Page 6 of Protected By Him

“Hey Leo, how’s it going, man?” Rob asked, clasping my right hand with his and clapping me on the shoulder with his left.

“Rob! It’s good to see you. I’m great. How are you? How’s Kelly?” I asked after him and his wife.

He beamed with a proud smile before answering, “Good, good. Kelly’s pregnant again; baby number two is due in June.”

We turned together to move out of the way of the entrance and further into the courthouse lobby.

“That’s amazing, congratulations!” I said. “So, what brings you out here?” Rob was an FBI agent who specialized in white collar crime. It wasn’t out of the question that he’d be in the courthouse, but I had never seen him there before.

“Gotta testify in a money laundering case this morning. I can’t tell you how relieved I’ll be once this whole ordeal is over. I’ve been working this case for the last two years. It’s taken ages to nail this asshole, but I think we’ve finally got him,” he said, losing all traces of joy that had been in his expression moments before.

“Wow. I don’t envy you that. I’ll stick to the civil side of the law, thanks.” I shook my head. Rob and I had both studied criminal justice in college. At the time, I’d had dreams of being a prosecutor. However, once I’d moved on to law school, those dreams had changed quickly. With a little girl to take care of, I’d needed something more lucrative and less dangerous. As boring as my job could be at times, I didn’t regret my decision.

Rob laughed, a little of his lost humor returning. “I can’t say I blame you. Never a boring day, that’s for sure. We need to get together soon; I’ve got some good stories to share. Ella good?”

“Ella’s great. She keeps me on my toes, that’s for sure. You let me know when you all are free, I’ll have you over for dinner sometime soon. Ella would love a chance to play with Amie again,” I said, referencing Rob’s daughter, who was year younger than Ella. The last time we’d gotten them together, Ella had loved pretending to be Amie’s big sister.

“Great idea. I’ll talk to Kelly and get back to you. It was good to see you, Leo. It’s been too long,” he replied.

“It has,” I agreed with a nod. “This damn lawsuit has had us tangled up for months. Should be wrapping it up soon, though. I’m thinking about taking some time off to decompress once it’s all over.”

“Good for you, sounds like you’ve earned it. Anyway, I better run. The DA will have my ass if I’m late, she’s a real ballbuster,” he said with a chuckle.

I had to laugh too. I was well aware that the only female DA in the city was well-known for her no-nonsense attitude. And I was certain that she’d be even less forgiving of Rob’s tardiness since she was also his wife. “Good luck, man. Tell Kelly I said hello.” We shook hands again before parting ways.

As he headed for the elevators at the far end of the lobby, Rob called, “Good luck to you too. We’ll talk soon!”

I waved him off as I went in the opposite direction. I’d be in Court Room One today, which was a small room on the ground floor.

***

Three hours later, I was back on the sidewalk, this time hailing a cab back to my office where I’d spend a few more hours wrapping up loose ends before picking up my daughter from school and delivering her to her grandma for a night of fun.

Leaving the office that day felt a little like what I imagined a prison break would. A weight lifted off my shoulders, and I had a week off to look forward to, having leveraged that morning’s success in court to convince my boss to approve some much-needed time off. I hopped in my car, which I’d left in the office parking garage that morning, preferring to use the subway or a cab to get around once in the city. But living in the suburbs made a car necessary for the commute home.

The drive to Ella’s school was slow due to rush hour traffic. Normally, I’d leave the office early enough to avoid it, but I hadn’t wanted to leave anything hanging before leaving the office for the next several days. Not for the first time, I was grateful for the extended day program at Ella’s preschool. I hated leaving her there all day, but Ella loved her teachers and her friends and was rarely upset when I dropped her off and picked her up.

A little less than an hour later, I had Ella secured in her car seat and was pulling back onto the road, headed to my parent’s house.

“How was your day, sweetie?” I asked, glancing at her in the rearview mirror.

“Good,” she said, kicking her feet and fiddling with the dinosaur figurine she’d left in her car seat’s cup holder that morning.

“Did you learn anything new?”

“No. Benji said dinosaurs are pretend. But Miss Taylor said they’re extinct,” Ella answered with a look of intense concentration. I tried not to laugh at her pronunciation of ‘extinct,’ which sounded likeact-stink.

“What is extinct, Daddy?” she asked.

“Extinct,” I answered, overemphasizing each syllable for her, “is when something, like dinosaurs, that used to be alive, isn’t anymore.”

Her expression cleared, and she smiled like she’d suddenly thought of something brilliant. “Like Mr. Bubbles is extinct?” she asked.

I winced at the memory of Ella’s short-lived goldfish. The poor thing had met an early demise when Ella had scooped it out of its tank one day to play dinosaurs with her, and I hadn’t noticed in time to save it.

“Well, sort of,” I said. “Extinct is usually used to refer to large groups of animals.”

“Oh,” Ella said, shoulders drooping before popping back up. “Are we going to Grandma’s now?”

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