Maybe he was kidding himself. Maybe he worked too much. Maybe Lauren had spooked Paige. Maybe this was a fun thing for now that ultimately had no future.
He sat all day with the idea that this could end.
It weighed on him all through the morning court appearance. He went back to the office afterward feeling completely out of sorts, so of course Provost pulled him into a meeting with the new client, a Mr. Randolph, who was trying to turf out the last holdout in a crumbling brick apartment building in Fort Greene, a feisty old woman who had been living in that apartment since 1973.
“And you want to do what with this apartment?” Josh asked, realizing after he spoke how rude he sounded. “Apologies. I was just curious.”
Randolph smiled. “Modern apartments. I’ve already got an architect at work. Here’s the preliminary mock-up.”
Josh looked at an image of a frankly hideous apartment building. It was brutalist in style with a dark gray concrete exterior and stark white horizontal slashes that Josh assumed were balconies. He schooled his face not to react to it.
“And,” said Randolph, “I finally found investors for the restaurant I want to open on Whitman Street. That’s near Downtown Brooklyn.”
“Yeah, I know it,” said Josh.
“I bought a building there almost two years ago. There’s this gorgeous space on the first floor that used to be a coffee shop that I want to convert into a sit-down restaurant, and I’m close to a deal on that with a celebrity-turned-restauranteur.” Randolph grinned. “Itriedto buy the building across the street, but this aging hippie owns it and wouldn’t sell, not even after we tried to get the health department to shut down the Cat Café on the first floor.”
It hit Josh suddenly that he was sitting across a conference table from the very real estate developer Lauren had complained about, the one who wanted to buy Diane’s building.
As if Josh needed another reason to quit this job.
He schooled his face again and got through the rest of the meeting, but he felt deeply ambivalent about everything by the time he left the office.
He got home after eight that night, fed George, and collapsed on the sofa before picking up his phone and calling his mother.
“Joshua! We haven’t heard from you in so long! How is your job?”
“It’s good, Mom. Well, I’m working insane hours. There’s a lot going on right now. I actually only just got home.”
“That’s terrible. Did you eat?”
“I got food delivered at the office. And the firm has a car service on call, so I got a ride home. I’m fine, just tired. Actually, I was in court today. I’m helping my boss with a trial, so that was great. But then I had to go back to the office afterward, so I worked a pretty long day.”
The morning’s court appearance had been a preliminary hearing to resolve a couple of issues; the trial proper would start the next day. But Josh had still been excited to be in the courtroom, and it was a reminder, sort of, of why he’d gone to law school. Too bad his boss’s clients were all such terrible people.
“That’s exciting. I’m glad you’re getting court experience. Those must be a lot of hours you’re working. Your sister said she’s hardly seen you since you moved to Brooklyn.”
“That’s true. I did see her yesterday, though.”
“Oh?”
“I went by the Cat Café, just to say hi. The place was mobbed.”
As if he’d heard the word “cat” and interpreted it as a summons, George hopped up on the sofa and put his front paws on Josh’s thighs. Josh pet him and he started to purr and knead Josh’s leg.
His mother chuckled. “I’m glad that place is so successful. I did wonder when she told me she’d taken that job.”
“Mom, let me ask you a question. Do you think it’s totally inappropriate for me to date one of Lauren’s friends?”
“What?”
“See, Lauren has this friend Paige, and I really like her. I think you would, too. She’s friendly and sweet and very successful at her job.”
“Oh, sure, I met Paige at the wedding. She was one of Lauren’s bridesmaids.”
“Right, of course. Well, see, I met Paige here in New York and we hit it off and I really like her. But Lauren doesn’t approve of us dating.”
“Why should that matter?”
