Chapter 16
“ I really am sorry,” Paley repeated for the hundredth time.
“So you said,” Piedmont replied shortly.
“Honestly, Piedmont, I couldn’t have predicted you would get hit in the face,” she said. She reached out to touch his shiner, but he moved out of reach.
“How am I supposed to tell my colleagues I got a black eye from the batting cages? I’m going to have to wear makeup in court,” he said. They had spent the afternoon at her behest, scratching another thing off the list of normal activities she’d prepared for him. The batting cages had been fun until Piedmont took a ball to the face. Now they were on their way to a charity gala. Paley looked perfect again, but Piedmont’s eye was angry, purple, and swollen.
“I think it’s fetching, like a pirate,” Paley said.
“You are a bad liar,” he groused. More than his ridiculous appearance, the pain was making him cranky. Paley had spent the afternoon babying him with ice packs and aspirin, but the movement of getting dressed in his tux had made the injury throb, and now he was grumpy.
“I’m really sorry,” Paley muttered weakly, and he felt bad for being so short with her. He opened his mouth to tell her so, but the car stopped and Charles opened the door for him.
“Think of it as a trophy,” Charles chimed in. “Guys get those.” Charles was a decade older and, though also on Piedmont’s payroll, saw himself as something of a big brother. “And give her a break,” he added in a whisper. “She meant well.”
Piedmont gave him a nod, his face aching with the movement. He came around the car and reached for Paley’s hand, but her arms were crossed over her chest. Protectively or angrily, he wasn’t certain. He held the door for her, and they stopped short in the entryway. She fished in her purse and handed him a small bottle.
“It’s time for more aspirin. Why don’t you go to that drinking fountain down the hall? I’ll wait here.”
He took the bottle and disappeared. Paley let out the breath she’d been holding. She felt terrible. All she’d wanted was for Piedmont to have some fun. He worked so hard; he deserved to let loose a little in his downtime. But now he had a swollen black eye he’d have to parade in front of his colleagues, and it was all her fault.
“Paley?”
She heard Aaron’s voice and froze, her insides immediately going numb. Slowly, she turned to face him and he blinked at her in shock. She’d lost fifteen pounds since she saw him and gotten a makeover. His face reflected that, and so much more.
“You can’t be here,” he whispered furiously.
“What?” she asked, not understanding what he was saying. “Why not?”
“Because it’s by invitation only, and it’s for lawyers.”
“Lawyers and their guests,” she said.
“You’re not my guest,” he said, shaking his head. “I never dreamed you’d be this desperate, dressing yourself up, sneaking in here. I’ve been begging to meet with you, and now I see why you’ve been avoiding me. It’s because you were trying to make yourself presentable. But it’s over, Paley. I’ve moved on.”
Paley stood still, unable to fathom a reply.
“Ready, sweetheart?” Piedmont came up beside her and took her hand, giving it a squeeze that brought her back to the present. She tore her eyes off Aaron and rested them on him. The pain in them made him flinch, made him murderously angry at the man who put it there.
“Yes,” Paley said, blinking a few times to try and clear eyes now swimming with tears. They turned their backs on Aaron, and he led her away without waiting for any sort of introduction.
“Let’s dance,” Piedmont said, leading her onto the floor.
“No one’s dancing yet,” she said.
“No law says we can’t be the first.”
“The first people on the dance floor are always the weirdos,” she said.
“That fits us then,” he said, pulling her close and leading her in a dance that didn’t leave them much opportunity to speak. “So that’s your husband, he seems nice,” he said when the second dance began. “I’m really wondering what you saw in him.”
“Me too,” she said. “He’s handsome.”
“So are poison dart frogs,” he said. She giggled, and he smiled.
“Thank you for the rescue,” she said.
“My pleasure and, hey, I have some good news.”
“What’s that?”
“Thanks to our combined attendance at these events, people are going to tell him we’re a thing, when he asks.”
“What makes you think he’ll ask?” she said.
“He’ll ask,” Piedmont assured her. He knew the type. He wanted to believe Paley was mooning over him. He enjoyed hurting her, breaking her heart. It made him feel like a big man. To know he hadn’t succeeded, that Paley was doing well and moving on, would kill him.
“You’re smiling,” Paley said.
“I am. And I’m sorry I was grumpy with you earlier.”
“That’s okay. I really am sorry about your eye.”
“It’s a badge of honor,” he said, drawing her slightly closer. She shifted her hands sliding them around his neck.
“A man with a black eye, when it wasn’t gotten by ill gains, is kind of sexy,” she whispered.
“What’s considered ill gains?” he asked.
“Clocked in the face by an old lady he was trying to mug,” she supplied.
“Good thing you told me; that was going to be my cover story,” he said, and she laughed. “And the day was fun, despite the shiner. Soon you’re going to make me into a real boy.”
“Call me Geppetto.”
“No.”
She laughed again.
For the remainder of the night, she felt Aaron’s eyes on her, but she didn’t turn to look until once, by accident, she caught sight of him in her peripheral. A woman stood beside him. Unbidden, Paley’s eyes turned in their direction, and she wished they hadn’t. The woman was adorably cute with a pregnant belly that extended far from her body. A jolt of shock ran through Paley, followed quickly by pain. Piedmont was mid-conversation but still somehow sensed Paley’s shudder. He turned, caught sight of where she was looking, and leaned down to whisper.
“She has cankles.”
“I think you’re supposed to when you’re that far along,” Paley said, trying and aiming for a light tone.
“Nah, she had them before. I can tell, I’m kind of a connoisseur of ankle proportion. Yours are perfect, by the way.” He gave her shoulder a light squeeze, earning a genuine smile.
“Ankles, really? That’s what you’re into?” she whispered.
“Among other things,” he replied, giving her another squeeze.
She linked her arm with his. “You’re nice.”
“That’s because you’ve never opposed him in court,” the person standing across from them said after having caught the last part of their conversation.
“All in due time,” Paley said.
“Oh, no. I wouldn’t face you, not after you beat me on the chicken and waffles thing,” Piedmont said. After making him eat them, he realized he liked them, loved them, in fact.
“Well, love is the most powerful weapon, or so they say,” their conversational interloper said. Paley and Piedmont didn’t comment, and they studiously avoided eye contact for a while after.
“What happened to the eye?” one of the senior partners asked Piedmont, catching sight of his shiner. It was Brewster Adams, the most crotchety and standoffish partner, one Piedmont had never been able to warm up to.
“Baseball.”
“You play?” Brewster asked, perking up with interest.
“Not well, apparently,” Piedmont said with a self-deprecating smile.
“Even so, you should join the firm’s league. Good or not, you’d be the only member with your original knees.”
“I’ll give it some consideration,” Piedmont said, knowing no matter what he would do it. If baseball bridged the gap between him and the partner who would likely have the final say on his own partnership, he would be willing to become a baseball and be hit with a bat.
“Remind me to pick up some books on baseball,” Piedmont whispered to Paley as they walked away.
“I think we can do better than that,” Paley whispered, patting his arm.
“Why do I feel a sudden chill?” he asked.
“You’ll survive,” she said. “Mostly.”