.Both personally and for the business.”He crosses his arms over his chest like a bouncer, playing his final hand, the royal flush he holds hitting me right in the gut.
“What?”I look at him like he’s crazy.
“I want all my businesses, the distillery business, the bar, the spa, the new accommodation, Victoria’s interiors business, Daisy’s new ventures, Marie's place, and the new goat milk soap business to all be run out of this office, here in Whispers.I don’t want my business, paperwork, files, accounts, or anything else to leave this office.I want it all to be moved here from New York this week.”
I huff a breath at his big reveal.“You’ve lost your damn mind.”
While Tanner isn’t my only client, he’s one of the biggest, with my brother also taking up a lot of my time.He knows by demanding the Whispers office runs all his affairs, it will keep me here more often than not.
“We’ve taken care of every single thing you just spouted off just fine from New York, and for years, mind you.”There’s no reason to move everything from my head office in Manhattan.
“Well, I changed my mind.”The asshole has the balls to grin at me.
