Carina picked her up and rocked her, but as soon as the next roman candle exploded in bright blue and purple above them, she cried out again. William took Chloe inside and Carina stayed outside with the rest of them.
“There’s no way a woman can upstage a little girl’s father. He can always calm her down better than me. I wasn’t born with that superpower,” Carina said.
“Don’t complain. It’s good William is doing his part. And it’s sweet that she’s a daddy’s girl.”
“I know. I love him for it, I really do.”
The fireworks soared higher, brighter, and louder with each launch.
Whitney liked the ones with the twinkling bits that rained down like a sparkly waterfall the best.
She wondered if Matthew was watching from his deck. Or maybe he’d have to watch from his art studio depending on where they sent them up over the river. She’d always been a little geographically challenged.
Her phone vibrated and her breath caught when she saw his name… again.
Matthew had texted a picture of the fireworks with a brief message.
MATTHEW: Hope you’re watching too.
WHITNEY: They’re beautiful.
She snapped a selfie with the fireworks behind her.
MATTHEW: Less beautiful than you. Good night. Drive home safely.
WHITNEY: Will do.
She pushed the phone back into her pocket, giddy from the sweet note.
It’s a good thing I have a busy week. It’s going to feel like forever until Saturday.
Chapter
Twenty
The next morning, Whitney woke up in such a great mood. Practically radiating joy, she hummed all the way through her hair and makeup routine, and took the time to make a fresh fruit smoothie for herself before heading to the office.
Full of energy, she walked to work and did so in record time. She checked her calendar. It was always extra-full on short holiday weeks, but she still had a little bit of time before her first meeting. She faced the stack of papers on her desk, but today, even that didn’t bother her. She met the task with enthusiasm, humming a little tune as she completed each one.
The first three meetings of the day went quickly, but her noon client was in a huff. A high-profile businessman with political ambitions, they’d been working through his sticky divorce for several months. He’d been trying to keep things quiet, pressing forward with financially motivated gag orders on his soon-to-be ex-wife, which Whitney was not really a fan of, but he was the type of client that impressed her father.
It was an abrupt call. He announced that he was withdrawing his divorce from her and moving to another attorney. His wife had seen the video, and not only did she accuse him of usingher to find his next wife, but he didn’t want to get caught in the backlash of something so unprofessional.
She hung up the phone worried that this mess might cause some long-term reputational damage.
Although they weren’t trending on social media any longer, they were still seeing a huge uptick in people coming into the office. And as much as she’d like to believe it was just their business growing, she was pretty sure it was all connected to that darn video.
Later that afternoon, she and Carina pulled the team together. “We know Olivia has explained what we’re facing with this viral video,” Carina said.
“We wanted to gather everyone and thank you for pulling together a solid mitigation plan,” Whitney said. “You worked quickly, and your teamwork has not gone unnoticed.”
“We’re getting positive feedback from several of the new clients. They liked the new form,” one of the part-timers said. “I spoke to three on the phone this morning myself who said the same thing, that it gave them time to think about it and know what to expect.”
“Excellent,” Whitney said.
Olivia chimed in. “The schedule is full. As people are canceling appointments, we’re tucking the people who have completed their questionnaires into the open spots. You may not feel the relief for a while.”
“Thanks for the warning,” Whitney said. The new work booklets for potential clients were helping actual divorce cases, while moving those motivated only by the video out of the queue.
