Chapter 30
COLTON
I drive my silver Beamer into the parking lot of Downing however, only five occupy the seats when Jane, Dad, and I enter.
I recognize one of the partners from when I was younger—Margaret.
She’s a woman with black hair pulled into a low bun, a sharp nose, and a mauve-colored blazer.
Next to her sits one of the firm’s senior attorneys, though I can’t remember his name.
He has severely parted hair that mirrors my dad’s and a face that looks like a woodland fox.
The other three individuals at the table are people I’ve never seen before.
I smile and nod in greeting and they do the same; then each of them stand up one by one, shaking Dad’s hand with warm smiles as he thanks them for being here.
Jane and I are motioned to two cushioned high-backed chairs across from Margaret, and we both sit down.
Jane looks at me with a glimmer in her eye, clearly aware of something I’m not.
I’m becoming more anxious by the second.
My body temperature rises, so I shrug off my suit coat and throw it over the back of the chair, only to find Jane looking pointedly in my direction and then at my discarded coat.
“Don’t you want to wear your suit coat?” Jane asks, sounding surprisingly like my dad, and her dad for that matter. We were both raised in this world, after all. We both know the etiquette.
I briefly consider shrugging my suit coat back on just to appease Jane, but I can’t help feeling like this little action is about more than just a suit coat.
All of a sudden, the idea of putting on that coat feels stifling, restrictive, like I’d be slipping back into old territory that I’d thought I’d left in my pre-island days.
“I’m fine,” I say to Jane who looks like she’s trying to smile through the sour taste of a lemon.
“Well, it’s good to see each of you. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some urgent business I need to attend to.” Dad nods to the table full of former colleagues just before reaching the door and looking back at us. “Jane, I trust you and Margaret can catch Colton up to speed.”
And with that, Dad leaves.
What? He isn’t staying?
I look back at the rest of the table who seem to take Dad’s absence with little to no surprise. Unable to bear it any longer, I turn to Jane. “Jane, what is it that you’re going to catch me up to speed on?”
Jane nods at Margaret, who takes this moment to pass me a leather-bound folder filled with a healthy stack of crisp white paper waiting to be read.
“Colton,” Margaret says formally. “Let me be the first to welcome you as the newest attorney in our brand-new Downing & West Sports Law Division.”
The stiff conference room fills with polite claps as everyone sends me nods of congratulations, welcoming me into the—what did she say? Newest attorney in their Sports Law Division?
Jane pins me with a stare as she holds her claps at eye level, code for say something.
But I can’t. Not when this new position is nothing but a show of Dad’s distrust of me and my abilities.
Is he so afraid that I’ll botch it on my own that he’s gone and pulled a few strings, getting his old firm to make up a Sports Law Division?
Or is it that he just wants tighter reins on my life and career?
Had he ever intended to keep his end of our deal?
I think of Dad’s genuine smile at the airport, this time seeing it for what it truly was. Control. He was never proud of me. He was baiting me. Luring me in until once more I was under his thumb again.
Filling the wordless void I created, Jane jumps in. “And the best part … I’m a new attorney in the division as well. Isn’t that great?”
“Great. Yeah,” I mutter under my breath. So not only did Dad want me at his old firm, but he wanted me back with Jane. He couldn’t have been more obvious if he’d walked me into a chapel and said my vows for me.
I huff out a humorless laugh. “It’s unbelievable.”
“Right?” Jane says, oblivious to my tone.
I nod. “Jane, it’s good to see you again.” I glance back at the rest of my father’s former colleagues. “Thank you for this wonderful offer, but I’m afraid I have to decline. Have a good day.”
I stand up, leaving the room full of bewildered faces.
“Colton,” Jane calls out once I’m halfway down the hall. I turn to find her rushing toward me with my suit coat in hand. “What are you doing?”
I let out a pent-up breath. “I won’t be part of this, Jane.”
“This is exactly what you wanted. A job in sports law was all you could talk about at Yale. And now you’ve got it.”
“Well, I don’t want it like this.”
Jane’s eyes soften. “Colton, you’re tired. You’ve been on an exhausting journey these past couple of weeks, and you just need some quality sleep. I get that. So why don’t you come back tomorrow, and I’ll ask Margaret to postpone this meeting, and we’ll all talk then.”