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As I pulled out a chair and sat, I said, “You look familiar.”
“I work for the DA’s office.” She smiled, but it was one of those polite ones that didn’t reach the eyes. “I’m one of the newer prosecutors there, so I was theluckyone to be picked for this assignment.”
I nodded in understanding. “I, too, was the lucky one. My boss knows I’m looking to make partner and told me this would look good on my résumé at the next partnership board meeting. I think we might have sat across from each other in court.”
“So, you’re in private practice?” she asked. “What’s your specialty?”
“My passion is defense work, but right now, I do what is assigned to me. This morning, I finished up an employment case. My firm is big, and we take all kinds of cases from immigration to divorce to defense.”
When I had graduated from law school, I had worked for the public defender’s office because I wanted to help people in trouble, but I’d soon learned why most didn’t stay. Public defenders were underpaid and overworked. I had hoped to fare better in the public sector, but people didn’t want to pay a lot of money for someone without much of a rapport.
“Ah,” she said in understanding.
“It can be a lot.” I looked around the room. “And this doesn’t help.”
Rayne pretended to pick up a glass and raised her hand to me. “Here’s to suffering through this together.”
I chuckled and faked hitting a glass against hers. “Here’s to suffering together,” I agreed. And due to her choice of words, I opened my mouth and asked, “So, do you hate kids too?”
Rayne’s eyes snapped wide. “You hate kids?”
I winced inwardly. This was why I was never good at making friends. I said too many things that were on my mind without thinking first. And unfortunately, this time, it was to someone I’d thought would make the experience a little more tolerable.
I cleared my throat. “Well, I don’t hate them. Not really. I just don’t get along with them. And I’ve never wanted my own. Truthfully, I don’t know how to act around them.”
Rayne’s expression went from less horrified to understanding. “Do you have any siblings?”
I smiled. “Ironically, a younger sister, but only by five years, but I never had to take care of her or babysit. You?”
“I have an older brother, but I used to babysit for all the kids in the neighborhood when I was younger. Don’t worry. I’ll help you out with the kid stuff.”
“Thank you.”
Voices could be heard in the hall, and while Rayne and I turned toward the closed door, we couldn’t make out what was being said.
“I heard there were going to be three of us,” she said. “And if you work for a law firm and I work for the DA’s office, who do you think the third person is going to be?”
“Gosh. I don’t know. I wasn’t told a lot before I came down here.”
“Me neither.”
“But if I had to guess, maybe a judge?”
Rayne snapped her fingers. “Ooh, a judge. Who else to motivate young women into the field of law than a judge?”
“You really think so? Would a judge have time?”
Rayne shrugged. “Do we?”
I laughed. “Good point.”
“Besides, corporate law would make everyone fall asleep.”
“But an entertainment lawyer would be pretty cool. Especially if they brought a client in with them.”
“Unfortunately, we live in Minnesota instead of LA, so well-known clients are few and far between.”
“Good point. It’s probably a judge.”
