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“They’ll require plenty of time to try to talk me out of this first.”
“Is it possible to talk you out of this, Kate?”
She reached for her glass again. “Perhaps Jude could. But he didn’t.”
“Because he understands how important this is to you?”
“Maybe. Or maybe he’s still processing. Still working through the stages himself. He could make a valiant attempt at some point, before I leave. But I don’t know… I was pretty precise about my ideations, about my decision-making. Jude knows I can soundly stick to a conviction when I’ve made up my mind.”
“But…you love the man, Kate.”
She took a long drink from her crystal flute. “I do. In this particular scenario, however, love doesn’t conquer all. Sometimes, it doesn’t win out.”
Her stomach sank over that sentiment. It was a horrific one to confess to. An admittedly depressing one to face. Difficult to reconcile.
Even Nikki murmured, “No, sometimes love doesn’t win out. And that royally sucks.” She drank her champagne, too. Then gazed at Kate and added, “But sometimes it can be a dark horse. It might appear to have lagged behind, be out of the running…whatever. Then surge forward unexpectedly—triumphantly.”
More tears sprang to Kate’s eyes. “I don’t know what I adore about you more, Nik. The fact you pull metaphors from your ass at the most appropriate moment because you know they’ll resonate with me, or that you always persevere. Or that you’re still wildly optimistic about love, despite the emotional wringer you’ve been through.”
“I never blamed my personal hell on love, Kate. You know that. I credit love for my recovery from the dark place. And you.”
Kate sniffled once more. “You’re so strong, Nik.”
“So are you, Kate. Remarkable, really. And I’m clearly not the only person to see this.”
“Jude,” she muttered his name, without thought. As she’d done that day at The Champagne Bar with Charlotte and Mirabeth.
She found solace in Nikki’s pearls of wisdom—even in Nikki’s ability to still acknowledge the significance of love in the wake of a tragedy Kate couldn’t fathom, despite having intimately gone through it with Nikki. And with Jude when he’d sought her out after MMA fighting hadn’t rid him of his angst and demons.
Yet a natural sense of finality laced that solace as it pertained to Jude.
This was where their paths split. And her divergence was no minor, inconsequential one. It substantially changed everything about her situation with Jude.
Kate polished off another glass, and told her friend, “I know we’re independent, competent women who should be able to have it all. The universe, however, still holds the ultimate potential to rip the rug from beneath us. For you and me? I’d say romance is that one elusive element that slips through our fingers.”
They stared at each other over the rims of their glasses.
Then Nikki said, “Don’t disappoint me for the first time in your life, Kate Stockman.”
Her brow crooked. “How so?”
“By giving up so easily. Not your style, my friend.”
Nikki ordered another bottle of champagne. Knowing Kate needed more time to process her own crossroads.
Jude dove into his research on establishing a foundation, setting up a Board of Directors, instituting a charter…and all the other details involved. Regardless of having yet to determine how he was going to approach Nathanial Stevens with the concept—or ascertaining what sort of specialty this foundation would be centered on, where Dawn Stevens’ interests had lain, what worthy cause she would want to support if given a blank check.
Literally a blank check.
Jude had already been promised startup funding from several sources. His client, of course. His co-counsel’s client as well, Dawn’s former employer. But there’d been other large corporations interested in his plight; corporations that had followed the trial, because the outcome could set a precedence that held the potential to negatively impact them going forward.
No-fault car accidents were one thing in this state. When blame couldn’t be placed on a Fortune 500 company for an industrial accident…that was a tricky matter; one to watch closely to see how it unfolded. Similarly, a passenger suing an airline for a damaged part that led to an engine explodi
ng mid-air, killing a person and endangering a hundred lives, was another current focus for corporate legal teams worldwide. So Jude’s recent case had become high-profile as it related to thresholds of where blame resided…or didn’t…and how it affected class action lawsuits, as well as personal ones.
His victory had brought him great recognition. So much so, job offers were pouring in to join organizations seeking a Chief General Counsel of his caliber, along with invitations to every manner of society event in Manhattan.
The press even hounded him, still hoping for a nugget regarding the Stevens’ case. He didn’t utter a word.
