The first person I saw was Karen.
She was practically waiting at the door with a cup of coffee in one hand and a donut in the other.
I nearly growled at her as I breached the entrance of my firm.
“Croft, hey!” she chirped as she walked to me. “I got you some coffee.”
I shook my head. “Already had some, thanks, though.”
“Oh.” She frowned. “What about a donut?”
I looked at the carb-filled morsel and shook my head. “No, I have a CrossFit competition in Shreveport in a few weeks. I don’t need any unnecessary carbs.”
She all but deflated.
I ignored her and moved swiftly to my office, anticipation for the day already humming through my veins.
“Hey, would it be okay if I borrowed your computer?” Karen asked sweetly from behind me. “Mine’s not acting right.”
“Sorry, but no,” I said. “Computers aren’t to be shared among us. There’s too much information on them that could possibly harm our clients, even unintentionally.”
“Oh.” She paused. “Well, Matthews allowed me to borrow his a few weeks ago, so I thought it wouldn’t be a problem.”
I looked at her over my shoulder. “Your computer’s been acting weird for a few weeks now?”
She opened her mouth and then closed it. “Oh, well I got it back from IT, and it was still doing that same weird glitching. So I sent it back to IT.”
“Sorry, but no,” I shrugged. “There’s a communal one in the conference room. You have to log in to it using your office ID.”
When I got to my office, I slammed the door closed, knowing that Karen would come in if I didn’t.
When I got there, I looked around the room, my eyes taking in the mountain of paperwork that I needed to get through today to get ready for the trial that was starting in two days.
I still had to call a few of my key witnesses, and…
Karen walked into my office without knocking, making my teeth grit in response.
“Karen,” I said as I tried to remain polite. “I realize that you’re used to walking in here because of the case that we just worked on together, but I need you to please respect my privacy if my door is closed from now on.”
The case that went fuckin’ bust thanks to the asshole copping a plea deal with the FBI.
The assholes.
All of them were assholes.
Karen’s mouth all but fell open in response.
“Now, I have a few phone calls to make, so you may see yourself out,” I continued.
Karen shook her head, as if she couldn’t quite believe what I’d just said and nodded her head. “O-okay.”
When she was leaving, my office phone rang, and I picked it up without reading the caller ID.
“Croft Crusie,” I grumbled into the phone.
“Croft,” my mother said. “Are you coming to dinner when we get home later this week?”
I looked at my watch realizing that it was only seven-fifty in the morning.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I have a case that I’m trying in two days, and I’m not sure that I’ll get out in time.”
“Please?” Mom begged.
I scratched the back of my neck as I tried to look past all the paperwork and shit that I still had to get through.
And before I even realized what I was doing, I said, “Mom? Can I ask you a question?”
Mom paused.
My mother was literally the best mother in the world.
After the death of my little brother during his baseball game when he was sixteen, she could’ve become overbearing or even withdrawn.
She did neither.
She acted like the same mother that she was before his death, only a little more easily saddened.
“What’s wrong, Croft?” she asked, sounding like she was moving into a quieter place.
My mother was now retired from her previous job, as was my father.
They were newly retired, and both still trying to find their daily routines now that they had no jobs to go to any longer.
Meaning Dad watched a lot of television, and Mom did a lot of sewing, and sometimes they did not coexist so well.
“Tell me,” she urged when I hesitated too long.
“Do you remember me telling you about my date with Carmichael a couple of months ago?” I asked.
“A couple being like six? Before you took the case from hell? Yes. Why?” she asked.
“I never actually went on it,” I admitted. “That night that I was supposed to, I got a call that was important and time sensitive. I didn’t even remember that I had that date until well into the night. I think it was like ten.”
My mother groaned. “Croft, you moron.”
I smiled at my mother’s colorful use of words.
“I know,” I admitted. “But seriously. I really want a second chance. And she hates me. She thinks that Karen is the reason that I bailed on that date, and I’m not sure she likes that I work with her.”
“Nobody likes Karen, honey.” My mother laughed. “Your sister says that she’s a titty baby. Always right at your ass waiting for you to drop her a crumb.”
I sighed. “She’s actually only here for another couple of weeks. Her good friend is moving and she’s going to join her. I think it’s Florida or something? I’m not really sure. She wanted to become a partner here which would have been even worse for me. Soon, she won’t be a problem.”
Mom made an agreeing sound.
“That’s good,” she admitted. “Because if Carmichael sees this chick as a threat, she’s probably not going to give you the time of day. I wouldn’t if I thought you worked with someone that you slept with.”
“Gross.” I rolled my eyes. “Anyway, back to dating her. Do you think that I should just ask her out again?”
“Honey,” Mom snickered. “You need to grovel. You fucked-up, no doubt about it. She’s not going to just forgive you the moment that you decide to once again pay attention to her.” She hesitated. “She probably needs to know what you’ve been doing over these last six months. She
