Page 12 of Bonus Daddy
“Is it because those Berkshires won’t give you up? I’ll call Henry.”
There was no way Henry Berkshire would ever let me go. He’d also repeatedly offered me a position with his company. It was overwhelming, though I couldn’t deny it boosted my ego when billionaires fought over me.
“What I’m trying to say is that you only have one life to live,” he goes on. “So you better get living. There’s got to be a girl out there for you.”
I smiled politely, pretending his words didn’t sting a bit. Because there was a woman. A woman who’d ruined me for all others twenty years ago. A woman I’d never stopped thinking about, who now consumed my every waking moment. Who was making me question things I’d long ago accepted as fact.
But she wasn’t perfect for me, and I sure as hell wasn’t perfect for her.
She was beautiful and fun, and somehow, I’d transformed into a curmudgeon. I was nowhere near good enough. But maybe I could be?
“There is someone,” I admitted.
His graying brows rose with curiosity.
“The problem is…” I cleared my throat. “She’s a client.”
“So?” he practically shouted. “Get Cal or Sully to take her case.”
“Can’t. Out of the three of us, I’ve got the most experience, by far, with her particular situation, and it’s a tricky one.”
“Okay.” He nodded slowly, rubbing at his chin. “But she doesn’t have to be a client forever. Do the work, and when it’s all wrapped up, ask her out. If she’s the right girl, the timing will work out. It always does.”
My chest tightened as I leaned forward. “How can you be sure?”
“Because I was once a twenty-four-year-old college dropout who walked out of a diner on 51st Street with seven dollars in my pocket and met the love of my life.” He rested his forearms on the table. “And together, the two of us built a life and a family and an empire.” His eyes began to mist. “She never missed a home game. And now her seat is empty.”
“I’m so sorry,” I said, feeling choked up myself. Betty had been a firecracker and a lot of fun. Her presence was missed everywhere. As if she had been his life force, and now he was surviving without it, he’d aged significantly since she passed.
“If I did one thing right in my life, it was this: I got the girl and I held on with everything I had.”
A strange combination of anticipation and fear swirled inside me. “You did.”
“Remember that. Because when you’re my age, staring down death, you’ll discover that your family was your greatest achievement.”
I nodded, though I didn’t respond. He made it all seem so easy, yet my situation was anything but.
When I finished Jess’s case, the best-case scenario would be that she’d move to Vermont. Worst-case scenario? I’d fail and she’d be devastated. Hell, she’d probably hate me. So asking her to dinner after we’d wrapped up in court was far less simple than it seemed.
And I wasn’t sure I could even survive that long. I’d spent less than two hours in her presence this week, and already, my brain cells were rearranging themselves.
“You’re good at what you do, Brian. Because you’re strategic and precise,” Cliff said. “Ever think about applying those skills to situations beyond billable hours?”
I cringed. “Dating and lawyering are not the same.”
He swatted a hand at me. “Jesus, don’t tell me you lied when you said you graduated at the top of your class in law school. A man that smart surely couldn’t be this dense.”
Tipping back in my chair, I rolled my eyes. Second in the class, technically, thanks to Sloane, but I didn’t bother correcting him.
“Be patient, lay the groundwork, play the long game.”
I sighed, my body deflating. “I’ll try.”
“Don’t screw it up.” He gave me a wry grin. “Take it from me. I got the girl, and she made every day worth living. Now I just want to move on to the next life so I can be with her again, because the world is a hell of a lot less fun without her in it.”
He stood, and relying more heavily on his cane than he had the last time I saw him, he headed for the door.
As I followed him out, he turned and held out his arms.
