Mary shifted forward. “I know, but Judy, with your credentials, you could attract that kind of work.”
Judy looked at her like she was crazy. “Mary, take a look at me. Do I look like the kind of person people want for a lawyer? I dress crazy and I like it. I don’t want to change. And I’m not a business getter, I never have been. I don’t like schmoozing people, going to the bar conferences and the cocktail parties. It’s just not me.”
Mary listened to her without interrupting, for once, because she had never heard Judy talk about herself this way.
“I finally found my niche, too. I wrote three briefs for the Supreme Court last year, a petition for certiorari, and two amicus briefs, which is probably more than any associate in any big firm. And the cases come from all over the country, on the sexiest legal issues ever. Important issues. Voting rights. Election funding. Intellectual property. Antitrust. Environmental cases.”
“Wow,” Mary said, because she hadn’t realized, too busy with her own work.
“Right? It’s great. I know I look great on paper. I’m the girl behind the scenes and I love that. I just want to be left alone to write and research.” Judy smiled briefly. “I told Bennie she should think of me as her brain-in-a-jar. That’s my niche.”
“But I don’t attract that kind of work. That’s the problem, right?”
“It kind of is.” Judy heaved a big sigh, then slumped against the wooden back of the bench. “I love what I do and I don’t want to stop. And I know you love what you do, and believe me, I don’t think one type of practice is better than the other—”
“—I know—”
“—I’m not a legal snob—”
“—I know you’re not, it’s not that—”
“Not at all.” Judy’s lower lip buckled. “But I don’t know if I should go with you, if you leave. You also work more hours than I do and you have to go at a moment’s notice, like you’re on call all the time. I like my own schedule and I want time to paint—and guess what, I didn’t even get to tell you, I bought a loom.”
“A loom, like, for weaving things?” Mary smiled. Judy was so cute, always finding new things to do, like weaving things that you could buy already woven.
“Exactly, it’s so much fun! There’s so much to learn. It comes next week. The only bad thing is it’s going to take up my whole bedroom. I’m never going to get another boyfriend. I don’t have room for sex.”
“So weave something. A blanket.”
“A sex blanket!”
Mary smiled. “Or do it standing up.”
“Whoa, Mare!” Judy’s eyes flared in fake shock. “You’remarried.”
“Hey, it happens.”
“How often?”
“Once, until I fell down,” Mary admitted, and they both laughed.
Judy’s smile faded. “So I don’t know if I’d be happy doing what you do. I don’t know if I should come with you, if you go. Are you going?”
“I think so,” Mary had to admit, though she couldn’t believe it herself.
“Oh no.” Judy’s eyes glistened. “I’m not crying.”
“Don’t, or I will. We’re still friends, that’s the key thing. We can still see each other every day.”
“Right.” Judy wiped her eyes, flushing under her fair skin.
“Probably more than we do now. We’ll make a point of it. Lunch, right here, like always.”
“Totally.” Judy nodded. “They say that after a divorce, the dad sees the kid more.”
“Right.” Mary forced a smile because Judy was trying to cheer them both up. “And you can always come with me, but no pressure.”
“I know, thanks. I can always come with you, but I have to think about it. Can I think about it?”
