Legally Yours (8 page)

Julie stood up.

“Since you two seem to be able to talk about
me without my input, I’ll just take off now.”

“But,” she said, turning to Matt, “for what
it’s worth, he's right, I haven't faced a witness in the courtroom,
so I'm not the best person to ask about stuff like this. I'm best
at examining the evidence and organizing it so that he's got what
he needs when it comes time to go to court.”

Unable to look either of the men in the eye,
she took her dish to the sink and rinsed it out.

“We'll talk about this later,” Clay said,
looking at his watch. “I've got a conference call in fifteen
minutes.”

With Clay gone, Julie could feel Matt's eyes
like a laser on her back.

“What was that?” he demanded, coming up
behind her, touching her lightly above her hip.

She stepped away from his touch.

“What was what?”

“That 'I'm not a lawyer' bullshit?”

She turned, and found him disconcertingly
close. “I'm not a lawyer—sometimes I feel the need to remind my
bosses of that fact. Especially when they themselves don’t know
what they’re talking about and start asking me to make legal
judgments. Judgments that might get them into serious trouble.”

“Give me a break, Julie,” Matt said, his tone
harsh. “The only person getting into trouble here is you for
refusing to acknowledge your own worth. If I didn't know better,
I'd say you were afraid.”

His words stung.

Mostly because they were true.

“So what if I am afraid,” she snapped. “I
don't want to get sued for practicing law without a license. There
is a reason why I haven't gone back to finish my degree. Maybe it's
because I don't want the responsibility of actually putting myself
on the line for the case. Maybe it's because I like working behind
the scenes.”

“Yeah, just what I said. You're afraid.
Afraid of putting yourself out there and trying a case on your
own.”

“This coming from a corporate lawyer?” she
huffed. “Tell me, Matt, what part of playing puppet master to local
counsel all over the country appeals to you? The bossing around
hick lawyers in Anytown, USA or the girl in every port? Because
from what I can see you're all about keeping it behind the
scenes.”

“That is not fair,” he hissed, keeping his
voice down. “We both agreed that this thing between us was best on
a temporary basis. And I don't have a girl in every goddamn
port.”

He reached out to grab her arm, but she
jerked away.

“Well, why don't we just go ahead and call it
quits on this thing right now,” she said. “Obviously it's
interfering with our work relationship. And unlike you, I can't
fall back on family money to keep up my lifestyle.”

It was unfair and she knew it. But, hearing
him accuse her of being a coward had been a wake-up-call of sorts.
She had to end things with him before she risked losing any more of
her heart to him. Because she knew in her gut that once she was
fell for this man, leaving him would be impossible.

“Why are you doing this?” he asked, his eyes
narrowed, as if he were trying to see into her soul. “Last night we
were fine, and today you're shutting me out. Something is up.”

“Nothing is up,” she said, desperate to get
out of there before he pressed her into revealing the truth. “This
little episode just gave me some clarity, that’s all.”

She took his hand. “Look, we've had fun
together, but we both knew it wasn't going to be a forever
thing.”

“So what?” he asked, his tone bitter, “It's
not me it's you? You can do better than that tired line.”

Well, she'd tried. “I have to get back to
work, Matt. I'll see you later at the team meeting.”

Her legs shaking, Julie hurried from the
break room to the blessedly empty ladies room, where she shut
herself in a stall and gave in to the tears she’d been holding back
all morning. She didn't regret her decision to end things, but
doing so felt like she'd just ripped out a major organ with a
spork.

She thought she was being quiet, but Cissy's
voice on the other side of the door told her better.

“Julie, sweetheart? Are you okay?”

Her silent sob morphing into a sighing
hiccup, Julie swallowed. “I'm fine, Cissy. Just a...an allergy
attack,” she said.

“Honey, unless you're allergic to a tall
blond hunk, I sincerely doubt that,” the other woman replied. “Come
on out here and tell me about it.”

Knowing resistance was futile, Julie inhaled
through her stuffy nose, and wiped her eyes, hoping her mascara
hadn't run too badly.

Cissy reached out and gave her a strong hug.
“Darlin' we've all been here at some point in our lives. Just tell
me about is so I can tell whether I need to get Luke to load the
shotgun.”

“He doesn't need to be shot,” Julie sighed.
“It's my fault anyway.”

“I sincerely doubt that,” Cissy returned.
“I've seen the way you look at him and if ever there was a woman in
love, it's you. So, what did he do? Break it off? Is he engaged?
God, is he married?”

“No! God no!” Julie sank down onto the rattan
sofa that made the ladies room less of a public restroom than a
lounge where they could get away from the guys. “He's been sweet.
Honestly.”

“Well, being sweet doesn't usually induce
tears. Unless you're...oh my god! Are you pregnant?”

“Jesus! No! I'm not. We haven't. I mean, we
have, but...” She could hear the abject fear in her voice. There
was no possible way. Well, it was possible she supposed, but highly
unlikely. She counted backwards from her last period. Too early to
tell. “Just no.”

“What is it then?”

Julie closed her eyes and leaned back against
the sofa cushion. “I broke things off.”

“What? Why?” Cissy demanded. “Honey, if you
could see how much happier you've been these last couple of weeks.
And he's obviously smitten with you, too. I've seen how you two
lock eyes in meetings.”

“It's not him. He's a great guy. A nice guy.
But he's going back to D.C. soon and it's silly for me to become
too attached. Especially when what we've got is only
temporary.”

“That's ridiculous, Julie. And so what if it
is temporary? Don't you want to spend as much time as possible with
him before he goes? And maybe you two can keep on seeing each other
after he goes back. There's this great invention called the
airplane.”

Julie smiled despite her sadness. “That’s
what Lily said.”

“
That’s because you raised her to be
brilliant, like you,” the other woman said.

“It's just too hard, Cis. I do like him. I
even...well, I feel something more powerful for him than I've felt
in a long time. But who's to say I won't find that with someone
else. Someone who lives in Birmingham. Someone who doesn't happen
to belong to a profession I've been trying to get away from for
years.”

“Oh, come on! Pull the other one. The only
thing about the law you don't like is the fact that you can't
practice it.”

God, not again. “For the last time, I am not
a wannabe—”

“How long have you worked here?” Cissy
interrupted.

“What?”

“How long have you worked for this firm?” she
repeated.

“Seven years?” she said it with a questioning
tone, though she knew how long she'd worked here down to the
day.

“And in all that time, how many vacations
have you taken?”

“I don't know. Two?”

“Nope,” the secretary said with a frown.
“One. And that was to help Lily move into her dorm.”

“Julie,” she continued. “You've put in more
overtime at this firm and produced more billable hours than any
first year associate ever has. The only thing you don't like about
this place is the fact that we represent the big guy against the
little guy.”

That did surprise her. She thought she'd kept
her distaste for their clients to herself.

“Maybe,” she conceded, not willing to agree
for fear that Cissy would crow in triumph. Cissy could be loud when
she won an argument.

“Well, then why don't you go finish your
degree and go get a job helping the little guy like you want
to?”

“But I don't...” She shook her head. She'd
been so used to scaling down her ambitions to fit her position here
that she hadn't even considered the possibility. “What about Lily?”
she finally asked.

“What about her?” Cissy, stood, and put her
hands on her ample hips. “I'll bet Lily would cheer if you went
back and got your degree. She'd probably love not having your
watchful eye on her 24/7.”

Which was true, Julie admitted silently. What
would happen if she went back to school? Could she even do it? Had
too much time passed?

“You might be right,” she told the other
woman.

“Of course, I'm right. I just wish you hadn't
given Matt the kiss off. Now you're going to have to do some
serious groveling to get him back.”

"Damn it, Cissy, I hate it when you
gloat.”

“Shut up and fix your face,” was the other
woman's tart response. “You need to get in there and convince that
man you made a mistake. And nobody takes a woman with
puffy-eyed-cry-face seriously.”

Grateful for the tiny essentials bag she kept
in the restroom, Julie set about repairing her makeup and prepared
to change Matt's mind.

Julie waited until almost five thirty that evening to seek
out Matt. By that time the secretaries had gone home. And since
she'd seen Gordon and Taylor heading out of the break room with
beers in hand, she figured nobody would interrupt them if she
happened to slip into the office Matt had been using since his
arrival.

Grateful for the carpet that kept her steps
stealthy, she was a couple of cubicles down from his office door
when she heard his voice. He must be on the phone. Not wanting to
interrupt, she slipped into the tiny area where the office's lone
typewriter was kept for those counties in Alabama that still
required typed forms, and took a seat.

“I don't think it's her,” she heard Matt say.
Quickly she ran through the RFG cases in her head that had female
plaintiffs. McLendon? Wright? Lewis?

“No, Mitchell,” he said a bit louder. “I've
checked her out and I don't think Julie Streeter is responsible for
the leak.”

What the...?

“I'm telling you I know! There is no possible
way that Streeter can be the one giving the information to
Albright.”

She knew he must be talking to Mitchell
Starnes, the head legal counsel at RFG, and she fought to keep from
running into his office to demand an explanation.

“
I'm still not sure who it is. I may
need more time.” Matt paused while he listened to Mitchell’s
response. “I don't know. Another week? I've got someone here I can
sound out about the attorneys and anyone else on staff who could be
feeding Albright the information.”

God, Julie fumed, he's talking about me.

It had all been a lie. Every last moment
they'd spent together flipped like a slide show in her brain. How
could she have been so blind? My god. Of course someone like Matt
freaking Ellis wouldn't have any genuine interest in her. He was
Matt freaking Ellis and he could have any woman eating out of the
palm of his hand in minutes.

To think she'd actually been on her way in
here to beg his forgiveness! Thank god she had gotten here in time
to hear his little chat with Mitchell. The thought of letting a
snake like Matt know that he'd actually won, that he'd actually
managed to win her trust and even—she was reluctant to even admit
it, but it was true—her heart, made her sick to her stomach.

“Right, Mitchell,” she heard him continue.
“I'll keep you posted and I'll let you know as soon as I know
something.”

He laughed. “No, Birmingham definitely does
not have the same appeal as D.C. I can't wait to get back.”

She listened, numb as she heard him put the
phone down and a rustling that indicated he was gathering up his
coat and briefcase to leave for the day.

She had to get out of there before he saw
her. But she was too late. She'd only made it to the end of the row
of cubicles before she heard him call her name.

“Julie, hey! Wait up.”

Anger making her heart beat faster, she
turned. It was just as well. She should let him know that she'd
learned his little secret before too much more time passed, anyway.
He'd need the extra time to find someone else to pump for
information about the firm and whoever was leaking to Albright.

Suddenly, she was able to step back and
realize what he’d actually been saying. Someone had been leaking
information about their cases to the Albright firm. Someone in this
firm! Was there no one in this whole freaking building she could
trust? Jesus!

Her fury gave her the power to speak first.
“Hi,” she said, not returning his smile. “So, what big city move
are you going to try this time to butter me up?”

His brows snapped together. “What?”

“Well, I just heard your little talk with
Mitchell. Don't you need more time to wheedle information about the
firm from me? Isn't that what you were asking for?”

He blanched. So it was true. A knot of
disappointment formed in her stomach. A small part of her had hoped
that he would deny it. That he'd tell her that she'd misheard him.
Or it was all a trick. But, the look on his face—as if he'd been
caught with his hand in the cookie jar, or the nookie jar as it
were, she thought cynically—was enough to tell her she'd been right
the first time. This man, who had brought her back to life after a
long abstinent sleep, had only been playing on her insecurities to
get information from her. Thinking of the things she'd let him do
to her, the things she’d done to him, she fought the bile that rose
in her throat.