“Which you made him accept, right?”
“If I did, I wouldn’t be moving into his house, Paul. Try to follow.”
“What the hell are you up to, Rowan?”
“I am trying to win this case.”
“Pretending to be with your client?”
“I remind you that you entrusted me with this lost cause.”
“I didn’t think you would go this far to win.”
Winning. Of course.
“Because that’s what it’s all about, right? To maintain your status, to break your record of winning cases?”
“Absolutely.” I stand up and adjust my jacket. “What else?”
“I don’t know. You tell me if there is more.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” I take a few steps into his office, then turn back to him. “The judge was going to take the children away from him.”
Paul’s expression becomes less harsh.
“He proposed applying for custody in six months, after completing courses and changing his job and home… But in the meantime, social services would remove the children from their home. First, a foster home, and then, likely, placement with the maternal grandmother, who is apparently qualified to be a foster parent. You know that put the children in her care would mean…”
“It will be difficult to go back from there.”
“What are they going to give Seth? Two weekends a month under supervision?”
“Something like that.”
“How can I allow this?”
“You can’t.”
“And you knew that very well. Or you wouldn’t have given me this case.”
“Actually, I entrusted you with this case because it was quite desperate, and I trusted in your determination, but I didn't think you would go this far.”
I approach Paul’s office window, which faces the main street. The congested traffic, the horns, the passers-by hurrying in the rain.
“You were not there.”
“In court? I was there!”
I deny, slowly. I do not turn around.
“You were not there that day.”
I hear him sigh.
“I can’t see this happening again.”
“I know you think I can’t understand, but I assure you I do.” Paul gets up and joins me. His hand on my shoulder. “You can’t gamble your career on a case, Rowan. This wasn’t what I had in mind when I agreed to our firm representing Seth Graham.”
“I assure you that was not what I thought when I entered the court, either. But then…”
