Chapter 3

June 14, 2011

I woke up at 7:00 a.m. on June 14th. I managed to get some sleep that night, and I felt slightly more rested although, truth be told, I was running more on adrenaline than stress. This would be my first real day at work, after all. I had to do well.

I arrived at the office at 8:30—thirty minutes early. Fortunately, the week before starting I went to the office and brought my belongings in to decorate it. Arriving to a fully decorated office put me at ease. Seeing my deep red casebooks line the bookshelves and some art prints sit on the wall made me feel more at home. I have this nasty habit of overworking so I knew that this office would be more of my home than my actual home.

I walked over to Leon’s office. I had no idea whether or not he’d be in the office before nine, but I knocked on the off-chance that he was so I could get some work to do.

“Leon?”

“Come in.” I slowly pushed the door open and stepped into the office—back into the realm of the 1800’s. As soon as I stuck my head through the door, Leon jumped up from his chair with a book in hand.

“Melody!” Leon walked over to me. “You’re here early.” He grabbed my hand with both of his and gave me a very awkward handshake.

I smiled awkwardly. “Yes, I just wanted to get in early so I could get settled and start working.”

“I admire your work ethic.” Leon walked to a bookshelf and put the book that he was holding back in its rightful spot on the shelf. “I had one of the staff put the documents in your closet. There’s a lot there, just to warn you.”

“Alright, I’ll go look in the closet.”

“The case is a particular one. Mr. Goodard is looking into acquiring a property that will be used as a research lab and an office building. There’s an old strip mall on the property too, and those contracts can’t be extinguished.”

“Have we signed a land sales contract?”

“No land sales contract yet. Maxwell is just loosely talking about acquiring it.”

“Oh, property and contracts, great. I’m on it.” I smiled up at Leon and adjusted my purse on my arm to prevent it from sliding off my narrow shoulder.

“I saw on your resume that property is your forte so I figured that the building acquisition would be safe in your hands.”

“Yes, it is. Thank you.”

Leon laughed. “Don’t thank me yet. Once you get a load of the documents, you’ll be cursing me.” Leon chuckled.

“Well, if that’s all, I’ll get to work,” I said. I spun around on the balls of my feet to head out the door and get to work.

“Wait.” Leon said. “Would you like to get lunch together? I always take the new attorneys to lunch on the first day.”

“I would like that very much.”

Now, would I really like to have lunch with the head of the legal department? Not really. These sorts of lunches are usually awkward and forced. Plus I had the odd feeling that he liked me. But I agreed nonetheless. I’m not going to say no.

“Alright. I’ll swing by your office at 1.”

“Sounds good, thanks.” I walked out of his office and into the bright white hallway and back into my office. I closed the door behind me, so I was secluded in my own little world.

The first thing I did was walk over to the closet and opened it. There were boxes upon boxes of papers. The boxes were stacked, so they were almost as tall as I—not like that is saying much since I’m so short.

Crap. Of course, they give the new girl the annoying and time-consuming case…just like the firm.

I reached up and grabbed the first box and carried it over to my desk. The box was very heavy, and even though I work out a lot, I nearly dropped it on my shiny beige heels a few times.

I opened the box and noticed that my paralegal typed up a one page summary of this particular purchase. I made a mental note to thank her later. Oh, and to introduce myself to her. I promised myself that I would do that this afternoon. But first, I wanted to go and get a head start on these documents.

I sat down at the desk, cracked my knuckles, and pulled out a stack of paper. I put my trusty half-moon glasses on and began reading.

I got lost in the paperwork, per usual. I combed over every line and every detail. So far the paperwork seemed pretty normal. We didn’t have to make a decision on the property until December, but if Maxwell was in the middle of talks, I wanted to have the information ready at a moment’s notice. Eventually, I heard a gentle knock at the door. Even though the sound was soft, I still felt quite startled. I jolted upright.

“Come in!” I said.

Leon pushed the door open gently and popped his ginger hair through the door. “It’s lunch time.” He announced.

I took off my half-moon glasses and placed them on my desk. “Already?” I responded. “I feel like I just started.” I slowly stood up and walked over to Leon. I had a dull ache in my hip from sitting. “I have a tendency to get lost in my work.” I let out a fake laugh. I didn’t want Leon to know that I was all achy. Then I’d have to have a conversation with him about it.

“So do I.” He responded.

Leon held the door to my office open, and I walked through it. I had to walk quickly to keep up with him. His strides were so long seeing as he was super tall and I was not. I still had a tough time navigating the long sterile hallways of Goodard Corporation. There were no recognizable landmarks so I couldn’t commit anything to memory to find my way around. Eventually, the two of us walked through the parking lot, and I followed his lead over to the car. He opened the door, and I entered it.

His car was beautiful. It was a “fully loaded” red convertible sports car with beige seats and wood paneling. I’m not good at identifying car brands, but this was something old and something expensive. Leon walked into the driver’s seat and put the car in reverse. I smiled to myself.

To put all that money into a car but go cheap and get a stick shift?

“Nice car,” I commented to fill the silence.

“Thank you.” Leon said. “I’m a big fan of cars. I just like the feeling of being able to control the speed of the car and where it goes. It makes me marvel at the modern world.”

“Yeah, the modern world is pretty amazing,” I responded in a fake cheerful voice.

This is going to be a long hour…

“The restaurant I chose is about ten minutes away. I hope you like Italian.”

“At this point, I could eat anything.” I laughed. An awkward silence filled the car. “I forgot my breakfast,” I added. I cleared my throat.

Why am I so awkward? I hate these functions…I really do.

“I know if you’re anything like me, you probably hate these sorts of work functions.”

Busted.

“Well, I—”

Leon cut me off. “We’ll try to make this fun. Or at least as painless as possible.”

“If we have good food and good conversation, it won’t be too bad.”

“I like your attitude.” Leon said.

Before I knew it, we pulled into a small Italian restaurant. It looked pretty nice; it had white table cloths and usually restaurants with white table cloths are pretty fancy. It was one of those restaurants where they gave you a plate of delicious bread to munch on before you ate your lunch.

I decided that I was going to have a Caesar Salad before I even walked into the building. The smell of meatballs and sauce started to tempt me away from my decision, but I didn’t want to consume any empty calories, and I also didn’t want to spill sauce on my white suit.

Leon and I took our seats. We had a choice between a table and a booth and, thankfully, Leon picked the booth. They’re so much more comfortable than wooden chairs. I put my white leather bag down and sat down on the squishy red leather seat.

“The bread here is delicious,” Leon noted.

“Oh, that’s good. I usually like to fill up on bread in places like these.”

An awkward silence loomed over the two of us. I felt like I was on a date that going south.

“So…do you go back to Lincoln Law at all?” I asked.

“No. Truth be told, I spent more time in the library than anywhere else. I don’t have too much of a tie to the school.”

“Me too!” I chimed in. “I feel like I should have this alumni pride or something but all I remember is the classes and the library.”

“It is a nice library,” Leon noted.

“Yeah, except when those noisy undergraduates came in.”

Leon let out a loud laugh. He had sort of a silly, jovial laugh.

“Yeah, I know what you mean. During finals, I felt like my head was going to explode. Especially 1L year.”

“The first year is the worst. The worst.”

“Whenever anything bad happens in life, I always think ‘at least I’m not in law school.’”

I grabbed my glass of water and raised it. “Cheers to that.” Our glasses clinked, and we drank our water.

Maybe this lunch won’t be awful after all.

Soon enough the waiter came over to take our entree.

“I’ll have the eggplant parmesan please.” Leon said.

“Caesar salad for me.” I handed the waiter my menu. “Thank you.”

“Coming right up.” The waiter strutted away from the table.

Leon leaned over onto his table and rested his hand on his chin. “Ceasar salad?” Leon asked.

“I’m wearing a white suit.” I gestured to my white skirt suit. “I don’t trust myself.” I laughed.

Leon threw his hand up in the air. “Oh, well that makes sense.” He plopped back down again. From here, the conversation drifted over to sports cars. So boring. It took practically all of my patience to pay attention, and I was only doing it because he was my boss.

Eventually, Leon said something interesting. “I heard you’re on Harriet duty. That stinks that you got that thrown on you on your first day.”

I cocked my head to the side. Harriet duty?

“What do you mean?”

At this time, the waiter came in and brought our food.

“Harriet duty.” Leon sighed as he was cutting up his breaded eggplant, which smelt delicious, I might add. “Keeping this between us, Harriet is…um…how do I say it? A spoiled brat.”

Uh-oh. It looks like her TV personality is actually her real personality.

“Really?” I leaned in. “My kid sister said she was a jerk on TV, but I took that with a grain of salt.” Now this was getting interesting. I needed all the information that I could get on my new intern to survive.

“Alright.” Leon leaned back and sunk into his booth. “So every couple of months, Harriet always wants to try something new. She’s basically just a rich kid. A socialite. She and her loud clique of teenage girls always run around the office being rude to the staff there and, eventually, Harriet gets bored and wants to move on and do something else, so she goes to a different division and terrorizes them. So far she’s wanted to be a scientist, secretary, lawyer, doctor, researcher, doctor again and chemist.”

I needed a neutral thing to say. Just in case I was being set up and dragged into some weird office politics that I knew nothing about. “That sounds annoying.”

“Yeah, she’s the boss’s sister, so we all can’t say or do anything. She’s a terror. This is the second time she expressed interest in being a lawyer, so that’s why I’m familiar with the situation. I just have to say; I feel sorry for you.”

“I wonder why she does that.” I thought out loud.

“My guess? Maxwell is just too busy trying to make money and just doesn’t give Harriet the time of day. She’s bored and lonely; I’m thinking.”

“Oh,” I said.

“Even though she’s a terror, I do feel kind of sorry for her.” Leon stirred his water with his straw.

“Why? It sounds like she has a good life.” I said.

“Yeah, I know that she’s probably one of the richest high schoolers ever but, again, this stays between us, she and Maxwell lost their parents when she was very, very young. They were in an orphanage for a year or something and then they got adopted by some wealthy older woman who died about a year after Maxwell founded this company.”

“Oh, that’s terrible,” I said sincerely. Hearing this sort of changed my opinion on Maxwell Goodard; I felt a little sorry for him. I had a rough go of it too, not like the Goodards, but it made me empathetic. “Does she get to spend any time with her brother at least?”

“I don’t know what’s up with them. It’s weird. He’s always at work, and she’s always with friends or doing God-knows-what, but at the same time, he’s made sure she’s set up with all the best things. Maybe too many nice things. I don’t know.” He shook his head.

I nervously stirred my water and took a quick sip of it. “That sounds like a terrible situation.”

“Then again, I may be biased. I was never a wealthy person. I had to work for everything I’ve ever had.”

I looked down on the ground. “Me too,” I said quietly. I paused and leaned back into the booth. I was so nervous from the conversation I could feel myself sweating, and the booth was sticking to my thighs. I gulped some more water. “In a way, though, I’m happy for Harriet. At least she has some sort of a ‘happy ending.’ She has her brother, and she’ll be set for life.”

Leon frowned. “I suppose.” He crossed his arms. “Although, if in case you can’t tell, I’m not much of a fan of the uber-rich. Plus with Maxwell having the…um…personality that he has, it’s hard to be happy for either one of them.”

“What do you mean?” I leaned forward as I took a bite of my salad.

“He’s an asshole. I mean, he thinks we’re friends, but we’re not. I mean, he’s not openly an asshole. Like, he doesn’t do rude things on purpose, he’s just really cold and aloof. Doesn’t give you the warm and fuzzies.”

“He seemed nice enough. Well, to me anyways.” I said. I figured that was the most neutral answer that I could give.

“He’s ruthless. He’ll screw over anyone to get ahead. I mean anyone. He’ll back out of deals, fire loyal staff members before Christmas. You name it; he’ll do it. It’s like he just cares about the bottom line. And he doesn’t even spend the money, which is the weird thing. He’ll donate a lot to charity, which is good, I suppose, but that doesn’t make up for the fact that he’s so damn rude.”

I nodded my head knowingly and smiled awkwardly.

What the hell do I say to that? Am I being set up?

“I heard that he fired someone yesterday. On their first day.” Leon said.

I leaned inwards and laughed. Woops. I can’t pretend to be neutral now. “That was one of the most terrifying things I’ve ever seen!” I laughed and leaned backward.

“You were there?” Leon gasped.

“Not only was I there, I was standing right next to them. Right. Next. To. Them.”

“Do you know what he fired the new kid over?” Leon asked.

“Nope. To be completely honest, he spoke with me first, and I was too busy feeling relieved that our conversation went well, so I wasn’t paying too much attention to their conversation until I heard Mr. Goodard fire the poor guy.”

Leon opened his mouth and closed it. He lifted up his finger. “Honestly, the thing that bothers me most is his actions show that he just has no trust for whoever hired that man in the first place. At least let the guy work before you fire him.” He took the last bite of his pasta.

I nodded my head slightly.

“I take it you’re not the biggest fan of the Goodards,” I said neutrally. Truth be told, the conversation was making me quite nervous. I was new to the work environment, so I didn’t want to get too involved in office politics. I wanted to know more information, of course, but at the same time, I didn’t know the secret alliances and politics of the Goodard Corporation.

Leon looked around the room and then leaned in on the table. “No one is. All of the senior management hates him. They’ve been trying to get rid of him for ages, but it’s tough because he’s the majority shareholder too. And he is making money for the company hand-over-fist.”

I finished the last bites of my Caesar salad and dabbed my mouth with a napkin.

Leon motioned over for the check. The waiter dutifully came by and handed Leon the check.

I went to pull out my card. Leon lifted up his hand. “No, this is my treat.”

“Thank you, Leon.” I folded my hands awkwardly on my lap.

Leon smiled at the waiter. “Keep the change.” He said. I stood up from my booth and walked over towards the door and out towards Leon’s car. Leon rushed to my side of the car and opened the door. “After you.” He said. He gave an awkward bow.

I sat down and Leon hurried over towards the driver’s seat. I glanced at myself in the mirror. I forgot to reapply my lipstick, and my hair was starting to get frizzy because of the June heat but other than that, I looked ok.

Leon put the car in first gear, and I watched the world go by through the window. The car ride was filled with Leon chatting away with a case that he was working on. I nodded periodically and chimed in at the appropriate time. Truth be told, I was concerned about the conversation that I just had. I was mentally replaying it to make sure I said neutral things.

Eventually, Leon pulled up in front of the large building that was our office.

“I have an odd question to ask you.” I looked over at Leon. He looked nervous. His long fingers gripped the steering wheel tightly. “Would you like to have dinner and drinks with me this Friday.”

I knew it. I knew this would happen.

“Look, no pressure. I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable or anything. It’s just that you’re really easy to talk to and I thought that it might be fun. But if you feel uncomfortable because you work with me, then I totally get it, and I won’t be offended or anything.”

Bullshit. You’re my boss.

“It’s fine.”

“Cool.” He exhaled loudly. “I’ll pick you up at six at the office?”

“Cool.” I nodded my head. Silence filled the air. Leon drummed his fingers across the steering wheel.

“Well, let’s get back to work.” Leon said. He quickly got out of the car and opened the door to me. “After you.” I got out of the car as well and slowly walked over to the sterile office building. Leon and I walked over to the hallway and went our separate ways.

When I got inside my office, I felt so confused. Leon seemed like a genuinely nice guy. A bit of a gossip but a nice man nonetheless. He reminded me a bit of myself with his long limbs, red hair, and awkward laugh. I might not have been physically attracted to him, per se, but I figured that he was a nice and hard-working man. Probably worth a shot. Better than a lot of the other guys I’ve dated in the past—that’s for damn sure. I know it’s bad to date your coworkers, but we’re both responsible people. I figured nothing could go wrong here.

…Right?