Falling For The Lawyer (6 page)

“Okay what else?” he asked as he turned back to the files on his desk.

Alex gave him a potted version of each matter in descending order of priority until he held up his hand.

“All right. That’s enough for me to be going on with tonight. I’ll leave work on your desk for tomorrow. I’m stuck in a meeting all morning from eight so it will be good to know you’re getting on with things.”

He ran his hand back through the dark blonde cowlick of hair that fell forward across his forehead. He then sighed out loud and even though she’d only just met him Alex could read the acute tension about his eyes.

“I’m going to need a lot of support from you over the next few weeks, Alex,” he began in serious appeal. “My partners are going to line me up in endless meetings and I’m worried about those matters of David’s I haven’t been able to get on top of yet. I’m deadly serious when I say I need you to be my eyes, my ears and my warning bell in this practice. The work you’ve done today tells me you can give me the support I need. Can I trust you to do this?”

Alex opened her mouth to reply but no sound came out so she closed it again.

“Why are you looking at me as though I’ve got two heads?” JP asked.

“It’s just that I haven’t had that level of responsibility in this job before and …”

“Why not?”

“David Griffen didn’t …”

“Well I’m not David Griffen,” JP tossed at her impatiently. “Based on what I’ve seen today I’ve decided you should have that level of responsibility and more. Are you up for it or not?”

“Of course but …”

“Good —then there’s no need for buts.” JP walked behind his desk, threw himself into his chair and dragged the top file in the pile towards him—he had hours of work ahead of him that night and as far as he was concerned their conversation was over.

It had been an abrupt ending to a gruelling day, yet Alex floated out of the building that night and she was in no doubt as to why. JP’s belief in her was as pure as oxygen and sucking in great, greedy gulps of it she experienced a sense of soaring optimism as she never had before.

All of a sudden worries that had been eating away at her insides for months felt as though they were ebbing away. Suddenly, everything and anything seemed possible. Simon would understand that her dreams of a career at Griffen Murphy could fit into their plans for marriage and family. And Alex Farrer would have the guts to slowly but surely turn the tide of events that three years ago had begun to overwhelm her life. All she needed to do was believe in herself—as purely and simply as JP McKenzie did that night.

“Alex, hold the door!”

Swinging around in the lift she’d just entered, Alex spotted Sophie weaving through the bustling morning crowd of office workers. She pressed the button to keep the door open and held it there until Sophie could burst inside breathlessly.

“Thanks Al, I’m late for a meeting so you’re a life saver.” She was panting breathlessly but was still able to take in Alex’s outfit. “You’ve done it again!” she announced with a bright smile as the lift began to sweep the two girls up to the twenty-fourth floor.

“What do you mean?”

“Your outfit!”

“Oh, you mean this?” Alex looked down at the powder-blue suit she was wearing and ran her hand over the skirt self-consciously.

“Yes I mean that,” Sophie mocked. “What else would I mean? Why are you suddenly strutting around like something out of Vogue?”

“I’ve had this hanging in the cupboard for months,” Alex explained as they wandered out of the lift and into the firm’s smartly decorated foyer. “I wore it to my cousin’s wedding, remember? It seems a waste not to get some wear out of it.”

But Alex knew she was dancing around the truth with Sophie. The truth was that JP’s words from the day before had been singing in her ears as she’d stood in front of her wardrobe that morning. ‘You should dress up every day and walk tall,’ he’d told her. And so her hand had reached for the powder-blue suit. Other than the peppermint suit it was the only thing she owned which wasn’t dowdy.

“It’s not too dressed up?”

“No way!” Sophie protested vigorously. “I know you wore it to a wedding but it’s really just a business suit—it’s perfect for this place.”

“Can I ask you something Sophie, as a friend?”

“Sure.”

“You have to promise to tell me the truth, even if you think you’ll hurt my feelings.”

Sophie nodded in response. “What’s up?”

“What do you think about the way I dress? I need to know.”

“Ahh,” Sophie responded portentously and bit down on her bottom lip.

“Please, Soph.”

Sophie then pressed her lips together thoughtfully before replying. “Well, if you really want the truth, I think the outfits you wear are absolutely sensational … for a fifty year old.”

Alex winced yet felt no surprise. “I thought so.”

“You’re a gorgeous girl,” Sophie hurried on. “There’s no reason you can’t change your style.”

“I wouldn’t know where to start. I’m hopeless. Even when you and I go shopping in the same boutique I come out looking like Laura Ingalls and you come out looking like Carrie Bradshaw. How on earth do you know what to buy?”

“Okay Laura Ingalls,” Sophie declared. “When’s your lunch hour?”

“Twelve-thirty.”

“Meet me here at twelve-thirty then. You and I are going shopping.”

“Are you sure you don’t mind?”

“Are you kidding? I’ll be Trinny
and
Susannah. I can’t wait!”

But as Alex wandered through the office towards her desk just moments later she was wondering whether she should be concerned about the fact that the way she dressed suddenly mattered when it never had before? Yet in her heart she already knew the answer: it had something to do with the way JP had treated her the night before.

The bottom line was that she couldn’t forget his reaction when she’d shown him the legal documents she’d prepared. And as she’d lain in bed that morning she’d begun to wonder whether there might be other things she could do that she’d never dreamed herself capable of. Self-belief was bubbling up within her and for some reason it felt important that she looked and dressed like someone who believed in herself too.

As she approached her workstation she expected to see a pile of files, left there by JP from the night before as he’d promised. Strangely though, her desk was bare.

She stopped dead, confused. She wandered into JP’s empty office and checked his desk but no, nothing had been left there either.

Alex was puzzled. Had she misunderstood him about the work he would leave for her that morning? Weren’t there several matters needing her urgent attention? It just didn’t make sense.

“Looking for something?” A woman’s voice literally boomed at her from behind, making her jump and swing around.

“Vera! You’re back! We weren’t expecting you until tomorrow.”

“Evidently.” Vera Boyd’s cold, grey eyes were flashing and Alex was sure she could hear a snaky undercurrent to her tone.

Vera was a frightening woman. Alex had always been terrified of her—everyone was.

With David Griffen’s approval, his Senior PA had ruled his litigation department at Griffen Murphy Lawyers for years. Alex had even heard of staff members mysteriously shifted out of litigation if Vera took a dislike to them.

“How was your break?” Alex asked, trying to invest their meeting with some normal social niceties.

Vera’s grey haired bob bounced around her face as she replied, “The break was fine but perhaps I’ve been away too long.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Well it seems that in just one day you’ve managed to elevate yourself to Senior PA.”

Blood turned to ice in Alex’s veins as she absorbed Vera’s barely contained resentment. Alex wished she could face Vera with nerves of steel but the older woman was just too intimidating.

“Don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about,” Vera snapped. “I saw the little love letters he left all over the files on your desk this morning. What kind of fool is he if he leaves that kind of responsibility to a sprat like you? He’ll soon learn the way this place works. As for you, you’ve got tickets on yourself, haven’t you? Who do you think you are, doing a lawyer’s work?”

“There was no one available to do it yesterday … it was all urgent.”

“I’m no fool, Alex,” Vera retorted. “We all know the rumour that the firm will only allow one PA per lawyer. If you think I’m going to sit back and let you flirt your way into Jonathan McKenzie’s good books and freeze me out, you can think again.”

Vera ran her eyes over her uncharacteristic but flattering outfit with obvious contempt and outrage rose within Alex as she’d never felt before. How dare Vera remove the work JP had left for her on her desk that morning? And how dare she hint that her dress choice and the work she’d done the day before had anything to do with freezing Vera out as a PA?

“I’ve never believed my job as Jonathan McKenzie’s PA is secure,” Alex grated out coldly. “But until I’m sacked or moved on I will do my job. That includes doing whatever he asks me to do.”

“That’s fine, Alex,” Vera replied, spitting her name as though it sizzled on her tongue. “But you should be aware I’m on to you. I know you think you can bat those big brown eyes and wiggle that cute little backside and the boss will be like putty in your hands but he’ll soon learn it takes more than a pretty face and a pert figure to run an office like this. He’ll soon learn I’ve been around for a few years and know what I’m doing …”

“That’s enough,” Alex interrupted. “I’m not going to stand here while you insult me. I’d like those files back thanks—I’ve got work to do this morning.”

“I’ve already taken care of them.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know what Jonathan was thinking; a baby PA like you with work like that. It should be with lawyers. That’s where it’s gone.”

“Do you mean you’ve handed on work to others that he asked me to do this morning?” Alex whispered in disbelief. “Who’ve you given the files to?”

“Yes, I’ve handed them on and no, I won’t be telling you who has them.”

“So what am I supposed to say to Jonathan when he asks me whether I’ve done the work?”

“You can tell him I’ve taken care of it, of course,” Vera replied casually before turning on her heel and marching out of JP’s office.

Alex could hardly breathe. For two years she’d had an impersonal but manageable working relationship with Vera Boyd—no more.

Somehow David Griffen’s departure and Jonathan McKenzie’s arrival had changed everything. As far as Vera was concerned the gloves were off. She was not going to risk losing her position as dominatrix of the litigation section over a little pip-squeak like Alex Farrer.

Alex wandered back to her desk, her hands shaking and her heart racing. Vera’s vicious suggestions had left her breathless but was she right? Had she dressed up that day to impress JP and try to keep her job? Was everyone in litigation looking at her and thinking the same thing?

A warm rush of self-conscious embarrassment filled Alex’s cheeks as she fought to overcome an almost overwhelming urge to run out of the building, into the first dress shop she could find and buy the saddest and most unflattering outfit available. Yet changing outfits part way through the day would only make everyone think she was crazy as well as ambitiously cunning.

Oh God, what a morning. To think she’d been looking forward to coming into work and all of a sudden her day was turning into a bigger nightmare than the one before. Perhaps Simon was right. Perhaps she was wasting her time trying to build her career in a legal office when marriage and motherhood were just around the corner anyway.

Alex slumped desolately into her chair. Having absolutely no work to do she spent some more time on the precedents but was completely unproductive. She was far too distracted by the nervous dread with which she waited for JP to arrive and find that not only was she idle but she hadn’t done the things he’d asked her to do.

It was nearly lunchtime before Alex’s phone rang for the first time that day. She’d guessed earlier that Vera had organised for JP’s calls to be diverted to her own phone so when it finally rang it startled her out of her thoughts with a jump. Trying desperately to focus she swallowed and answered it with an efficient sounding ‘hello’.

“Alex, it’s me.”

Alex’s heart leapt. He didn’t have to say who it was. She would have known that voice anywhere. “I’ve just stepped out of a meeting for a minute so I haven’t got long. Has the brief gone out and the other work been done?”

Alex couldn’t reply and silence reigned over the phone. How could she even begin to explain what had happened with Vera that morning and yet JP needed an answer and fast.

“Alex, are you there?”

“Yes, I’m here,” she answered, the blood pounding in her ears.

“Can you answer me then? I don’t have much time.”

“I haven’t done it,” Alex blurted.

“You haven’t done it!”

“No.” Alex knew she should be trying to explain things but couldn’t find the words to do it.

“I thought I could rely on you.” JP’s voice was rising in anger and disbelief on the other end of the line.

“You can, JP …”

But he was too furious to wait for the end of her sentences. “Clearly I can’t. I had a good feeling about you Alex, about how we could work together, but I must be losing my instincts.”

“JP please, let me explain …” Alex begged, but he was too riled with her.

“I haven’t got time to hear your excuses. Anyway, what possible excuse could you have to let me down on this when the notes I left on your desk made it clear you were to deal with these matters first thing this morning. Have you got the files with you?”

“No.”

“Then who does?”

“Vera knows where …”

“Vera? Is she back? Thank goodness. Put me on to her straight away.”

“JP …” Alex began again.

“Now!” he demanded down the phone.

Alex had no choice. With the touch of a couple of buttons she directed his call to Vera’s extension and then dropped her head into her hands and moaned.

She could just imagine the conversation JP was having with his Senior PA right then. Vera would be putting a favourable spin on things so that she came out of the incident looking like the PA of the century and Alex like a walking disaster area—her fate as an unemployed Assistant PA had to be sealed!