The Interns: a workplace romance (The Stanton Brothers Book 1)

1. Maya

“Ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to introduce you to Ms. Maya Hendricks.”

Maya’s eyes shifted from Alvin King, founding partner of the eponymous law firm, to the two women and one man, all at least twenty years her senior, lined up in the lobby to greet her.

“Maya, these are our unparalleled paralegals.” He chuckled at the play on words that she imagined he used each and every time he introduced them. It was kind of corny, but more endearing if anything given what a big deal he was. “Meet Cynthia, Marcus, and Patti.”

She looked each of them in the eye, lobbing nice to meet you’s from a distance since Mr. King was already hurrying her down the hall for the next wave of introductions. She repeated their names in her head a few times in quick succession, making a point to commit them to memory since she didn’t have her trusty planner out in order to jot them down.

“You know, I was thinking on my way into work this morning, I don’t believe we’ve ever had a summer associate quite as accomplished as you.”

Mr. King was a strapping man in his fifties with a commanding presence, he was also as warm and gracious as could be. Perhaps to a fault. She picked up on his effusiveness in the few meetings they’d had during the interview process. He showered everything and everyone around him with superlatives, which she happily accepted since it was in each of their interests to believe they had found the best in each other. For her, a top law firm that would advance her career, and for him, a budding talent he might recruit someday.

“I was trying to recall all of your credentials,” he continued. “Top five percent of your class at Penn Law, moot court, volunteer at the Intellectual Property Legal Clinic, and Outreach Chair for the Black Law Students Association?”

Her cheeks flushed with pride as he ran down the list of accomplishments she’d worked so hard to achieve throughout her first two years of law school. So many of her peers would respond with faux modesty during an interaction like this, but that was silly. She had put in too much hard work, so she always owned them. Recognition from esteemed attorneys like Mr. King was exactly what she was looking for after all, even if he didn’t have it all right.

“I’m also on Law Review, sir,” she added politely.

“Ah, yes.” He chuckled. “My apologies. I knew I had to be forgetting something. It’s a wonder you have time to eat and sleep.”

She let out a small laugh. If she was being honest, some weeks both were hard to come by, but he didn’t need to know that. She pushed herself especially hard this past year to make sure her grades and resume were in order when it came time to apply for junior associate positions in the fall. As they neared the end of the hall, she saw that they were about to turn into the corridor that led to the office reserved for their summer associate. The office she had been dreaming about since the day of her interview.

It was a corner office on the twenty-fourth floor with views of downtown Atlanta and beyond. The space was well-appointed with traditional decor without being overly formal. Though over-the-top for a lowly summer associate, it was all part of the show firms put on, even if the next time she set foot in an office like this would be at least seven years into her career if everything went according to plan.

She was going to live it up, though, and had dressed the part in her smart black heels and perfectly tailored gray skirt suit. Her thick black hair was straightened and gathered into a simple, low ponytail. She finished her look with a bold red lip and the pearl earrings her parents had gifted her upon graduating from college, both of which popped against her deep brown skin.

Just before they made the turn, however, Mr. King slowed to a stop. “There’s something we need to discuss.”

For the first time since she had arrived, he was finally standing still, giving her his undivided attention instead of walking and talking at a hundred miles a minute. His voice, which usually projected enough for anyone in a twenty-foot radius to hear, had dropped to a near whisper which unnerved her. She went to answer, but nothing came out, so she nodded, tense with anticipation.

“As you know, it’s always been tradition at my firm to take on one associate each summer…”

Of course she knew. Big firms usually accepted an entire class of summer associates, but his well-regarded intellectual property firm took just one, making it one of the most prestigious associateships a law student could get. It was the reason today, Monday, June 2, had been circled and starred in her planner for months. It was also the sole reason she had accepted this offer over the many others she had. Alvin King was regarded as a “lawyer’s lawyer,” and she wanted to learn everything she could from him this summer.

“…the reason being, we’re all about a personal experience.”

She nodded along, bracing herself for the but.

“Well, this year, we had a unique situation where we had two exceptional candidates, so I decided to host both of you for the summer.”

Maya grit her teeth to keep her face free of disappointment as her carefully constructed summer plans unraveled in a matter of seconds.

“Now, I hope you’re not disappointed.”

The quickness with which he said that made her wonder if she hadn’t done as good a job hiding it as she thought. “Not at all, sir,” she lied. Advanced notice would have been nice, though, so she could have had time to process this news.

“You’ll be sharing an office and a caseload because we don’t have the space or work to spare right now,” he admitted, “and I do apologize for that, Maya, but I promise this should not lessen your experience at all. In fact, I think it may even enhance it.”

She was not convinced but gave him a tight-lipped smile. What else could she do? It was too late to go crawling back to the other firms she had passed over now. She was stuck here, so she followed as he began to walk down the hall again, her stomach turning as it all sank in.

“Your fellow associate is a very nice, talented young man. A few years your senior but born and raised in the Atlanta area just like you, so you have that in common,” he carried on casually as he gave a quick knock on the open office door to signal their arrival.

“Maya, I’d like to introduce you to Reed Stanton,” he said with a smile. Mr. King stepped just inside the office to clear the way for her.

And there he was, looking so unbothered by any of this. Dressed in the standard-issue prep uniform of khaki pants and a light blue dress shirt, he had one hand on his hip as he stared out of the floor-to-ceiling window. His silhouette was long and lean, his neck and forearms glowed with a summer tan, and his light brown hair picked up flecks of gold from the sunlight streaming through the window.

She blinked a few times in quick succession, hoping this was just some triple espresso-fueled hallucination. How was he already here? She was the early bird, always the first to arrive and last to leave work and school. And in her office?

“Sorry, that view is really somethin’.” He turned and strolled across the room with a big smile and outstretched hand. “Nice to meet you.” A thick southern drawl rolled out of his mouth as slow as molasses.

She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. It was so unexpected coming out of his mouth, especially in a high-rise in downtown Atlanta where people had a slight twang at the very most. She tried to summon a professional countenance as she shook his hand. “Nice to meet you, too.”

She hoped against all hope that, despite appearances, he wasn’t like the good ol’ boys she knew growing up who stuck around Georgia and got by on their good looks and southern charm. Who went to law school or business school, settled down with pretty girls eager to take their last names, and worked just hard enough to afford their suburban McMansions, luxury SUVs, and big-screen TVs to watch college football on every fall weekend.

She wanted more than that for herself. She wanted to be a part of a firm where intelligence and hard work meant more than personality and connections. Where people were passionate about their work. She thought that’s what this summer associateship was all about, but now she wasn’t so sure.

“Well, how about this? The Dream Team of summer associates,” Mr. King declared. “I have a good feeling about this summer.”

She did not. She felt kind of ill, actually, but wished she shared her boss’s unrelenting optimism.

“Why don’t I let you two settle in? Feel free to take off and explore the office and the neighborhood. The day is yours. We’ll go over your case assignment tomorrow morning, but if you need anything before then, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

They thanked him and waved him off, then watched him walk out of the room, silence lingering for a few moments in his wake. Maya stared out the doorway, unable to face reality just yet, when Reed finally spoke up.

“I, uh, I just set my stuff at this desk,” he said motioning to the one behind him, “but I’m open to either one.”

“You’re fine. You can have that one and I’ll just take this one.” She slid the black leather tote off her shoulder and placed it on the desk before easing herself into the chair and turning to face him again. Things were not going as expected, but she would try to make the best of it. She had to. “So Mr. King said you’re from Atlanta?”

“Yeah, about seventy miles east of here. A town called Clayville. You heard of it?”

Ah, hence the thick accent.Saying he was from the Atlanta area had been a leap. “No, I’m afraid I haven’t.” She wasn’t too proud to feel slight embarrassment over being an oblivious city girl.

“That’s okay, not many people have. How about you?”

“Here.” She idly twisted in her chair and cast her eyes out the window over the familiar city view. “Just down the road actually.”

“Four-oh-four, huh?”

She swiveled her chair toward him again, finding him watching her with a proud grin over his quip about her hometown area code. “Yeah.” She couldn’t help but grin. Bless his heart for sounding like an out-of-towner. She’d be willing to bet he probably referred to the city as Hotlanta, too. “But I go to school in Philadelphia.”

“Yeah, I heard that about you.”

He went quiet as he leaned back in his chair, staring at her with his blue eyes and the affable perma-grin that made his dimples a constant presence on his chiseled face. His brand of southern charm was a reminder she was home, and she hadn’t missed it much since moving up north for school. Living in a city like Philly really suited her. The faster pace. Not having to smile all the time or exchange empty pleasantries in passing on the sidewalk. In fact, a little edge seemed to pass for its own kind of charm up there, which worked for her.

“How about you? As far as I know, there aren’t any law schools in Clayville.”

“Nope.” His dimples deepened as he smiled through her challenge. “But there’s one in this little town close by called Athens. You heard of that town?”

Of course she had. Athens was home to one of the best universities in the state of Georgia. She had to admit he’d stepped it up with that one. “Yeah, I’ve heard of it,” she smarted.

She pushed herself up from her chair and walked over to the window, then folded her arms across her chest as she looked out over the expanse of green tree-tops beyond the metal-and-glass high-rises of downtown.

“So why come back home for the summer?” he asked.

“The opportunity to work one-on-one with one of the leaders in intellectual property law. I’ve been following his work for years.”

He chuckled softly at her answer, and she knew exactly why, since it must have sounded precocious coming from her twenty-four-year-old mouth.

“What exactly brought you here?” she asked, peering over her shoulder at him.

“Al did.”

Her nose crinkled at the familiarity with which he referred to their boss. Al? Seriously? This was not a good sign at all. What if his dad played golf with Al on the weekends and he gave Reed a spot since they were buds? Or what if Reed didn’t get accepted for an associateship anywhere else, so Al gave him a last-minute position as a solid to his father. Ugh.

“I was in law enforcement for a few years before I went back to school,” he explained, “and we met on a case I worked. He’s been buggin’ me to come work with him ever since even though he knows I want to practice criminal law, but Al is Al, so here I am.” He finished with a shrug, and of course, that grin.

“Here you are,” she repeated, forcing a pretty smile.

At least it wasn’t the worst-case scenario but the less she knew the better. She really didn’t want to learn anything else that would sour this opportunity for her. Reed Stanton seemed like a nice enough guy to talk to in line at the coffee shop or even a bar, but not here. Not at her dream associateship. Not when she had worked her ass off to get a foot in the door while he seemed to have slipped right through the back somehow.

She walked to her desk with purpose, seeing his feet drag along the carpet out of the corner of her eye as he turned in his chair to follow her. She grabbed her purse and slung it over her shoulder then took a few steps towards the door before stopping, those dormant southern manners awakening and guilting her into giving some reason for her departure.

“I haven’t had any coffee yet,” she said as she squeezed her temples with her fingers. Total lie. She’d had too much, in fact, and was buzzing with nerves, frustration, and caffeine. She just needed a minute to herself. “So I’m gonna run out and grab something. You want anything?”

“I’m good, thanks.”

“Good,” she answered without even looking as she moved for the door again.

She sped down the hall and out the glass-pane office doors into the lobby. She jammed her finger into the down button on the elevator five or six times even though it was already illuminated. When the doors opened, she stepped in and paced around the polished steel-and-marble car, thankful the morning rush was over.

As soon as the bell dinged and doors opened, Maya raced out of the building smack into the stifling humidity, yet it felt like paradise compared to her air-conditioned office. She rounded the corner and found a bench in the shade of the building’s shadow.

She took a few deep breaths as she watched the smokers exiled to the park across the street milling about while breathing their clouds of smoke in and out. She couldn’t stand cigarettes, but in that moment, she wished she had a little vice to take the edge off. Instead, she reached for her cell phone and hit redial. In just one ring, she had her best friend and fellow law student on the other end.

“I take back everything I said about you wasting your time working so hard. It was worth it. I can see that now,” Sydney spilled without even a hello. She seemed to be having an equally stellar first day.

“I don’t know about that.”

“Oh, I do. I’m sitting here all alone in the basement of the courthouse waiting for my supervisor to get in because they forgot I was starting today. I’m drinking something I was told was coffee and seriously rethinking all of my life choices. Please let me live vicariously through your proper associateship. Tell me about your office. Tell me where they’re taking you for lunch today.”

“Nowhere. Lunch is tomorrow.”

“And that would be where?”

“That steakhouse in Buckhead.”

“Bones?”

Maya pulled the phone away from her ear and grimaced at the loud groan that followed.

“Wait—I didn’t know it was open for lunch.”

“It’s not. It’s a special event.”

“I hate you.”

“Oh please, you go there all the time with your parents, Syd,” Maya pointed out.

“Not for lunch! I bet the steak tastes so much better in the middle of the day—oh shit. I think that’s my boss coming to get me. I gotta go.”

“But I didn’t even get to tell you about my morning,” Maya whined, realizing she’d missed her chance to vent which was the entire reason for calling.

“Cypress Street Pub. Six o’clock.”

The phone went dead. Maya made a face at it, then tossed it into her purse. She leaned against the cool granite wall and closed her eyes, allowing herself to have a pity party. She was justified in feeling blindsided and disappointed by the change in circumstances, but she was going to have to let it go and figure out how to salvage this opportunity.

* * *

“So the teacher?” Adam asked, swiping from a cute guy with blonde hair to an equally cute guy with brown hair. “Or the financial analyst?”

Syd and Darby leaned in closer, scrutinizing the faces displayed on his phone and weighing each candidate’s self-proclaimed attributes as they tried to decide on the best match for their friend.

“Which one has a pet again?” Darby pushed the bridge of her thick-framed tortoise-shell glasses back up her nose to keep them from sliding off while she leaned over the phone.

“The analyst?” he answered hesitantly before checking the profile, unable to keep their stats straight.

“Then him,” Darby decided.

“But the teacher is cute,” Syd countered, tapping her finger against his face on the screen. “And he’s a teacher. That should count for something.”

The three nodded quietly, stumped as they circled right back around to a place of indecision. Maya frowned when she realized they had turned their attention to her, having been much happier to be left to her own thoughts.

“You’re the tiebreaker, Maya,” Adam said. “What do you think?”

“I think,” she started before taking a sip of wine, “that I have no idea how you have time for this stuff. Also, don’t you have a blind date this weekend?”

“Yes,” Adam said indignantly. “I want to have options. And I’ve got plenty of time because I’ve got a real job unlike you ladies.”

His gloating earned him a punch in the arm by Syd on behalf of her fellow grad students. Adam was Maya’s cousin, her mother’s sister’s son. And since they were both only children, they were more like siblings. They were always mistaken for brother and sister growing up due to being attached at the hip. Their shared family traits of height, round brown eyes, and matching toothy smiles probably didn’t hurt either.

Syd became their third wheel when she moved from Alabama to Atlanta in the middle of sixth grade, and they invited the new girl to eat lunch with them then quickly bonded over their love of music, especially ladies like Kelly, Rhianna, Taylor, and Beyonce. After high school, Adam stayed in Atlanta for college then went straight to work as a graphic designer, while she and Syd went off to Vanderbilt where they adopted Darby into their circle when she was randomly assigned to share a dorm room with them freshman year. Syd and Darby went back to Atlanta for grad school while Maya continued her journey up the East Coast, but for one summer, they were all in one place and, for the most part, loving it.

“What?” Adam rubbed his arm. “I’ve got disposable income and my own place, and I’d like to find someone to enjoy that with.”

“Then not the analyst,” Maya suggested. “There’s a reason he has a cat and not a dog. He’s never home and won’t commit to a real relationship.”

“You are so pessimistic.”

She met Adam’s proclamation with a twisted grin. “No, I’m so realistic.”

“I’d listen to Maya. She’d know because she’s like the analyst,” Darby pointed out, like the psychiatrist-in-training she was.

“Oh, she so is. All work and no play these days,” Syd agreed. Maya protested across the table. “Sorry, Maya, but it’s true. This is not your fun girl era. Okay, so not the analyst then. What about this guy you’re working with?”

Maya stared at her friend. “Are you serious?”

“Very. What’s he like? Any potential there?” Syd smiled innocently and flipped her auburn curls over her shoulder then nodded toward Adam. “Just asking for a friend…or me.”

“He seems nice enough,” she answered with a sigh. “He’s got to be somewhat intelligent if he made it into law school at the University of Georgia,” she said, still trying to convince herself that there was hope for this associateship yet. Then again, who’s to say he didn’t know somebody there, too? Ugh. “He really puts the draw in drawl, though. He talks so slowly. Like he really draaaaws things out. And he’ll just stare out the window for minutes on end and go huh or would you look at that? Look at what? Who has time for that?”

Syd and Adam giggled like they were twelve again and back in the lunchroom. “You definitely do not have time for that,” Syd said, “but I might depending on how good looking he is.”

“Yeah, don’t leave us hanging,” Adam said.

“He looks…fine, I guess.” Yes, she had willfully understated his attractiveness because he was certainly above-average looking, but it didn’t seem appropriate to drool over her new co-worker.

Adam’s laugh busted wide open with Syd right behind him. “Dibs,” they shouted at the same time, trying to push each other out of the way as if Reed was actually there for the taking, and almost knocking their drinks over in the process.

Maya rolled her eyes and tried to swallow the laugh that wanted to bubble out of her. They knew her too well and saw right through her. Southern belle Syd did always have a thing for those cowboy types, and Adam just had a thing for good looking guys period. “I can’t with you two.”

“Maybe he’ll surprise you,” Darby said. “In a good way,” she added quickly.

“Maybe.” She agreed because it was difficult to ever go against her sweet friend. “It just stings because this was supposed to be my associateship, and it feels like I’m the third wheel to Reed and Al’s boys club,” Maya explained as she dropped back into the cushioned booth they were sitting in. “I’m wondering what I’ve gotten myself into.”

Syd scoffed from across the table. “You are the undisputed Queen of Intellectual Property Law among rising third year law students across the country.” Maya was skeptical, but Syd hushed her. “You are. No need to look it up because it’s a fact. This Reed guy has a lot to learn from you.”

“True. And please tell me, when have you ever not risen to the top and slayed everything you’ve ever done, from our first dance recital to high school track meets to getting into an Ivy league law school?” Adam added.

“You two are just trying to suck up to me to get his number,” Maya said over the rim of her wine glass.

Adam gasped. “Absolutely not. How dare you question my motives.”

“See? You have nothing to be worried about,” Darby said. “You’re gonna do great.”

“I’m not worried,” Maya insisted. “I’m just…” She pinched the stem of her glass between her fingers. “I’m disappointed.”

“And you have every right to be,” Sydney allowed. “Just do your thing and try to enjoy this opportunity for what it is. No matter what, you still get to put King and Associates on your résumé and that’s pretty impressive.”

“You’re right.” She straightened her posture and rested her forearms on the table. “You’re all right.”

“Yeah, we know,” Sydney said readily.

Maya shook her head as she looked around the bar and then at her friends in front of her, Adam and Sydney with their beautiful, smug faces, and sweet Darby, still in her light blue scrubs, quietly sucking down the last of her rumless Coke through a straw since she had to be up at four the following morning.

“Darby, I didn’t even ask how the first day of your surgery rotation went.”

“Oh.” She seemed almost startled, as if she’d forgotten all about her day too. “I scrubbed in on a heart transplant for a six-month-old.”

Maya’s jaw went slack, and Adam and Sydney dropped their side conversation and stared at Darby. Wasting breath complaining about bad coffee, online dating, and unwanted co-workers seemed embarrassingly shallow now.

“I was third assist, so it’s not like I actually did anything. I pretty much just watched,” Darby clarified, uncomfortable with all eyes on her now.

“I think it’s pretty amazing,” Maya said, still in awe.

Adam threw up a hand to find the closest server. “Can we get this lady a real drink, please?”

As they sat nursing their second round of drinks sharing the details of their days, Maya found herself truly smiling and even laughing for the first time today. She promised herself she would hang on to this good mood and start fresh tomorrow morning.

No matter what, it was still her summer.