Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
Julian was finishing up another long day at the office when his brother Roman came in with more mail. “Look at you. Making two deliveries in the same day. How’s the mail room treating you?”
“As you well know, it totally blows. It’s so boring, I want to stab myself in the eye with a letter opener.”
Julian smiled at his youngest sibling, the one who looked the most like him with a few of his own embellishments, including diamond studs in his ears and sleeve tattoos he was required to keep covered at the office.
“Ah, yes, I remember well what it was like to want to use the letter opener for something other than its intended purpose. But the good news is, you’re almost done. ”
“Two more weeks until I go back to school, and what does it say about our mail room that law school is looking good to me?”
Julian laughed. “It’s a rite of passage, my friend, and trust me, someday you’ll be thankful to Dad for making you start at the bottom.
” Each of them had found it “easier” to come into the family business having spent some time in the trenches during college and law school vacations, even if it had sucked at the time.
Roman helped himself to some of Julian’s good bourbon and reclined on the sofa as he pulled off his tie.
“Make yourself at home.”
“Don’t mind if I do.”
“I’m looking forward to having you here every day.” He’d always had a soft spot for his youngest sibling, who’d been born when Julian was thirteen.
“Yeah.”
“You’re not excited about joining the family business?”
Roman took a long drink of bourbon. “Did you ever want to do something other than this?”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know. Anything. We could practice any kind of law. Why family law?”
Sensing an existential crisis brewing with his brother, Julian got up and fixed himself two fingers of bourbon, bringing it with him when he sat across from Roman.
They were due for their monthly dinner with their siblings in forty-five minutes, but the restaurant was walkable from the office, so they had time.
“You’re not the first Remington to face that burning question.”
“I’m usually the last one to do everything.”
Julian chuckled at the matter-of-fact statement. “Every one of us has been where you are, questioning the meaning of life and whether the family business is what we wanted.”
“It’s strange sometimes… How you guys have memories of things that happened to all of us that I barely remember. The drama didn’t have the same impact on me that it did on the rest of you.”
Julian had experienced a totally different childhood from Roman’s in many ways. Roman had told him before that he felt guilty for not carrying the same trauma the others did from the ugly custody battle between their parents.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful not to remember most of it. Hearing what it was like for you guys is always hard. It’s just that I don’t feel the same pull to the profession that the rest of you do because you want to help other kids avoid what you went through.”
“That’s not the only reason we chose family law.” Julian put his glass on the coffee table and rested his elbows on his knees. “Part of it was the opportunity to join an established, well-known, successful practice and not have to start from scratch the way most people do.”
“I get that, but what if I want to do something totally different and make my own mark in another part of the profession?”
“Then that’s what you should do.”
“Dad would flip out. He loves having everyone working together—and so does Mom.”
“You’re not living their lives. You’re living yours. Work will take up a big chunk of your time. If you don’t love what you’re doing, it’ll be a slog.”
“Does this ever feel like a slog to you?”
“Not really. I mean, there’re days when it’s a lot. You leave emotionally drained from battles you’re fighting for people you’d never know if their lives hadn’t blown up in their faces. I met the sister of a longtime friend today after her husband took a baseball bat to their apartment yesterday.”
“Is she okay?”
“She and her kids are fine because she had the foresight to set up a hiding place inside the apartment in case they ever needed it.”
“Wow.”
“I know. She had it ready for them to spend days there if they had to. I can’t stop thinking about how crazy things must’ve been for her to realize she might need a hiding place at some point.”
“And she couldn’t have left?”
He shook his head. “The husband burned through all their money, and the credit cards were maxed. She was in a tough spot and still is. Even though we’ve requested a restraining order, we’re worried about what he’ll do when he makes bail. Being able to help someone like her feels really good.”
“I’ll bet it does. That’s amazing how she had the hiding place ready.”
“It really is.” Julian didn’t mention how he’d thought about Isla all day after their meeting and found himself wanting to know more about her, which was a somewhat unusual development. She’d truly impressed him in more ways than one.
While he always felt for whatever his clients were going through—and often related to their struggles in a way that most attorneys never could—he rarely found himself wanting to get to know them better or wondering what they were like when their life hadn’t just imploded.
“Jules… Did you hear me?”
“What?”
“I asked you where she hid.”
“Oh, um, she cut a hole in the wall behind the closet and made a place for her and her kids to be in case he came home in one of his ‘rages,’ as she calls them.”
“Shit, man. I can’t imagine having to live like that.”
“I can’t either, but it’s another reason why family law can be so satisfying. We’re able to help people like her get out of unsafe situations.”
“What do you do when it’s the husband who hires you?”
“Men can be victims of all the things, too, but as you build your practice, you can be more particular about who you represent. If you find out your potential client is an abusive asshole, you can just say no.”
“Yeah, I guess that’s true.”
“Unless you’re working as a public defender, you always have a choice about who you represent—and who you don’t.”
“Do they ever try to hide who they are from you to get you to take their case?”
“Sometimes, but I make sure I know exactly who I’m representing before I agree to take them on. If they try to hide their shit, I put Carson on it. If there’s shit to be found, he’ll find it.”
“He’s a badass.”
“He sure is.”
“You could always work with him if you’d rather investigate than litigate.”
“I’ve thought about that. I don’t know. We’ll see. I gotta pass the freaking bar before I do anything.”
“You’ve got this. I have faith in you.”
“I wish I were so confident. Standardized tests are still my worst nightmare.”
Roman had dealt with attention deficit disorder since he was a child and had been medicated for it since middle school.
“You’re taking the test-prep class this semester, right?”
“Yep and let me tell you how much I’m looking forward to that. Not.”
Julian laughed. “‘Get it over with and get on with it.’ That’s what Grandpa said to me when I was right where you are.”
“Speaking of him, he called me yesterday to ask if I could take a run out to Ojai to check on the ranch, but I won’t get to that before I go back to school since Dad has me working nonstop. Can you get out there?”
“Yeah, I’ll take a ride out there as soon as I can. No worries. I’ll call him and tell him I’m doing it.”
“Maybe he’ll want to go with you.”
“I doubt it. He doesn’t like being in the car that long anymore. He says it aggravates his arthritis.”
“I can’t believe he’s going to be ninety-four.”
“Right? And still going strong for the most part.” Julian checked his watch. “We need to go.”
Roman sat up, finished the last of his drink and handed his glass to Julian. “God forbid the girls give us shit about always being late.”
“Ain’t no one got time for that.”
“Hey, Jules… Thanks for listening just now. I appreciate that you didn’t try to stuff the family business down my throat like everyone else would’ve done.”
“It’s a long life, man. You gotta be happy.”
“Are you? Happy?”
Julian rarely thought about such things. “Yeah. I guess. I mean… It’s all good.”
That was what his brother expected him to say, but only he knew how out of sorts he’d been since he ran into Aimee Godfrey and was reminded what it’d been like to be truly in love—and how empty and off his game he’d felt ever since.
He kept hoping he’d shake off the lingering disquiet, but that hadn’t happened. Instead, it had gotten worse, and for some reason, the unsettled state was only more so after his meeting with Denny’s beguiling sister.
What the hell was that about?
Julian walked with Roman, Griffin and Ethan toward THE Blvd at the Beverly Wilshire, where they had dinner every other month with their sisters in the Wilshire Dining Room, away from other customers so they could speak freely about matters they wouldn’t want overheard.
The other months, the brothers trekked into downtown to meet their sisters close to their office.
On the way to dinner, Julian held Griffin back. “Are you set for the paternity test tomorrow?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“It’s just a cheek swab. No big deal.”
“Sure, no big deal that could set off a nuclear bomb in my life.”
“You said the baby isn’t yours, and this’ll prove it.”
Griffin gave him the same wild-eyed look as the day before. “What if she is mine? What do I do then?”
“You offer support and go on with your life.”
“While knowing I’ve got a kid out there growing up without me?”
“Let’s wait and see what the test says before you go down that road.”
“It’s all I can think about.”
Julian couldn’t imagine how stressful it would be to get a letter like that from an ex he’d moved on from a long time ago. He’d do everything he could to support Griffin through this, no matter what the test revealed.