AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 1
Camilla
Piles of case filesoverflowed the top of my cherry oak desk. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before going bat-shit crazy. Normally, I don’t mind staying busy, but this was on a whole different level. I had ten different cases going to trial next week and needed to work on my opening arguments, which meant many long nights. Who needs sleep? Hell, I think I’ve been getting maybe three to four hours a night for the past couple of weeks, but if I wanted to ever be able to open my own practice or be a partner somewhere, the work had to be put in.Suck it up. You got this.
My cell phone rattled against my wooden desk. I jumped, raising an eyebrow at the number. Who the hell would be calling me from Arkansas? I hadn’t been there since I left for college. Hopefully, everything was okay with my best friend, Abigail.
“Hello?”
“Is this Ms. Cade?” A man asked.
“Yes, who’s asking?”
“This is Attorney West. You might be familiar with my law firm in Fort Smith?”
My eyes bulged out of my head, why would he be calling me? Was Abigail in legal trouble? “Yes, of course. I grew up there, sir.” His practice did a lot of pro bono work.
“I know you did, that’s one of the reasons I’m calling to speak with you. Listen, I know you’re working out in Raleigh and doing a fantastic job, might I add. The Wendell case was handled with care and attention. I’m not sure if you would be interested, but we’re looking for a partnership candidate and would love it if you would consider applying.”
Me?They wanted me to apply to become their partner? Shure and West had a clean reputation and highly recommended. When I was a teenager, my dream was to work for them. A squeal wanted to come out so badly, but needed to remain professional. “I would be honored to be considered. What would you like from me?”
“If you could email your resume to [email protected], then the partners and I will look it over once received. Have a good night, Ms. Cade.”
As soon as he hung up, the squeal couldn’t be concealed any longer. The dream I had worked my ass off for might become a reality. A partner at my age, that’s practically unheard of.
I turned my computer back on to send my resume. Could this be happening? Did I fall asleep going over cases, and this was only a dream? A pinch confirmed it was not.
This was news I needed to share with Abigail. I glanced at my watch to see nine p.m. and hoped she would still be up.
“Girl, what are you doing up so late?” She answered, lots of background noise.
“You ask me, but it seems like you’re having a raging kegger,” I laughed. She’s a grown woman and if she wanted to throw a party on a Wednesday night, so be it.
“Jonathan has some of his friends over. It’s their night off. Blowing off steam and all. I’m sure you didn’t call to check on me, what’s up?”
We were close, but most of the time, I called her when I needed someone to vent too. Obviously, she was quite aware. “Very funny. So you’ll never guess who called me?”
“Someone needing legal assistance would be my best guess. A celebrity?” Her tone changed from bored to intrigued. “Who?”
“Okay, first of all, even if it was a celebrity client, I couldn’t tell you. But no, it isn’t. Mr. West called me.”
“Who? Am I supposed to know who that is?”
“Umm... the only legal practice in Fort Smith. Seriously? You have no clue, do you?” Only silence on the other end told me the answer. “Anyway, they asked me to apply for the partner spot. Girl, could you imagine my name in front of a practice at twenty-eight? I always wanted to make partner before thirty.”
“My girl might become a partner, y’all. Take a shot for her.” She yelled to the men in the background.
All I could hear was a bunch of congratulations. They must be drunk if they are congratulating someone they don’t even know. I shook my head, looking around my desk. “I wish I could be out there with you, but I’ve got more work than time.”
“Listen, if anyone can handle it all, you can. You’re an overachiever. Don’t act like you won’t bust all the work out in two days. I know you, remember?”
She’s right. If there’s one thing I couldn’t stand, it was being late or not making a hard deadline. “I’ve got to get back to it, but I wanted to share the news with you.”
“You know, I’ll be happy for you either way. Talk to later, girl. Love ya.”
***
UNTIL WORD WAS RECEIVEDback from Attorney West, I’m not sure I’ll be able to get any sleep or concentrate. It’s not like I wouldn’t understand if I got passed up, many graduates from law school have done more cases than me, and have more experience, but what they didn’t have was the drive and work ethic I do. Many people chose this profession to make a lot of money, but I became a lawyer to help families. I specialize in Family Law. I’ve represented plenty of people in Divorce Court and Child Custody battles, and each one I handled with the appropriate attention and care that was needed.
