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What?
I slap his leg repeatedly, but he just ducks and jukes to avoid me before shooing me out of my chair so he can sit down.
I’m boiling alive with the misinformation when he tucks the phone between his cheek and his shoulder, grabs both of my hands, and clamps them between his. “I know,” he says, his voice going up an octave at the end to get my attention. “I knew you’d relate to the experience.”
My eyebrows shoot up as I freeze, and he bites his lip to keep from laughing.
Still, though, he holds on to my hands.
“Well, sure. A bloody mary and red ginseng. I’ll tell her.” I blink at the information as he finally lets my hands go and gets up from my chair. His mother has apparently gone from hating me to giving me her preferred hangover cure in the matter of a minute. “Listen, Victoria—”
Now she’s Victoria?
“I’m pretty swamped today, so I’ll have to get back to you.” I clamp my hands together and settle in to eavesdrop on the rest of their conversation. “Yes, I’ll be at Dad’s birthday party.”
He rolls his eyes, and I smirk a little.
“I know. His sixty-fifth. Very important. I got the formal invitation in the mail… Yes, I’ll make sure Lena got the invitation too.” He rolls his eyes at me before pointing at the computer, and I widen my eyes. I have literally no idea what he wants me to do.
Still, in the name of being prepared, I jump into action, pull up a doc on the screen, and get ready to type.
He shakes his head before scooting me out of the way and pulling up my email. He clicks a few times to start a draft, and when I look at the space in the recipient window, he’s added the address [email protected].
“Okay, talk later. Bye now.”
I watch avidly as he hangs up the phone and starts typing an email to Lena. Whoever she is.
I try not to think about it too much, but I have to admit, the idea that he has some sort of regular woman in his life bothers me a little.
Which is totally Gwen Stefani-level b-a-n-a-n-a-s.
I don’t want to touch a relationship with Caplin Hawkins with a ten-foot pole. Wouldn’t. He has heartbreak written on his forehead, his chin, his veiny forearms, and both sides of his chiseled chest.
“Send that out, please,” he says as he shoves away from the computer, stands up from my seat, and steps back to his door. “And don’t worry about my mom. Obviously. She’s…different.”
My eyebrows go up, and he laughs. “Okay. She’s stuck-up. And petty. And oppressively superior. If you really want to piss her off, call her Vicky.” He rolls his eyes. “It’s tacky, apparently.”
“Okay. Don’t worry about Vicky. Send email to Lena. Got it.”
I hold his eyes and he holds mine, and after a short moment, I have to look away. His inspection is too intense, and my feelings are too out of whack.
“Lena is my little sister, and Jovial Grinds is her coffee shop—aka a high school graduation present from my father,” he explains without prompting. I’m not sure what brought it about, but it’s a little freaky that he seems to have a direct line to my thoughts. “She’s a little more willing than I to take trust-fund money. And her relationship with Victoria is rocky at best. She won’t even know about the invitation unless I tell her about it because she’ll throw it out as soon as she sees my mom’s name on the return address.”
“Wow. That’s…intense.”
“Yeah. Having Vicky as your female guidepost is intense,” he says with a laugh. “Trust me, it’s no wonder they don’t get along.”
I nod. “I guess. But, Cap, I said some really messed-up shit—”
He shakes his head before I can finish. “Trust me, you don’t have to worry about it. She’ll forget.”
I nod again, even though I’m not really sure I believe him entirely.
“Listen…I’m gonna do something about the women, too. I didn’t realize it had gotten this bad because Liz didn’t say anything. I knew they called occasionally, but nothing like this.”
Oh, thank fuck for that. I breathe a sigh of relief.
“That’s good to hear. I mean, I know it’s fun and games, and I can appreciate a joke with the best of them, but Cap…this really is my internship now. I’m missing actual lectures to be here, and at the end of it all, I have to learn how to be a lawyer. More than that, with your background and expertise, I’m actually hoping I can get a leg up on being a good one.”
“I promise,” he says. “I’ll make good on my word. I’ll teach you what you need to know and then some. Just…be patient with the rest, okay?”
“Okay,” I agree without hesitation.
It’s like there’s something in the water at Caplin Hawkins Law that makes me completely incapable of staying mad at Cap and completely willing to trust him blindly.
