Page 32 of Escape Girl
Jamie rushed to agree. “Fall weddings are always my favorite.”
I bristled at both of them. Bobby and I hadn’t discussed a date yet, but how dare my dad or his brother try to set the timeline for any part of our relationship?
Across the table, Bobby took a slow sip of his old-fashioned. There was an edge to his cheerful voice that only I could hear. “What wereyouthinking, Em?”
I grinned at him, fiercely, showing all my teeth. “Sooner.” I boomed my voice in a way that matched my father. “I was thinking sooner.”
Jamie and my father exchanged glances until I turned my teeth at them and they looked down at the table.That’s right—it’s none of your business.
“So was I,” Bobby answered. Across the table, he smiled so broadly at me, his eyes almost disappeared. I could feel warmth and adoration emanating from him like protective wings.
I eyed the champagne glass in front of me and raised an eyebrow. “New Year’s Eve?”
Jamie’s eyes widened, and my father audibly gasped.
Bobby burst from his chair and swung around the table to kiss me on the mouth, delighting everyone in the restaurant except our dinner companions. “Perfect.”
Now, on the plane, I slammed my laptop shut again, so sharply that Bella twitched in her sleep. I hadn’t even opened the stupid escape room, and here I was, remembering anyway. I knew why Bobby had chosen that particular night after all.
It wasn’t because we’d chosen our wedding date either. It was because we’d both been nervous that night. It was the first time we brought the most powerful and important people in our lives into our cocoon. But in the face of their disapproval, we didn’t even blink. We’d become a unit, and that dinner had been a stepping stone. Eventually, Jamie and I became friendly and Bobby even won over my father.
*
As the planetouched down in Chicago, I finished an email to Rosie, letting her know what was up. I also spent a few minutes on Bird & Dreyer’s website, searching for the bio of Taggert’s attorney, James A. Hill.Let’s see how good of a lawyer you are.
I found him on their alphabetic directory, but he didn’t have a written bio like most of the other professionals. Of course, that didn’t mean much. He could be newer to the firm and the website was just slightly out of date. My own bio hadn’t gone up on my current firm’s website for months. I made a note in my calendar to dig deeper on his background, to see what other intellectual property cases he’d been involved in.
Bella and I deplaned and strolled briskly to the CTA train stop that would take us into the city. “I’d offer to host you,” Bella said, “but my apartment is tiny.”
I laughed, touched that she would even think of such a thing. “No worries at all. I haven’t been to Chicago in years. I’m excited to stay someplace fancy downtown. Maybe I’ll even fit in some touristy stuff.”
We boarded the train, and I was tickled to realize there was a genuine spring in my step. It felt great to be here. Like coming out of hiding or something.
My smile wavered. It was jarring to admit, but maybe hiding was exactly what I’d been doing since March. Sure, I’d been amassing a record number of billable hours on cases in London and New York. But maybe burying myself in the legitimacy of work was actually just a way to hide. From Bobby. From my father. From myself.
“You seem really happy to be here. Do you not like New York?” Bella asked, plopping in a seat and scooching over to make room for me.
I sat and scrunched my eyebrows together. “It’s fine.”
Bella gave me an amused frown. “I’ve never met anyone who’s had a ‘meh’ opinion about New York. Usually people love it or loathe it. If you don’t actively love it, why do you choose to live there?”
Fair question. But considering the actual city of New York hadn’t been part of my decision-making. When I’d fled my marriage, I’d simply run straight to the job offer. If it had been in Istanbul or Helsinki, I’d have gone there.
To Bella, I just shrugged and changed the subject. “Tomorrow I’ll send a response to Taggert’s attorney and try to set up a meeting.” I paused. “I’m also going to reach out to Jo Harper.”
Bella craned her neck to see out of the window, checking that the train wasn’t pulling up to her stop yet. “The woman who recommended I hire you? Why?”
I sighed. Talk about a long, complicated story. “I’ve never met her, but our lives have intertwined in unusual ways. I find it a highly suspicious coincidence that she just sat down next to you in your favorite coffee shop one day. It’s much more likely that she engineered the meeting as a way to connect us.”
Understandably, Bella looked bewildered. “I don’t get it. How would she know anything about my situation? Why would she care? Why would she do that?”
The downtown Chicago skyline became visible in the distance. “That’s what we’re going to find out.”
*
Bella got offthe train at the Logan Square stop north of downtown, and I continued to ride the Blue Line into the Loop. I checked into the Langham, a five-star hotel not far from both Taggert’s office and the office of his attorney’s law firm. My room’s view was absolutely gorgeous, overlooking the Chicago River and cityscape. For long minutes, I watched boats pass by and contemplated taking myself out for an early dinner at one of the many restaurants lining the Riverwalk.
But first, I drafted the email I’d been composing in my head for hours.
