Chapter 12
This was complete bullshit. All of it. The day, the job, the man. The absolutely freaking ridiculous deadlines. Two o”clock was approaching fast and along with it the very important meeting with the client, and yet here I was still unable to contact Guy”s guy. I was definitely going to mess this up as well.
The moment George disappeared and left me completely to my own devices, I should have known that I was screwed. However, I was sure that I would be able to get the answers I needed from the other employees. Turns out they actually did know about Guy’s guy, and most lawyers—the good ones anyway—seemed to have them. They were basically private investigators that were trusted to get them the information they needed. Information that wasn’t readily available anywhere and of course they all had their own private trusted sources. I most definitely didn”t need a guy, so in the meantime, I had to rely on Guy”s guy, that was if I was ever able to locate him. So far, it didn’t seem like this would ever be the case, as I was stuck waiting on Sandra to pick up her damn phone. This was the quickest way the other two had told me since they knew about him but hadn’t had direct contact with him. Sandra, however, was my last shot, but she was currently unreachable.
As I got into the car, I knew that this was no vacation for me. It was extremely tense at work, though given that the subject of my nervousness was right by my side, but this was no time whatsoever to be sensitive. I kept trying to call until eventually and close to tears, I had to give up. He didn’t pay any attention to me, and I wondered if it was right for me to just quit.
He could just drop me off and I would go back to the office because there was absolutely no way now that I would be able to contact the guy and get the needed investigation done before the appointed time. Currently, as his secretary, I didn”t even know where we were headed, and this was yet another thing that made my skin crawl. I wondered then who was going to look even more stupid when we got to where we were going. I imagined him being the one, and as a result, decided not to quit just yet. He would be pissed, but since I had decided to quit, that wouldn’t be my problem in any way.
Sighing, I tried to calm myself down, and soon enough, we arrived at the courthouse. Everyone in this world seemed quite prim and proper, unlike the marketing world, which was a bit more casual. I had to say I appreciated this though and couldn”t help but feel sad once again that I was leaving. I followed behind him completely empty-handed and had to remind myself that he was the one who would be humiliated. However, with every step that I took, the next one became even harder.
Eventually, we arrived at the office of the judge he wanted to see, and at the smile of the secretary waiting outside, I felt such immense envy that I didn”t know how to possess it. She seemed so at ease, as though she had everything under control, while I, on the other hand, was falling apart inside like a two-dollar briefcase. The secretary, with a smile, showed us inside the office in no time, and I started to head over to one of the seating chairs outside, but then suddenly, he gave me a harsh look, as though to ask what the fuck I was doing. Before my butt could even touch the seat, I rose up once again and followed.
The judge had the kindest eyes I had ever seen. Yet, he was quite elderly but still somewhat looked stern. I never did like people peering at me from over their glasses, but the simple curiosity in his eyes was a welcome departure from the turmoil that was currently rolling in the top of my stomach.
“Templeton,” he greeted, and both men exchanged handshakes.
“This is my secretary, Hannah Walker,” Guy introduced and made all greetings in return.
“You can take a seat,” the judge said to me, and this time around, I did as I was told. They began their meeting, talking about some sort of copyright case that the judge was trying to convince Guy to take on. However, his message remained the same and unshaken no matter how many times the judge tried to convince him.
“I don’t do copyright cases, judge,” Guy refused, even after listening to the details. I couldn”t help but wonder about his stubbornness. I realized as I found myself watching his every move just how attentive and unreadable he was, yet there was something fundamentally different about him. Here he was a bit more softened and calmed, and even the way he spoke was full of kindness. I couldn”t truly understand it. So, then who was the real him? The polite man who turned down an older man as patiently and repeatedly as possible, or the vicious heart-torturing monster who had made the past few hours of my life a living hell.