“Everyone knows the tiger.” Zara handed a business card to Lucia. “In case you ever need legal advice. We’re the number one personal injury firm in the city.”
“I’m not surprised. Tony Cruz was at the top of our class in law school.” Lucia tucked the card away in her purse. “I always wondered where he landed. He was incredibly gifted but he didn’t fit into the traditional mold. He had long hair, tattoos, and he refused to wear a tie.”
“He still won’t wear a tie,” Zara laughed. “But he has had a few haircuts.”
After Lucia had gone, Jay sent his staff back to work, making a mental note to find out what tea had been spilled about him and how he could prevent such office gossip in the future.
“You’re early,” he said to Zara. “I had blocked off two hours and forty-five minutes for our meeting, assuming it would start at three.”
“I wanted to make sure I had enough time to talk to your staff.” Zara shrugged. “I can come back later.”
That was the last thing he wanted. She had already brightened up an otherwise bad day. “Lucia’s visit was also unexpected, so I had to rearrange a few meetings. It’s not a problem.”
“I sometimes wonder if I should have accepted Lucia’s offer,” Zara mused as he led the way to his office. “Her firm has an entertainment law department. I would have met a few celebrities by now, maybe even been invited to the Academy Awards.”
Had he misunderstood her conversation with Lucia? “I thought you just had an interview and it didn’t go well.”
“It didn’t go well,” she said. “My head wasn’t in the game after all that nonsense. You try to do an interview after you’ve been mopping up blood and running around with an ice bucket collecting severed fingers. I’m still embarrassed by how badly it went.”
He slowed his steps as they neared his office, turning to face her. “It couldn’t have been that bad if she offered you the job.”
“She offered me the job because I was at the top of my class and I’d never lost a case in my previous two firms. Unfortunately, my methods were too unorthodox for them, so we parted ways by mutual agreement. Lucia interviewed me as a favor to my mom when I was struggling to find a new position, and I guess she liked what she saw. But by then I knew I was never going to fit into a big-city firm, so I turned her down to take the job with Cruz & Lovitt.”
His brain was still stuck on the severed fingers. “So your story about the Mafia boyfriend was all true?”
“I wasn’t about to lie to the senior partner of one of the biggest firms in the city.” She scribbled something on her clipboard.
“What did you write?” Curious, he tried to peer over her shoulder, and she turned away.
“I wrote down that you are lacking in business sense.” She lifted an admonishing eyebrow. “There’s no point burning bridges. I might want to work at Lucia’s firm someday. Maybe she’ll have a case to send my way, or vice versa. In any event, lies are bad. They come back to bite you in the ass. Remember that.”
Jay was fairly certain he would remember every single moment of the last twenty minutes for the rest of his life. And they had another two hours and twenty-five minutes of their allotted appointment time to spend together. He felt a curious sensation in his chest. Something he hadn’t felt since he was boy on Christmas Eve. It took him a moment to identify it as excitement.
“Would you like to come in and see my office?” He stepped to the side to allow her to pass.
“Actually, I’d like to see your restroom.”
Puzzled, he frowned. “What could you possibly learn about me in the restroom?”
“I would find out whether or not you provide toilets for your guests who need to pee.”
Mortified by his misstep, he directed her to the restroom and returned to his office. He had only just finished checking his e-mails when Zara walked in the door. “So, this is how the other half lives.”
“I don’t live here,” he said. “I work here.”
“Not according to your staff. They say you’re here all hours of the day and night and also on the weekends. They also said that your couch has a pullout bed for quick naps, and that you have extra suits and ties in your wardrobe, and folded shirts in your desk drawer. No one mentioned boxers but I do hope you have a fresh supply so you don’t have to reuse the same pair.”
He gave an affronted sniff. “Certainly not.”