Chapter twenty-eight
“Violet!” I called my secretary as soon as I entered the office that morning.
“Yes, sir.” She came running to my side, almost tripping over her high heels.
“Call Harold Gilson and confirm our 10 a.m. meeting with him.”
“I will.”
“Has the union representative given you an answer about the deal I offered? If not, tell him time is running out; if we don't get an answer by the end of the day, we'll halve our offer.”
“That's what I wanted to talk about.” She stopped running when we reached my office door, and I turned to face her.
“Then say it!”
“He's just called and asked to meet with you. He seems tempted to accept the offer.”
“And what did you do?”
“I've scheduled a meeting for after lunch to reschedule your schedule.”
“Wasn't I going to meet a potential client?”
“I asked one of the directors to take his place.”
“Which one?”
“Paul.”
“Okay. He'll manage the situation. Do I have my lunch free?”
“Yes, unless you want to...”
“No,” I interrupted. “Leave it as it is. I have plans for lunch.”
“Okay.”
I opened the door and looked at her one last time before going in.
“Let me know when Harold arrives.”
“I'll ask you to wait in the meeting room, and I'll call you.”
“Good.” I nodded and locked myself in the room.
I left my briefcase on the table and sat down in the leather chair. Before starting the day, I took out my cell phone and sent a message to my sister.
Thomas:
Are you available for lunch?
Deborah:
Yes.
Thomas:
So let's meet at the usual restaurant.
Deborah:
What kind of miracle is that? You haven't called me for lunch in so long.
Thomas:
I want to tell you something.
Deborah:
Should I get excited?
Thomas:
Don't create theories.
Deborah:
That's the best part.
Thomas:
See you at noon.
Deborah:
Agreed.
I stopped messaging my sister and opened my laptop, analyzing some recordings of a client's case, when Violet called me.
“Sir, the client is in the meeting room.” He said from the other end of the line.
“Tell him I'm coming.” I disconnected the call and locked the computer before leaving the room and heading for the meeting.
After spending almost the whole morning talking to the guy, I sorted out a few more office issues and was finally able to go out to meet my sister.
Deborah had already arrived and was waiting for me at a table for two.
“Hi!” I leaned over to kiss his cheek before sitting down in front of him and opening the napkin in my lap.
“How are the girls?”
“Great.”
“How nice! Tell me, what did you want to tell me?”
“We haven't even placed our orders yet.” I raised my hand for a waiter to approach us.
“You're seriously going to keep playing me?”
“She's very anxious.”
“I'm PMSing, so please don't test me.”
“Is that a threat?” I giggled as I opened the menu.
“Maybe.” My sister winked at me.
“I think I'd better go.”
“You can stay put.”
“What happened, Deby?”
“I can't believe Tyler won the case for that asshole!”
I laughed even harder at her outrage.
“Even you?”
“He's a judge, and he has to be impartial.”
“It was obvious that this guy was guilty.”
“But they didn't have enough evidence to convict him.”
She twisted her lips.
“You get too involved, sister. You can't solve all the world's problems, and you know it.”
“I'm just trying to be fair.”
“Life isn't fair.”
“That's why you followed in Dad's footsteps, and I didn't.”
“You're a good prosecutor, Deby.”
“Sometimes I have doubts about that.”
“Don't.”
“But let's change the subject.” She called the waiter over again so that we could place our orders. “We came here to talk about you, not me. Now that we've gone around and chosen our dishes, you can finally tell me.”
“I'm dating Helena.”
“Is it serious?” Her eyes lit up.
I shook my head yes.
“Since when?”
“Yesterday.”
“Do the twins know?”
“They found out before we even told them.”
“Those are my nieces.” Deborah laughed. “I'm very happy for you, brother.” She leaned over the table and stroked my shoulder. “God forbid a grumpy old man who stopped living too soon.”
“Don't overdo it.”
“You deserved another woman. A young and beautiful one like her.”
“If something happens...”
“The only thing that can happen is that you ruin everything by being an idiot. So please don't. My beautiful nieces and I are rooting for you.”
“Thank you.” Laughs.
“See? You're even more polite.”
“What about you?”
“What's wrong with me?”
“Anyone?”
“Let's not talk about my love disappointments.”
“Instead of trying so hard to convince me, you need to find someone else.”
“Believe me, I'm trying. At least I'm the youngest and have more time.” She shrugged.
I liked my youngest; Deborah was witty, kind and generally tried to see the world in a better light, even if I thought she was disappointed most of the time. She, Tyler, and I got on well, even though they had chosen other paths in law rather than being at the firm with me.
“When are you going to introduce her to the rest of the family?”
“Let's take it easy.”
“Do you think Mom might scare her?”
“I don't know.”
“If the twins have already approved it, we don't have to dispute anything else. You know that we all just want to see you happy.”
I nodded.
The waiter brought our plates, and the conversation continued until we both had to attend to our afternoon commitments. But it did me good to talk to my sister and be able to open up a bit in a relaxed way.