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Tillie
“You’re telling methere’s nothing we can do right now?” I ask Teddy.
My lawyer sits straight in his burgundy leather chair, hands clasped on his desk. He’s wearing a navy-blue suit, white shirt, and a bow tie. His hair is neatly combed and shellacked with enough gel, I could rap my knuckles on it. I think he tries hard to look professional, but mostly I see the boy who used to be a jerk growing up and is now trying to be a man.
“There’s nothing you can do right now,” he affirms.
“Maybe if I talked to Mr. Highsmith,” I muse. Feels strange to call him by such a formal name since he’s seen me naked. “Offer him money or something.”
“No,” Teddy exclaims, holding out his hands. “Never talk to the adversary with whom you’re involved in litigation.”
I consider that. We didn’t do much talking the other night. Truly, he hardly had anything to say other than to tell me he wasn’t a nice man, but I’d figured that out on my own.
“So, I shouldn’t try to reason with him?”
“If you say the wrong thing, it could come back to bite you in the butt. I strongly recommend you steer clear of your neighbor until the hearing.”
That actually won’t be a problem, seeing as how outside of our little boundary dispute, we’ve got nothing to talk about. “What do I do, then?”
“Technically, you are prohibited from removing any trees on the easement until a hearing is scheduled. There’s nothingtodo.”
Sighing, I pinch my nose, trying to stave off the headache threatening to blossom. “And when might that be?”
“There’s only one session of civil court each month. The next one isn’t until August 10.”
“That’s a month away,” I exclaim.
“Correct. The current session started yesterday, but there’s no way you could’ve gotten on the calendar. Those are set weeks in advance. There’s no guarantee we can get this scheduled for August 10.”
“Teddy,” I say, leaning forward in my chair and gripping the edge of his desk. “I’ve got a general contractor ready to start. He won’t wait that long. He’ll move on to another job. I’ve purchased building materials and paid deposits. This will put me under before I can even get started.”
“I’m sorry, Tillie. My hands are tied.”
He doesn’t look sorry at all. He looks like someone who took my money for a quick loan closing and another chunk of change for the rezoning and now doesn’t seem all that interested in helping me.
My eyes narrow. “Isn’t this something you should’ve foreseen when you helped rezone the property?”
He blanches, and I swear a sheen of sweat pops out along his upper lip. “I did… I mean, it wasn’t really a consideration because it wasn’t a surety you’d get the rezoning.”
That makes no sense at all.
“Stop,” I order him. “You know I only wanted that property if I could put an art studio on it, and only if I could put in a new driveway. We specifically discussed this easement. If this was an issue, you should have told me ahead of time.”
His voice deepens, trying to lend authority to his words. “Now, Tillie, you know there are no guarantees when it comes to the law. We look at the facts and we assess risks. In this instance—”
“No,” I growl, shooting up from my chair and slapping my palms on his desk with a resounding crack. He jerks backward in his chair, eyes round with surprise. “You are spouting bullshit right now and trying to talk your way around me. I’m not stupid, Theodore Dupree, and I’m in a bad situation because you didn’t see a potential issue when you told me I could buy this property and rezone. Now I stand to lose not just a lot of money, but my fucking dream. So you’re going to get me on that August 10 calendar, and you’re going to get this injunction removed. You’re going to get the judge to rule in my favor, and I don’t care if you have to prostrate yourself before him and beg, but you’re going to do it. And so help me God, if you don’t, I’m going to sue you for malpractice. Are we clear?”
Teddy swallows hard and nods silently.
“Good.” I lower my tone, grab my purse, and sling it over my shoulder. “Now I have to go meet with the GC and do my own begging to get him to work with me on the new time frame.”
Teddy’s face has paled and his bottom lip trembles slightly. I realize I’ve just scared the shit out of my lawyer. I doubt any attorney, especially one only four years out and trying to make a go of it on his own, wants to hear the wordmalpractice.
“Please fix this for me, Teddy. This is my life about to crumble.”
He nods effusively. “I will get started on the legal research right away. I’ll find a way to make this work for you, Tillie. I promise.”
After I leave Teddy’s office, I stop by the post office, but there’s nothing but junk mail for me. One piece is an advertisement for a window-coverings company, just the sort ofad I might take a second look at because I’ll need blinds for the new studio to block out harsh light when painting.
