AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I roll my eyes. “Very funny.”
“Thank you. I thought so, too.”
“You’re dry, you know,” I tell him and point my fork in his direction. “Funny, but dry. It’s a sneaky kind of humor.”
“Thank you,” he says seriously. “That’s the nicest compliment I’ve ever received.”
I chuckle. “Right. Tell me, does your sarcasm ever get you in trouble?”
“Never,” he says.
“See, now I can’t tell if you actually mean that or not.”
He raises an eyebrow. “Doesn’t that answer your question?”
“Yes, it does. It gets you in trouble a lot then. I can see that.” I narrow my eyes at him. “Doesn’t work well in court though, does it? The judge must get so annoyed at you.”
He rolls his eyes and digs into his swordfish. “I don’t go to court very often. Great attorneys rarely do.”
“How come? Isn’t that where you make your bombastic speeches and appeal to the juries, and… and… have little sidebars with the judges?”
“You watch too much TV,” he says. “No, it’s mostly meetings.”
“You settle before going to trial?”
“I mostly work with contracts, in mergers and acquisitions. Not lawsuits.”
I take a long sip of my rum punch. It’s strong, and we have two each, courtesy of a happy hour. “You must be a good attorney,” I say. “Even though you’re a nice person.”
Phillip spears his grilled fish. “I’m not that nice.”
“You are,” I say. “You agreed to this, didn’t you? Although,” I add, tapping a finger on my chin, “I suppose you wouldn’t be able to afford a bungalow for two weeks without a bit of blood money.”
He reaches for his drink. “Now you’re getting it.”
“Do you like it? Attorneying?”
“Likeit,” he repeats and gives a half laugh. “That doesn’t seem relevant.”
I chew my piece of fish and macaroni. “It doesn’t seemrelevant?Are you serious?”
“Yeah. What does it matter? Everyone needs a job, and I’m good at mine.”
“Well, considering how much time we all spend at our jobs, I think, liking what we do is pretty important. I love my job, even if it’s challenging at times. There are definitely days when I want to take a week off work just to sleep. But overall, I like it. Do you feel that way, too?”
He stretches out a leg next to the table and braces his hand against it. His free hand holds the fork in a tight grip. “I’m good at finding solutions to problems that don’t appear to have any. It’s what my clients need, and they pay good money for it, too.”
I smile at him. “Not what I asked.”
“Sure,” he says and rolls his eyes. “Ilikethat part of it.”
“A ringing endorsement from Phillip Meyer!” I say. “It’s his absolute dream job!”
He shakes his head. “You’re impossible. It’s an okay job. It’s a lot of work, but I like to work hard. There’s not much more to it than that. Besides, it’s a job with very clear winners and losers.”
“And that’s… something you like?”
“Yes,” he says. “I’m competitive. Winning suits me just fine.”
