Page 12 of Knocked Up by Mr. Grump Lawyer

“I do hope not,” she said. “Anyway, I’m looking forward to that case. It’ll be big and ugly, perhaps. But I’m all for it.”

“Yeah…” was all I replied. I wanted to invite her to dinner casually, but I didn’t know how to go about it. It’s been years since I had asked anyone out. I mean, I did date some women over the years, but they were always the ones who threw themselves at me or invited me.

An awkward moment of silence followed inside the elevator.

Then suddenly, it stopped moving. My attention shifted to the control buttons. I pressed the one for the ground floor again, but nothing happened. The elevator had stalled.

Kayla pressed the other buttons. The elevator wasn’t responding.

“Oh, my gosh!” she exclaimed. “What are we going to do?”

I pressed the emergency button. We waited, but nothing happened.

“Isn’t it supposed to connect us to the security office of the building?” Kayla asked. I could tell that she was trying to remain calm.

“I think this is an outdated system,” I said. “Maybe it just alerts them or something. It doesn’t seem to have the ability to make a phone call.”

We checked our phones. There were no signals. It had been drizzling outside when we’d gotten into the elevator. Perhaps there was an ongoing storm, and the signals had been disrupted.

Just our luck.

“So we have no choice but to wait?” Kayla said, her voice edgy now. She started pacing back and forth. “I-I’m not so good with enclosed spaces, especially very small ones.”

She was starting to look terrified and on the verge of panic. “Hey, don’t worry,” I told her. “This happened once to Jim and he said it took about twenty or thirty minutes, but the security eventually got him out.”

“Well, okay, that’s reassuring,” she said, forcing herself to smile. She couldn't settle down, pacing back and forth, making me a little dizzy.

“Hey, just relax,” I said, stepping forward and stopping her by placing my hands on both her shoulders. “Breathe, Kayla. Everything will be okay. At least there’s light, and we have each other here, right?”

She took a deep breath and gave me an exasperated look. “That doesn’t really make me feel better,” she said in a slightly bitter tone.

I laughed. “Okay, fine. I get it. You don’t like me so much.”

Suddenly, she was grinning. “Glad we’re on the same page.”

“Just stop pacing,” I said. “Breathe normally, or you’ll consume all of our oxygen before we get out of here.”

She nodded and tried to relax.

It was getting hot. I removed my coat, unbuttoned the top three of my shirt, and folded the sleeves. Then I placed the coat on the floor and sat down on it.

At first, she gave me a strange look. Then after a while, she followed suit. She took off her blazer and sat on it. She was wearing a satin white tank top underneath. I felt my hormones reacting as my eyes glazed over her silky smooth skin and the healthy cleavage peeking out of her top.

“So, where are you headed?” I asked. Perhaps this would be a good opportunity for us to learn more about one another.

“Just home,” she said. “What about you?”

“Home too,” I answered. “My son Riley is waiting for me.”

“I figured you had a son. How old is he?”

“Ten,” I said, thinking of Riley and suddenly missing him. I really needed to make it up to him.

She seemed surprised. “You had him at a very young age then!”

I nodded. “I was young and reckless. It made things harder for me, but we got through it. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Riley is… he’s my world, I guess. He’s all I have.”

She smiled at first but then narrowed her eyes questioningly. “What about your wife?”

---