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“Nah.” I gave him a forced smile. “I gotta go, y’all. Thanks for coming out and helping me celebrate.”
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Amelia asked.
I didn’t want to go into detail, but I also didn’t want them to worry. “Yeah, that’s… Carina, right?” Parker nodded. “She was Shalom’s best friend when we were in school.”
Nothing else needed to be said. Their expressions grew solemn, giving me even more of a reason to leave. I didn’t want to ruin their night just because the sight of her had ruined mine. It had never been my intention to share that part of my past with them, but every time summer rolled around for the past five years, anger and depression took over me, and they did an intervention for me and called me out on it.
I told them about Shalom. How we fell quick, hard, and fast. So fast we got pregnant our senior year on prom night. I planned to marry her and be there for her every step of the way, even if it meant not becoming a lawyer. My parents convinced me to take some time to myself before making such a major decision, so I spent two weeks of the summer in Florida with family. Though I enjoyed myself, my time away further solidified Shalom was the one for me. Even if I became a lawyer later in life or never at all, I wanted her and our baby.
Imagine my surprise and disappointment when I came home to a letter from her saying her love for me wasn’t real, she just wanted an experience before graduating from high school. She said she was going to have an abortion and go to Atlanta for school, and to never reach out to her again. When I called her, her number had been changed. When I went to her home, she’d already left. I was crushed. Angry. Hurt. Gutted. The girl I loved more than anything had taken not just my heart but my baby too.
Even all these years later, I still wasn’t over that shit.
The years hadn’t made it easier for me to move on. My love for her had been buried deep under hate. I hadn’t spent years healing; I’d spent years fuming over her betrayal. I prayed I never saw her again because I honestly didn’t know how I’d react.
As happy as I was for Parker, I had to leave before I said some shit that further ruined their night. This beef was between me and Shalom, and it was best if we stayed on our own ends of the world so it would never be cooked.
* * *
The next morning, I met with the partners who all congratulated me on bringing the lawsuit in. Even Jeremy offered kind words, which was a surprise. After the congratulations, Violet pulled me into her office to speak with me privately. As she sat behind her glass desk, I closed the door.
“I wanted to run this by you before I made the executive decision to outsource.”
“What’s up?” I asked, heading toward one of the chairs that was on the opposite side of her desk. I couldn’t help but look at her spacious office. It was the size of my master bedroom. She had it decorated simply with only awards and diplomas lining the walls along with shelves of books. There was a small bar area and two chair tables to the left, but other than that, the space was bare.
“I really want you to win this lawsuit without it having to go to trial. Based on what the lead plaintiff has shared, there’s a chance you can have at least fifty people on this suit if just half of the tenants want to join.” I nodded as I sat down. “I have faith in our researchers and paralegals, but I think you need someone of a higher caliber to handle this. Of course, we want to settle this outside of court, but if it does go to trial, you’d better damn well believe the defendant’s attorney will dig up any and everything they can find on your clients to try and prove whatever they experienced while living there was their fault. This can quickly become a character case, and you will need to know these people better than they know themselves in order to be prepared.”
“What do you have in mind?”
Violet sat back in her seat and put her palms together in prayer position. “I want to bring in a freelance researcher. One or two that will be extensively for your use on this case.”
“I’m okay with that. The more help, the better.”
“Good.” Violet gave me a warm smile. “This won’t come out of your fees. I’ll take care of it.”
She was always doing little things that showed me she believed in me, and I appreciated her more than she would ever know for that. Violet was a hard ass, but she was soft and compassionate when she needed to be. The fifty-something single woman didn’t look a day over thirty-eight, and I could honestly say, if we didn’t work together, I would have tried to get her in my bed the day we met. Violet favored the singer Mya to me. I loved her long wavy hair, though she often wore it pulled back into a low bun.
“Thank you, Violet. Not just for that, but for allowing me to take on this case and for believing in me. I know criminal law was my money maker, and you had every right to make me stick with that.”
Violet chuckled as she rocked in her seat. “You’re… right about that, Mecca. Your retainers for criminal law have been increasing at an impeccable rate over the last two years. Just last quarter alone, you bringing in that mafia family…”
“Alleged,” I interrupted to add.
“Alleged,” she corrected with a chuckle. “Added a three-million-dollar retainer for each of them. I hate that you are no longer doing criminal law, but I would never force you to practice something that causes dis-ease within your spirit. I’m confident that you will do just as well with these class action suits and civil law. If you feel as if you need a little more time to get your billable hours where they need to be…”
“I won’t,” I assured her as I stood.
Failing at this wouldn’t be an option. I was finally feeling more peace and able to sleep better now that I was done with criminal law. Defending people I knew in my heart were guilty had been causing it to ache. No amount of money was worth my peace. I understood, though, that at the end of the day, I needed to keep my billable hours up. So if I needed to take on smaller cases in between lawsuits until I became known for them, I would.
As I headed out of her office, I wondered who she had in mind to bring in as my researcher. I didn’t care either way. All I needed was someone competent and able to get the information I needed without me having to hold their hand. And because of the standard of excellence that Violet operated with, there was no doubt in my mind that she would deliver the perfect person for the job.
“Girl, I don’t see how you still have the energy to cook after what you just did for Daddy,” Heaven said.
We were on FaceTime while I waited for Carina to arrive. She said she needed to talk to her friends about the amazing guy she met. Our other two friends couldn’t get away tonight, but they wanted us to FaceTime them when she got here.
“I mean… I still have to eat,” I replied, chopping some spinach to make spinach dip with. I was out of artichokes and didn’t have time to go and get any before Carina arrived. On the menu for our random girls’ night in was spinach dip, lemon pepper hot wings I’d put in the air fryer, and her favorite cheese and onion enchiladas with my homemade beefy enchilada spread on top. I’m sure it sounded like a lot to Heaven, but each meal took about twenty minutes on its own once they were prepped and ready to go.
“Still. I would have ordered in. You prepped him breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Not to mention those no-sugar brownies. When are you going to take a break?”
