Chapter 31
Chapter thirty-one
Everly
Hattie knocked on my doorframe. “Lunch?” she asked, holding up a paper bag from my favorite sandwich shop. “Baked potato soup bowl and chicken salad croissant.”
“That’s really sweet of you, Hattie, but I’m swamped,” I said, gesturing to the pile of papers in front of me.
“You can eat and work,” she said, setting down the massive bag on my desk.
“I’m honestly not hungry. I’ll get a protein bar later.”
“No, you won’t,” Maddie called from the hallway before she strolled into my office, closing the door behind her. “Just like I bet you didn’t eat dinner last night or have anything but coffee this morning.”
She set a reusable shopping bag on my desk next to the bag from the sandwich shop. “I got chips, chocolate caramels, cheese puffs, and sour gummy worms. You don’t even have to share.”
“Honestly, I’m fine, and I have so much work to do. Bryant’s bail hearing is this afternoon.”
“And he doesn’t need his lawyer fainting from low blood sugar,” Maddie said, flopping into a chair across from my desk.
Her hair was falling out of her loose bun, and the circles under her eyes spoke of the back-to-back nights she’d covered at the hospital.
I hated that she looked so exhausted, but I’d appreciated having the apartment to myself.
Especially after running into Levi yesterday.
Hattie took a seat in the chair beside Maddie and started pulling food from the paper bag. She slid a turkey club down the desk to my sister, and my eyes widened. It was all the proof I needed that they’d been talking about me and joined forces for whatever this was.
“I’m not above sitting on you and pouring soup in your mouth,” Maddie said, as she attacked her sandwich like she was the one who hadn’t eaten in days.
“Just try a little soup,” Hattie said gently. “Once you start eating, you might find you’re hungry.”
Maddie nodded. “An empty stomach can trigger nausea. It’s a vicious cycle for someone like you.”
“Someone like me?” I asked as Hattie shoved a steaming bread bowl across the desk. The scent of cheese and bacon made my stomach growl.
“See,” Maddie said around a mouthful of sandwich. “You always lose your appetite when you’re upset, and then you go so long you actually feel sick. Just eat, damn it.”
“When in med school do they work on your bedside manner?” I asked, dipping the plastic spoon Hattie handed me into the bread bowl. My stomach growled again the moment I tasted the soup. I closed my eyes and savored the comforting flavors. When I opened them, both women were staring at me.
“It’s good,” I said, going back for another spoonful.
Maddie’s shoulders relaxed, and she continued demolishing her sandwich.
Hattie unpackaged two chicken salad croissants and a small container of her favorite pasta fagioli soup. She slid a sandwich to me and got started on her own lunch.
“I can’t possibly eat all this and a sandwich,” I said, even as I devoured the potato soup. “And I want to eat the whole bread bowl.”
“I’ll eat the chicken salad,” Maddie said, reaching for the sandwich. “It’s probably best you don’t go too big, too fast. Have you been hydrating?”
“Yes.”
“She’s been mainlining coffee if that’s what you mean,” Hattie said.
Maddie huffed and reached into the bag she’d brought before slamming a jumbo bottle of water on my desk. “Make sure she drinks all that before she leaves for the day,” she said to Hattie.
Hattie nodded and bit into her croissant.
“I can’t drink all that. I have court in a couple hours. I’ll have to pee like crazy.”
“Doubt it with how dehydrated you must be,” Maddie said before starting on her second sandwich.
“Are you home tonight?” Hattie asked my sister. “Or should I stop by and make her eat dinner?”
“I’m home. I’ll make sure she takes half decent care of herself.”
“I’m fine,” I said for what felt like the millionth time.
“Don’t insult us,” Maddie said, setting her sandwich down and leveling me with a glare. “You’ve locked down so tight you can’t even get food in your mouth. I didn’t even know you and Levi broke up until Hattie told me this morning.”
“And I only knew because I heard Officer Stafford was back on the Wythers case and called Joyce for the full intel.”
“I assumed you went radio silent during my shift because you’re upset about Theo,” Maddie said, slouching back into her chair. She looked ready to pass out.
“I am,” I said, the disappointment clear in my voice. I wouldn’t be in the best mood even if Levi and I hadn’t broken up. My meeting with Professor Exton had given me hope, but Theo seemed resolved to end the appeal and texted me last night to stop wasting my time.
“So this is just about Theo,” Maddie said, raising her eyebrows at me. “I bet he’d be devastated to hear you’ve fallen into a grief pit because of him.”
I pointed my finger at my sister. “Don’t say anything to Theo.”
“Then stop blaming him for why you want to disappear into the carpet,” Maddie said, crossing her arms over her chest. “You’re hiding. Stop.”
I shook my head. “I can’t, Maddison.” Tears welled in my eyes, and my sister’s gaze softened both at my response and the use of her full name. “I have court.”
“Preston’s calendar is open this afternoon,” Hattie said softly. “He told me he’d be happy to step in if you’d like.”
“I bet,” I said. “That’d basically guarantee he’d make partner.”
Hattie huffed out a breath. “He may be your competition, but he’s decent. He knows Officer Stafford will be at the courthouse today, and he offered to help if you weren’t ready to see him again.”
“OK, I know you’ve got the whole client-attorney privilege thing and can’t give me details. From what I’m hearing, Levi was involved in a case with one of Everly’s clients, so he took himself off it, but now he’s back on because they aren’t together.”
“That sums it up,” Hattie said.
“You broke up with Officer Studly over a case?” my sister screeched.
“We broke up because he asked me to drop my client so he could work the case without any potential conflict.”
“Oh,” Maddie said, sitting back. “What a dick. Hope this case was worth screwing up his shot with you.”
I’d been wondering the same thing. If Levi really loved me, would he have risked our relationship for just any case?
Every instinct told me no. This case was personal.
After my anger cooled, I did what I always did and tried to look at the situation from every angle.
“It was very important to him,” I said softly.
“His last partner overdosed and died. It’s what started his investigation into his unit in Richmond.
I think the entire campus operation is triggering him.
He’s afraid if he doesn’t stop the drugs coming into town, someone else will OD. ”
“Holy shit,” Maddie breathed.
“I think he blames himself for not seeing that his partner was using. Like he missed opportunities to save him.”
“And he sees this case as an opportunity to save other people?” Haddie asked quietly.
I nodded.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this,” Maddie said. “But maybe this one time you should let Preston handle it.”
I shook my head. “There will come a case that both of us care too much about to give up. Not to mention, removing myself from this case would prove the very thing the partners were worried of when I told them about Levi.”
“And what was that?” Maddie asked.
“That she’d be reducing her client potential,” Hattie said, balling up the wrapper from her sandwich. “Which is silly. She’s the most requested attorney after the partners.”
Maddie studied me so closely that my cheeks heated. “You really liked him.”
I nodded.
“Clearly, he was an ass,” Maddie said. “A grieving ass is still an ass. He never should have asked you to give up a client, but honestly, I’ve never seen you this upset over someone before. You really don’t think there’s a way you could work something out?”
My breath hitched as I thought back to the hurt on Levi’s face, both in Chief Fitzwilliam’s office and the brief moment I saw him yesterday. “I don’t think we can come back from this.”
“Good grief, Everly,” Maddie said, rooting around in the reusable bag before yanking out the potato chips. “Have you ever read your own tattoo?”
“What’s it say?” Hattie asked, grabbing a handful of chips when Maddie tilted the bag toward her. “I caught a glimpse of it when I gave her my shirt the day she told the partners about Levi, after you let her out into the world looking like death.”
“I was just trying not to get puked on that morning,” Maddie said, crunching down on a chip. “Her tattoo says, ‘Every breath is a second chance.’ Right over her lung. I had to hold her boobs the whole time. Clearly, I know it better than she does.”
“I love that, and I know you’re a good sister. That’s why the shirt choice surprised me,” Hattie said before putting a chip in her mouth. Maddie burst out laughing at the face she made, and a reluctant smile tugged at my lips. “What foul flavor is this?” Hattie asked, grabbing the bag from Maddie.
“Only the best flavor,” Maddie said, grabbing it back. She tilted the bag toward me, and I grabbed a handful of chips. Somehow during the conversation, I’d eaten all the soup and done some serious damage to the bread bowl.
Maddie shook her head. “I’m just saying, for someone who’s all about fighting for second chances, you seem pretty reluctant to give them. I’ve seen the way he looks at you. He’s completely smitten. I bet he regrets everything he said to you.”
My eyes stung. Did he regret loving me? Probably. No doubt he regretted telling me. “We agreed to end things,” I said before taking a giant breath. “After he told me he loved me.”
Hattie looked shocked but Maddie groaned. “You thought he was trying to manipulate you?” my sister said.
“Of course I did. We’d only been together a month and a half. Telling someone you love them so soon screams love bombing.”
“Or a man who knows a good thing when he has it,” Hattie said with a frown.
“Dad always says when you know, you know,” Maddie said, shaking her head. “He knew he was marrying Mom after their first date.”
“That’s so romantic,” Hattie said, putting her hand on her chest.
“But he waited a reasonable amount of time to tell her that,” I said.
“Is love ever reasonable?” Hattie asked.
“No,” Maddie answered without hesitation. “It’s emotion, not reason. At least unconditional love is,” she added softly.
“As much as I appreciate your concern and lunch, I really need to get back to work.”
“She does,” Hattie said. “The partners want to meet with you and Preston in twenty minutes.”
“About what?” I asked, clicking over to my calendar. Sure enough, there was a new meeting there with no details other than that we’d be in the conference room.
Hattie shrugged. “They asked me to book it right before I came in here. They didn’t say why.”
“And you’re just now telling me?”
“You needed to eat,” she said.
The food twisted in my stomach, and I glared at her. “If I have to run out of a meeting with the partners to puke, I’m blaming you.”
“Nah,” Hattie said. “Once you’re in there, you’ll go full attorney mode. Counselor Hendricks wouldn’t let a broken heart get in her way of showing up Preston in front of the partners.”
For once, I wasn’t so sure my work persona would be enough.