Page 28 of Near Miss

Eggers flicked a glance at Matilda.

“Don’t worry, Bill. I vouch for her character. Not a whisper will escape her lips.”

Matilda mimed zipping her mouth closed.

Satisfied, Eggers turned to face Carly. “It’s about you.”

“Oh,” she said. “You’ve found out already?”

“Found out about what?” Eggers asked.

“You, first.”

“All right. You aced the bar exam.”

“I told you I would,” Carly said to Stone.

“I mean,” Eggers said, “that you got every answer right.”

“That’s what I meant, too,” she said.

“The president of the New York State Bar Association called me at the end of the workday. He said that the people who administer the exam said that this has never happened before.”

“Wow,” Dino muttered.

“Is that true?” Carly said.

“It’s true.”

“Oh, well,” she said. “I guess I’ll just have to learn to live with being unique in my perfection.”

Stone winced. “Can’t you think of some way to bring her down a notch or two?” he asked Eggers. “She’s nearly impossible to live with as it is.”

“Don’t worry,” Eggers said. “That will happen eventually, just not tonight.”

“Okay,” Stone said to Carly, “you get to have one free evening, then it’s the real world again. What do you want?”

“Look, I was first in my class at Yale Law, I got a job at the most prestigious firm in town, I drive a snappy car, and as of tonight, I have my own apartment. What else could I possibly want?”

“Well, that was easy,” Eggers said.

“Come to think of it, there is something I’d like,” Carly said.

“Uh-oh,” Stone said.

“If it’s within your gift.”

“Try me,” Eggers replied.

“I’d like a larger office with a leather sofa and a TV.”

“ATV?” Eggers said.

“A big one, that disappears into a cabinet when clients are around.”

“Why do you need a TV in the office?”

“So I can learn when I’m not working. I like to keep it tuned to a news channel.”

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