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Amaru
Early December
December was always draining. In preparation for the new year, we worked even harder to secure new clients. More was expected of me because Eric was gone. I didn’t see him as a loss, but the partners did, and they wanted me to bring on one to five new clients to replace him.
This seemed like the perfect opportunity for me to shift gears and start doing what I was truly passionate about—contract and entertainment law. With contracts, there was usually less trial time unless someone tried to renege on terms. I was also able to connect with managers, agents, and publicists to work with them on behalf of their clients, which meant I would have to do less work finding clients on my own.
Tonight, I had a networking event that ended with me setting up a meeting with a Memphis Grizzlies player who was fresh on the roster and seeking permanent representation. We were going to meet first thing Monday morning, and if I made a good enough impression, there was no doubt in my mind that he would be able to connect me to the rest of the players who needed new or extra representation. Having them on retainer would be a damn good start to me niching down to contract and entertainment law.
I knew Violet wouldn’t care about me giving up criminal law because she’d been in negotiations with two badass criminal lawyers who had their own firm. They had a 99 percent success rate collectively. The sisters had been practicing law together for years now, and the oldest one hadn’t lost a case in eight years. I’d been doing research on the youngest sister, and the only reason she’d lost a case recently was because her investigator ended up working with the prosecution and setting her up for failure. If we could get those two in at the firm, they would be the trial lawyers we needed to take over the courtroom by storm.
As tired as I was by the time I made it home, I was hoping AJ was still up so we could at least watch a movie together or something. I wanted to tie up all my loose ends before he was out for Christmas break.
I made my way to my bedroom and took a quick shower before texting Amelia to see if she was still up. When I stopped by AJ’s room, he was half-asleep but groggily told me he’d been waiting for me.
“Everything okay?” I asked, sitting on the edge of his bed as he sat up.
He had the lights off and the TV going, which was a bad habit he’d inherited from me. I couldn’t sleep without the TV being on unless Milli was in bed with me.
“You don’t have anything to do this weekend right?”
“Right.”
“Can you take me to GiGi’s house on Saturday instead of Friday?”
“Sure, but what’s up?”
“I want us to do something nice for Milli.”
His statement, though it warmed my heart, caught me off guard. “Oh. Okay. What did you have in mind?”
“Well…” He reached and grabbed his phone off the nightstand. “When we did karaoke at that restaurant, she saw the flyer about the monologue series or whatever it’s called and said she wanted to go but didn’t have time.” I smiled as he handed me his phone. “Lis and I looked it up, and it’s in town while we’re on Christmas break. Lis thinks she said she won’t have time to go because she wants to spend the break with her. But Alisia wants Milli to go because she feels like all she’s been doing lately is being at home and spending time with all of us since she hasn’t been working. So I used some of my savings to register Milli for the series. I want to give it to her and ask her to be my God-mama.”
My head shook in awe as I stared at what he’d gotten. It was the perfect most thoughtful gift for Milli. Honestly, I was surprised I hadn’t thought about getting it for her. Usually, I was in tune enough to make note of things she mentioned wanting or needing to take care of her, but that night, I was too happy about us spending time together as a family to really focus on anything else.
She was going to love the gift. It wasn’t just a monologue show, it also included classes to help women learn to express their emotions and thoughts through monologue.
“Milli is going to cry when you give her this,” I told him as I handed him back his phone. “You said you want to ask her to be your God-mom?” I confirmed, and he nodded.
“Yeah, Lis and I were talking about it and, she doesn’t have a dad and I don’t have a mom, and you two have always been what we didn’t have. So I want to thank Amelia for being like a mom to me and let her know I appreciate all that she’s done.”
“Well technically you do have a mom, but I get what you’re saying. Milli has been there for you more than your mom. If this is what you want to do, I support you 100 percent.”
“You think she’s going to say yes?”
“Of course. She says all the time you’re like a son to her. This will just make it official.”
He grinned as he laid back down. “Good. So don’t make any plans on Friday. I need you to help me make her dinner or something nice so she can know I think she’s special.”
Chuckling, I stood and headed for the door. “I’ll give you instructions, but you’re gonna do this yourself so you can take all the credit for this. I’m really proud of you, son, and I’m glad Milli has such a special place in your life and heart. I love you.”
“Thanks, Dad. I love you too.”
As I closed the door, I inhaled a deep breath to dry my eyes. Those damn kids. It filled my heart with pride to know that, regardless of what was going on with Amelia and me romantically, AJ wanted to make her place in his life clear. I needed to follow his lead and officially ask her to be my woman. Because there was no doubt in my mind that she was going to be my wife.
Twenty-Eight
Amelia
