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“Already did. He’s got a class starting in less than an hour,” he slung over his shoulder.
I checked my watch. I had a meeting in thirty minutes. “Can you—”
“Done. Your schedule’s clear for the rest of the day.” He grinned arrogantly, the door swishing closed in his wake.
Class was in full swing by the time I’d snuck in through the rear door of the lecture hall and slunk into a corner seat out of view. Below, Jasper stood behind his lectern, gavel in hand. On the far right side, twelve students sat clustered in three rows, playing the role of jury, I assumed.
A couple steps down in the pit, two independent desks had been brought in, situated a few feet apart where the prosecution and defense teams held position. Court was in session.
Their voices echoed well enough in the amphitheater as the jury whispered restlessly, waiting for the district attorney to gather her notes.
“Order in the court,” Jasper bellowed to the pool of twelve, banging his gavel with a childish glee. “Take your time, Mrs. Baker,” he said, to which a woman—whom I gathered to be Mrs. Baker—wobbled out of her chair, batting away the assistant DA’s help, and demanding no special treatment from either of them as she rubbed her rounded belly.
They were all dressed for the part, showing how serious they took the exercise. The presence of lightness and humor was evident, too. They were learning while having fun.
As both sides made their closing arguments, Jasper would cut in to correct course and offer advice on working the courtroom. “Unfortunately, thisispartly a popularity contest. You need to win the jury’s regard as much as you need to present them with the facts. Eye contact, pauses for dramatic effect. Win them over, make them think. You can’t do that if you’re speaking with your head in your notes,” he said encouragingly. He was beautiful, brilliant. They all were, but he was their fierce leader, and he led well.
I hadn’t gone unnoticed after all. Once we reached the top of the hour, and everyone began filing out of the makeshift courtroom, Jasper’s eyes immediately traveled to me. I desperately hoped he’d felt me there, which would mean the indescribable, intangible link once connecting us hadn’t been broken along with everything else.
With my coat draped over my forearm, I made my way down the broad steps just as the last student bid him farewell and exited through the door. “That was impressive,” I said.
“What are you doing here?” he asked in place of a thank you. I’d settle for the color tinting his sharp cheekbones as acknowledgement of my praise any day. It spoke volumes about what my approval meant to him. It would do.
“I had time, so I thought I’d pop in to see you in action.”
“You run a multimillion dollar company. Time is the one thing you don’t have.”
“We make time for what’s important to us,” I said, a thrill jolting up my spine when his gaze wandered to my mouth. “You’re good at this,” I whispered. “Teaching.”
He smiled in spite of himself. I knew him, enough to know a battle waged between his mind’s instinct to be suspicious of me, and his heart’s desire to be nice to me, for its need to let me in. He was scared, and he had every right to be.
“What does the rest of your day look like?”
“Why?” he asked, his paper-filled hand stopping halfway into his leather bag.
“Thought maybe I’d tag along.” I shrugged nonchalantly. His brows met in a doubtful expression and held as he seemed to struggle internally.
“You want to tag along with me?”
“Is that so hard to believe?”
“Yeah. It is. What if I said I had grocery shopping to do?”
“I’d ask if I could ride in the front seat of the shopping cart,” I joked. “Come on, you know you want to laugh.”
“What I want is to not be constantly suspicious of you, Cole.”
“Then don’t be. Take it a day at a time. Do what feels right.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” he mumbled under his breath. He sighed in resignation, shoving his things into his bag and closing the flap. “I’m free, actually. Thought maybe I could have dinner with Daniel, but he has this new client, or boss,” he corrected, unsure, “who doesn’t believe in acclimation periods.”
“Sounds like this new client-boss is an important one. You probably should be more supportive of Daniel’s hard work and dedication,” I said with mock severity.
“Funny, he said the same thing.” Jasper slung his satchel across his chest, then said in a more serious tone, “He wants to make partner at Parker & Mitchell. He thinks this is the way to do it. I hope you’re not toying with him, Cole.”
“I’m not,” I said, matching his tone. “He’s a great attorney.”A shitty husband, though.“I wanted back in your life, but I would’ve found another way before hiring a mediocre firm to represent us, Jasper. I’m glad it didn’t have to come to that.”
That seemed to appease him. “Alright. I guess I’m all yours then for the night. Where to?”
