Josh walked out of the courthouse an hour later, after Bobby Giardino had agreed to fork over a substantial percentage of his assets in exchange for being spared the humiliation of a guilty verdict. The judge had even given Bobby a lecture on not lying to customers.
So now that he and Provost were actually leaving and the case was over, Provost said, “Go home, Josh.”
“Are you sure? What about the Randolph case?”
“Yes, I’m sure. It’s Friday. This week has been long enough. Go home and we’ll resume with Randolph on Monday.”
Josh glanced at his phone as he walked to the subway. It was just barely past four o’clock. So before he went underground, he called Paige to share the good news.
“That’s timing for you,” she said.
“What does that mean?”
“I need to talk to you. I’m wrapping up at the café, but I’ll be home by the time you get there.”
Josh’s stomach churned as he sat on a surprisingly empty subway train into Brooklyn. Something in Paige’s tone told him Paige had bad news. He felt a little bad for blowing her off the last couple of days, but he really hadn’t been available. He’d been putting in fifteen-hour days on this case all week. Even now, as he sat, fatigue was seeping into his muscles. It was like his whole body was finally exhaling. That infernal case was finally over.
And Paige was, in all likelihood, about to dump him.
But he was a lawyer, wasn’t he? He knew how to put forth an argument.
Paige’s doorman told him to head on up when he arrived, and he had most of his argument formed by the time he knocked on her door.
Paige let him in. Her cat was curled up on one of the stools at the kitchen island, and she gave him an intimidating sideways glance before going back to sleep.
Paige stood near the island and looked at her feet. “I could order some food, or…?”
“Am I staying?”
“Are you?”
Josh sighed and walked over to the kitchen island. He parked on one of the stools and rubbed his head.
“Rough day at work?” Paige asked.
“Rough…year. My boss’s clients are terrible people. I just spent a week in court sitting second chair to defend a man I know is guilty, and now my boss is representing an evil real estate developer who wants to kick little old ladies out of the apartments they’ve lived in for decades so that he can put up ugly modern buildings and charge premium rent. So, you know, eighty-hour weeks, uncomfortable moral crises, just another day at the office.”
“I’m sorry. You know that an evil real estate developer almost shut down the Cat Café last year.”
Josh didn’t want to add more fuel to the fight he sensed was coming, so he did not confess that it was the same developer, but he nodded. “I don’t feel great about working for him.” He rubbed his forehead. “And you? How was your week?”
“Better than yours, it sounds like. The event we did this week with the kids reading to cats went well.”
Josh felt like they were stalling. “I’m glad.” He tried to smile but found his heart wasn’t into it. He was too tired for small talk. “Not to be a dick, but we should probably cut to the chase. What did you want to talk about?”
“Well, I talked to Lauren.”
“Ah. So is she mad, or…”
“No, not exactly. She mentioned Megan.”
Of course she did. Josh shook his head. “I’ve put all that behind me.”
“I don’t want to be a rebound.”
“You aren’t! The thing with Megan ended months ago. It sucked, but I’ve moved on, and I was looking forward to a future with you.” He caught his use of the past tense too late and noted the expression on her face, one of resignation. But here came those doubts again.
If she was gonna leave him, better to have it be now rather than later when his heart was more fully engaged, right?
