Some Came Desperate: A Love Saga (27 page)

       “You work too hard.”

       “I know.  Some hosts we’ve been during your time in town.  I’m so sorry, Simmie.”

       “Ah, it’s okay.  I’ve got to get ready anyway.”

       “For what?”

       “Dinner.”

       Jules smiled.  “With Ethan?”

       “Among others, yes.”

       “What others?  I thought he always flew solo.”

       “A lot of firms are recruiting him for some reason.”

       “He won this really big, complicated case and it got him a lot of attention,” Jules said.  “That’s how he got my attention and I hired him for Shay.  He’s narrowed the field?”

       “I think so.  Seems like Perry and Associates has the inside track.”  Simone looked at Jules when she said this. 

       Jules stared at Simone.  “Perry and Associates?  As in Nick Perry?  You mean. . .  you’ve seen him?”

       Simone swallowed hard, then nodded.

       “When, Simmie?”

       “Two nights ago was the first time.  At Ethan’s office.  And again last night.  That’s when he invited us to his house for dinner.”

       “Invited y’all. . .”  Then Jules shook her head.  “Girl, you are not going.  Please tell me you are not going.”

       “Settle down, all right,” Simone said, knowing the stakes better than anyone.  “I was invited only because I was right there with Ethan.  He wants to try and convince Ethan to join his firm, that’s what that is.  It has nothing to do with me.”

       “Yeah, right.  You can’t go down that road again, Simmie.  You know what happened the last time. . .”

       “I’m not going down any road, okay?  Now get a grip, Jules, you know me.  That man is happily married and isn’t interested in that kind of relationship with me, not at all.  Besides, Shay’s deposition is in a few weeks, Shay will say what she needs to say and get all of those charges dropped, and I’ll be out of here.  Never, I hope, to return again.”

       Jules stared at Simone, the concern all over her face.  “How did it feel?”

       Simone closed her eyes, then re-opened them.  “As if it was yesterday.  I thought I was going to have a heart attack, Jules.  It was awful.”

       “But it was exciting, too, wasn’t it?”

       “Yeah.  That’s the awful part.”

       Jules nodded.  She understood.  “You okay?”

       “Yeah.  I’m over him.”  Jules looked as if she didn’t believe her.  “What?  Of course I’m over him.  I mean it’s been seven years, right?”

“Then why are you going to some dinner party at his house?”                          “I told you he invited Ethan to his house for dinner and he mentioned that Ethan should bring me with him.   That’s all this is about.”                              

   “And there’s nobody with a gun to your head forcing you to do anything you don’t want to do, Simmie.  Now come on.  Let Ethan go alone.”

   “I told him that a thousand times.”

  “Why would you put yourself through that again?  What if those feelings return?  What if he ropes you back in again?”

       “He’s married, Jules.”

       “So?  That didn’t stop him before.”

       “He wasn’t married.”

       “He may as well have been.  That was a sixteen year relationship he’d had with that woman.  And you knew nothing about it.  It was worse than awful, Simmie.  I saw what it did to you.  I saw—”

       “I know, okay?  I’m not going back into anything with him, trust, all right?  I’m just. . .”

       “Curious.”

       “Right.”

       “Curiosity killed the cat.”

       “I’m not a cat.  Anyway, what’s up with you?  You seem, I don’t know, different today.”

       Jules smiled.  “I guess I feel different, too.”

       “What lies have Jeremy told you this time?”

       “That the Drake Society award means nothing to him.  That they offered, he took it, but it goes no further than that.”

       “I’m surprised he didn’t try to claim that the Drake Society isn’t a pack of racists.”

       “Oh, he went there, too.”

       Simone looked at Jules.  “And you believed him?”

       “Of course not!  That’s why I feel so good, so empowered.”

       “Because you didn’t believe him?”

       “Exactly.  For the first time in my life, Jeremy can’t con me anymore.”

       Simone looked at Jules cautiously.  “So what you’re saying is that it’s over between you two?”

       “No, what I’m saying is that it’s now equal between the two of us.  Jeremy doesn’t have that same control over me the way he used to have.”

       Simone was more than a little suspicious of this sudden turn-around by Jules, especially if she had no intention of leaving the jerk.  She smiled.  “We can pick-em, can’t we?”

       Jules, dead serious, didn’t crack a smile. “Speak for yourself, deary. Jeremy’s still a catch.  I still got me a winner.  It was you who picked the rotten apple.”

       Simone was about to dispute her, making it clear that whatever bad Nick may have done to her doesn’t mean he didn’t do a lot of good things for her, too.  But Shay busted into the office. 

       “Knock knock,” Shay said as she opened Jules office door and peeped her head through.  “Are y’all decent?”

       “I thought Ethan needed you this afternoon?” Jules said and Shay walked further into the office, closing the door behind her.

       “I thought so, too.  But he said it was cool.”

       “What was cool?”

       “It was cool for me not to come see him.”

       “Shay, don’t you dare tell me you called and canceled that meeting?”

       “I didn’t cancel it.  I called and asked him if our getting together to discuss that silly case was a matter of life or death, especially since the prosecution accepted what I was saying?  He said no, that he could work around me.”

       Jules shook her head.  “You don’t have the sense you was born with, you know that, girl?  That man can’t work around you!  He needs to go over your testimony with you over and over again until that deposition so you won’t end up right in prison with that gangster boyfriend of yours.”

       “I’ll do it tomorrow, Jules, dang.  It’s just a rehearsal.”

       Jules shook her head. 

       “Besides,” Shay continued, “when I’m Mrs. Hamilton Lucas I won’t need no  second-rate lawyer like Ethan Graham anyway.”

       “When you’re what?” Simone asked, stunned, and then she and Jules exchanged doubtful looks.  “You mean to tell me that banker proposed to you?”

       “Well, not yet.  But it’s just a matter of time.”

       “Yeah, right,” Jules said.

       “You don’t have to believe me.  But it’s true.  I’m gonna even meet his daughter tonight at her sweet 16 birthday party.”

       Jules was surprised.  “He invited you to his daughter’s party?”

       Shay hesitated.  “Not exactly,” she said.  “But I’m going.”

       “Oh Lord,” Jules said and looked at Simone.  Simone panicked.

       “Don’t do it, Shay,” she said.  “Don’t crash that girl’s party.  He’ll hate you for it.”

       “I ain’t crashing nothing!  He should have invited me himself.  But no, I had to read about it in the newspaper society column.  So I got to do what I got to do.  He’ll appreciate it.”

       “One of your thug boyfriends will appreciate it, Shay,” Jules said.  “A banker will just find it ghetto and rude.”

       “Whatever.”

       “Don’t crash that party, Shay,” Simone urged again.  But Shay wasn’t listening and Simone knew it.  Just as Simone wasn’t listening to Jules about Nick, and just as Jules wasn’t listening to Simone about Jeremy.  Because, in Simone’s case, while her heart kept telling her to go with Ethan tonight, enjoy herself, make it clear that she was so over Nick Perry, her head was screaming for her not to even think about going.  Screaming for her to realize how she’d be the fool of fools if she so much as thought hard about stepping foot in any home of his.

       But she was a Rivers sister.  And when, she wondered, had the Rivers sisters ever allowed their head to overrule their heart?

TWENTY-ONE

Ethan and Simone arrived at Nick’s big, palatial home in Bal Harbour and Simone walked as if her knees were going to buckle.  She still could not believe that she’d agreed to come.  She still could not believe that she was going to meet the woman who had effectively and so decisively taken away the only man she’d ever loved and caused, probably without even knowing a thing about it, what could have been the complete termination of her existence.  But here she was, torturing herself again.  Taking herself through all of this unnecessary pain again.  And when they walked up to Nick’s massive, glass ornamented front door, and the maid answered and stated that Mr. Perry was not in but that Mrs. Perry would be with them momentarily, Simone nearly staggered her way through that front door.

       Simone’s heart rammed against her chest as they were escorted into the massive living room to await the great lady’s entrance.

       “Would you like a drink, Simone?” Ethan asked her, looking as if he was worried, too.  “You look a little pale.”

       “Maybe a little wine would be nice,” she said, and Ethan, a little surprised, notified the maid.  Simone had never drank any strong drink in her life, even at communion they used grape juice, but she was drinking one tonight.  This was tougher than even she had predicted.  And the evening hadn’t started yet!

       The maid returned with a glass of wine for both Ethan and Simone and, although Simone could only manage a sip of the wine before discarding it altogether, she almost wanted to grab it again when Mrs. Perry appeared in the living room with a woman dressed up as a nurse beside her.

       “Hello, Mrs. Perry,” Ethan stood and said jovially when the woman arrived.  He had met her only once a few weeks ago, when he had come over to Nick’s law firm and she was there, and she was unforgettable even then.

       “Call me Delia, please,” the woman responded and Simone was so stunned, so taken aback, that she could only sit and stare.  Mrs. Perry wasn’t at all what she had expected.  Ethan had told her that she had been an internationally famous model in her younger days, one of the most beautiful women in the world, and she still, from what Simone could see, had that kind of rare beauty and gracefulness that would probably never fade away.  But the one thing that Ethan had failed to mention was that this model, this beauty, was now in a wheelchair.  And that part was what stopped Simone cold.

       She was still tall and thin, as one would expect a model to appear, but she was so frail, so almost sickly-looking that Simone could hardly believe her eyes.  Nick’s wife, the woman he had carried on with for all those years even while he was with her, was an invalid?  When did this happen?  Was that why he had stayed with her for all those years?  Was that why he had decided to marry her even after Simone had given him her all?  She had so many questions, so many unanswered questions, that she just decided not to deal with any of them right now.

       “I see you’ve brought a date, Ethan,” Delia said and immediately looked over at Simone.  “Nick didn’t mention that you’d bring a date.”

       “Yes, ma’am,” Ethan said and took Simone by the arm as if to coax her to her feet.   You are about to meet royalty, his nervousness and placating seem to suggest, and Simone, already wobbly when she stood, was glad for the arm support.  “This is Simone Rivers,” he said.  “She’s in town for a few weeks.”

       “Well nice to meet you, Simone,” Delia said.  “But please sit down, both of you.  You’re giving me neck spasms.  And I’ll call you when I need you, Rita,” she added to her nurse as she pushed her wheelchair further into the livingroom, where she now sat right near her guests.

       “Yes, ma’am,” Rita said with what looked like a bow and disappeared out of the room.

       “Now, that’s better,” Delia said.  “My husband speaks very highly of you, Ethan.  He wants you on his team.  Badly.”

       “I appreciate his consideration, believe me.  He’s certainly at the top of my list.”

       “Don’t be easy,” she quickly warned him.  “He doesn’t like it when you’re easy.”

       Simone felt a tinge of shame when Delia spoke those words, as if she was directing them not at Ethan, but at Simone.  Which, Simone also realized, was ridiculous.  This woman, she was convinced, didn’t know her from Adam.

       “Make him meet your demands,” Delia continued.  “Go for broke.  If you don’t, whatever you are when you walk into Perry and Associates, will be exactly what you will remain.  Ask any of those other big shot attorneys who went to work for Nick.  Oh, they make big bucks with his firm because he has the reputation to always get the million-dollar cases, but they never get beyond their initial fame.  Nick is at fault for that, but so are the attorneys.”

       “I hear you, Mrs. Perry,” Ethan said, a little confused by her bluntness.  Just whose side was she on, he wondered.  Or was this just a test by Nick to see what he was made of? “But I tend to want to take your husband at his word.”

       “Really now?” she said.  “And why’s that?”

       Both Ethan and Simone looked at her.  What kind of game was this woman playing, Simone wondered.  “Why?” Ethan asked.  “Because he’s a very honest, honorable man whose word–”

       “Isn’t worth the quicksand it stands upon,” Delia said, to her guests’ alarm.   “But that’s neither here nor there,” she added, seeing their alarm.  “What did Mr. Wonderful promise you exactly?” she asked, instead.

       “Well,” Ethan said nervously.  Mrs. Perry had thrown him so off of his own game that he could barely formulate intelligent thoughts.  “He promised the, I mean he promised me a partnership if I work hard and make a name for myself.”

       “Make a name for yourself?” Delia said as if she was offended.  “You’ve already made a name for yourself.  How insulting.  But that’s typical Nicky Perry.  Everybody’s got to prove something to him.  Everybody’s got to bow down to him as if he’s the great king of Righteousness and we’re all poor subjects awaiting his next commands.  Please.  Don’t fall for that song and dance I urge you, young brother.  You will regret it in the end.  Have your demands and stick to them.  You want a partnership, demand a partnership or no deal.”

       “But will he deal then or tell me to hit the road?”

       Delia smiled.  “Ah, I knew that would get your attention.”

       “I mean, what if he doesn’t bite,” Ethan asked too anxiously, Simone thought, “and my demands causes me to lose the one  chance I had to work for him?”

       “Well, that’s a decision you’ll just have to make, isn’t it, darling?  Do you prostitute yourself to Nick Perry for the love of money, fame and glory, or do you remain true to yourself and be willing to risk it all?  It’s your call, young man.  But if I were you,” Delia said and Ethan literally moved to the edge of his seat. It was sickening to watch, Simone thought.                                                                       “If you were me, what?” Ethan asked anxiously.  Delia smiled again.  She seemed to relish desperation, it seemed to Simone.

       “If I were you,” Delia said, “I’d take the risk.”

       “Although the odds aren’t in my favor?”

       “Look at me.  I used to command the world.  Now I’m a cripple.  Are they ever in your favor, my dear?”

       Ethan smiled.  “You’ve got a point.”

       “Shoot for the moon,” Delia said with a frown, as if Ethan’s smile had offended her, “maybe you’ll catch a star.”

       Ethan swallowed hard, and erased the smile.  “Thank-you,” he said.  “Maybe I’ll do just that.”

       “Mr. Perry has arrived,” someone announced over an intercom and Simone’s heart effectively jumped with a combination of unseemly excitement and undeniable dread.  She grabbed her glass of wine and took a sip.  Delia looked at her.

       “Are you all right?”

       “Yes,” Simone said shakily, “just a little sore throat.”

       “Wine’s hardly the remedy for that.”

       “Honey and lemon, right?” Ethan suggested.

       “Speak for yourself,” Delia said.  “Hard liquor does it for me.”

       Simone nearly choked on her drink, and when she looked at Delia she smiled.  This woman was either crazy or very self-assured, she thought.  When Delia smiled back, as if she was only kidding, she figured that she wasn’t crazy at all, but was her own woman.  Just the kind of woman Simone would have expected Nick to crave.

       And when he walked into the room, overwhelming it by his mere presence, all of the little gaiety that had been there ever so briefly, quickly left.  Even Delia stiffened up more, if that were possible.  And Simone, pitifully, she felt, couldn’t help but notice how attractive he seemed in his suit and tie.

       “Good evening,” he said as he scanned the room, his eyes unable to release Simone’s as easily as he had the others.  “Hello, sweetheart,” he said to Delia and kissed her on the cheek.  “Sorry I’m late.”

       “You knew we were having guests this evening.”

       “I most certainly did.  How are you, Graham?”

       “I’m good, Mr. Perry, how are you?”

       “Fine.  Tired.  Want to relax.  Marva!” he suddenly yelled.

       “Why don’t you show some dignity and ring the bell?” Delia asked.  But Marva, the maid, appeared before he could respond. 

       “How about some vodka for me.”  He looked around the room.  “And anything for anybody else?”

       “No, we’re fine,” Ethan said.

       “And that’s all,” Nick said to his maid and she hurried away to do his bidding.   Then he put his hands together in a rubbing motion and looked at Simone.  He seemed to be trying especially hard, it seemed to her, to be gregarious.  “Hello, Simone,” he said.  “Glad that you could make it, too.”

       “Thank-you,” Simone said, pleased with his extra attention, although she immediately felt ashamed of it.  And when she glanced at Delia, as if self-conscious of her blunder, Delia was staring at her.

       “I ran into one of your associates in court today,” Ethan said.

       “Oh, yeah?  Who?” Nick asked as he removed his suit coat, flapping it across the back of the chair, and loosened his tie. Simone glanced at the large muscles straining his shirt, looking as if he hadn’t aged a day in seven years, but then she quickly looked away.

       “Curtis Foutenoy,” Ethan said.  “He’s sitting second chair on the Elbersol case.  I was surprised he was even there.”

       “Curtis isn’t with my firm anymore,” Nick said, sitting down in the chair just as Marva returned with his drink.

       “He isn’t?” Ethan said as Marva promptly left the room.  “Why that liar.  I asked how was it going over at P & A and he said fine.  Couldn’t be better.  That snake.”

        “What about you?  Will you be joining us?”

       “Oh, please, Nick,” Delia said, “you just walked in the door.  Give the man at least a few minutes of your precious time before you begin the hard sell.”

       Nick ignored her.  “I have just the office for you,” he continued, “overlooking a magnificent view.”

       “That sounds great,” Ethan said, “especially compared to my current digs.”  Simone looked at Ethan.  He told her that big offices, etc., didn’t matter to him.  That he was a man who let his work in the courtroom speak for him.  She wondered if that was all a lie, too; if he sized her up and decided to take on all the qualities he knew she’d like.  Whatever the truth was, she knew she didn’t recognize nor particularly like this aggressive, ambitious, want-it-all-and-want-it-now Ethan.

       “You’ll also be assigned two assistants, one paralegal, one secretary.  Since you’ll come in as a senior associate, you’ll also have a junior associate at the ready.”