Starting Now (21 page)

“Of course you’re sorry … You should be.” Robin deliberately slowed the pace of her treadmill to match Libby’s.

“I realize how much you put yourself out for me and I don’t want you to think I don’t appreciate it.”

Robin glanced at her and snickered. “Some appreciation.”

“You’re the best friend I have.”

More muttering. “You’re my best friend, too, and that’s what makes it so hard to stay mad at you.”

Libby looked away in order to hide a smile. She continued walking, going past the time allotted by the treadmill program. She was definitely earning exercise brownie points.

“Is there anything I can do to make this up to you?” she asked.

“I don’t know.” Robin continued walking, speeding up her pace. “Let me think on that.”

“I’ll buy you breakfast,” Libby suggested. “I’ll get two buttery croissants at The French Cafe and personally deliver them to the courthouse.”

Robin hesitated, clearly tempted. “Too fattening.”

“Oh, right. I forgot we’re both trying to lose weight.” She thought to mention that she was down another two pounds, but if Robin hadn’t lost that much it would be like rubbing salt in an open wound.

“How about a fruit smoothie?” Libby offered.

“That’s a possibility.”

The woman on the treadmill on the other side of Libby shook her head as though disgusted with the two of them. “What’s with you two?” she demanded. “You sound like you’re in third grade. Whatever it is, get over it.”

Libby was too stunned to speak.

Not so with Robin. “Mind your own business.”

“Gladly, only I can’t help overhearing the two of you, and you sound like you’re both eight years old. Good grief, grow up.”

“Don’t talk to my friend like that,” Libby snapped. The woman could say what she wanted about her, but Robin was off-limits.

Hearing the exchange, a trainer came over to their section of the gym. “Is there a problem here, ladies?”

“Not at all,” Libby said, and glared at the other woman.

Libby finished her time on the treadmill and headed toward the dressing room. Robin followed her. The instant they were in the locker room, Libby burst out laughing.

“What’s so funny?” Robin demanded.

“Us,” Libby said, shaking her head. “We were ready to come to blows defending each other to that woman.”

“She was rude and obnoxious to you. I’m not putting up with that.”

“But you’re angry with me, remember?”

“I was … I am,” Robin admitted as though she’d forgotten. “But you’re still my friend.”

“Oh, thank you, thank you.” Libby resisted the urge to throw her arms around Robin and hug her. “Can you find a way to forgive me?” she pleaded. “You’re my best friend in the world and it would crush me to lose you.”

Robin appeared to be considering her request while walking back to her locker. Deep in thought, she twisted the dial on her lock. It took her three tries to get it to open. When she finally did, she sighed expressively and said, “You ever pull a stunt like that again and I swear, Elizabeth Morgan, I will personally hunt you down and beat the snot out of you.”

“I won’t, I promise.”

Robin shook her head as though disgusted. “Rocking babies?”

“I know, it sounds crazy, but the hospital had three sets of twins born within a four-hour period. It even made the evening news.”

“It’s nuts. You’re nuts.”

“You ought to try volunteering in the nursery sometime,” Libby suggested.

“Not me,” Robin insisted. “I’m not the type.”

“Did you ever think I would be the type?”

Robin grabbed her towel and headed toward the shower. “Can’t say that I did.”

“Me neither, yet it’s the most peaceful, wonderful thing to sit with those newborns and sing them Bob Dylan songs.”

“Bob Dylan?”

“And the Righteous Brothers and the Bee Gees and—”

“Poor things. They haven’t even left the hospital and already you’re twisting their young minds.”

Libby laughed and followed her friend into the shower room. “I’ll probably give it up soon. If nothing else, what happened with the interview showed me how far I’ve slipped lately. I need to get back on track.”

It wasn’t until they were dressed and ready for their day that Libby mentioned opening her own office. She hesitated and waited for her friend’s reaction. She could trust Robin to be straight with her. If this was a foolish idea, she wouldn’t hesitate to tell her so.

Robin seemed to take a long time mulling it over.

“Well? What do you think?” Libby hated to be so obviously anxious, but she valued her friend’s opinion.

Slowly Robin nodded. “If anyone could make a go of it, it would be you.”

“Thank you,” she whispered, embarrassed by how badly she needed encouragement and approval.

“Are you sure you can get Sarah?”

“Positive. She says the morale of the entire law office is in the gutter. Everyone is afraid of being the next one cut. The workload has doubled and the staff is expected to keep up this killing pace without a pay raise. Sarah told me they’re all supposed to just be grateful they have jobs.”

Robin frowned. “It’s the same with the city. It’s been a nightmare
with budget cuts. You won’t believe what they did last week,” Robin said, and exhaled. “They called it amnesty day.”

“Amnesty day?” Libby repeated, perplexed.

“Yup. If you return office supplies within a twenty-four-hour period … rubber bands, pencils, paper clips, the things that somehow inadvertently got taken home, then the city won’t prosecute.”

“You’ve got to be joking,” Libby said, and shook her head, aghast. If it weren’t so ridiculous, she would cry.

“I wish I was. Now, let’s get back to you setting up your own practice.”

“Okay.” Libby was open to any advice her friend was willing to give her.

“Where will your office be?”

“I’m not sure … I’ll think about that later.”

“You don’t want to work out of your condo,” Robin said. “There are probably restrictions on setting up any kind of business that uses your condo as an office. Plus you’ll want to get away at the end of the day and ‘go home.’ ”

Libby had already thought of that. “I’ll need to find a space to rent.”

“It won’t be cheap and you’ll be required to sign a lease.”

Libby had taken that into consideration as well.

“That’s the bad news, but there’s good news, too. There are complexes that come with a receptionist and all the necessary equipment, copy machine, fax, that sort of thing.”

“But I have Sarah.”

“You think you have Sarah,” Robin reminded her.

“I have her,” Libby insisted. Whenever they talked, Sarah spent half the time complaining about all the changes at the firm and relaying the latest gossip. The rest of the time was spent telling Libby how much she had come to hate her job now that she’d been assigned to work with Ben Holmes.

“Call Sarah before you contact a realtor,” Robin advised. Dressed for work, she headed out of the locker room.

Libby stopped her and shocked them both by briefly hugging Robin.

“What was that for?” Robin asked, clearly taken aback.

“Because you’re my friend and I’m so grateful.”

Robin straightened her jacket front and adjusted her sleeves. “Well, get over it.”

Libby smiled. She hurried back to her condo and settled down on the sofa before she reached for her cell. She knew the direct number to Sarah’s desk and was able to sidestep the receptionist entirely.

“Sarah,” Libby said anxiously when her friend picked up. “Happy Monday morning.”

“I’ve got news,” Sarah said, cutting her off.

“What’s up?” Libby was all ears.

“I meant to call you over the weekend but didn’t get around to it. Mrs. Reed has left the firm. Ben dropped the ball on something and she said enough is enough and told Hershel she was through. This would never have happened if you were still working on her account.”

“Mrs. Reed has left?” That meant that Libby had to move fast. The first thing she intended to do was phone the older woman—probably this afternoon—and set up an appointment with her. She thought of Mrs. Reed as the grandmother she barely remembered. Well into her eighties, the widow had been frugal and wise with her money her whole life and she was wealthy now. While demanding, she’d been wonderful to work with and Libby had missed her. No one was going to pull the wool over this wise woman’s eyes.

“Yes, and Hershel isn’t happy about it, either.”

Libby could only imagine. Mrs. Reed was a major client and Hershel had decided to keep Ben instead of Libby even though Ben wasn’t half the attorney she was. His one attribute, and apparently most important asset, was that he’d brought in two big clients to the firm. The clients Libby had brought in were small potatoes by comparison.

She had to know, had to ask. “Did my name come up?”

Sarah hesitated. “Sorry, no.”

Well, Libby couldn’t be too disappointed. She had her own plans now and they were big.

“I’m calling with news, too,” Libby said, doing a poor job of disguising her eagerness.

“You found a position,” Sarah guessed.

“No.” And then she quickly added, “I’ve decided to open my own practice.”

Sarah’s reaction was immediate. “Libby, that’s wonderful.”

The paralegal’s confidence in her was reassuring.

“I would like to offer you the position of my personal assistant and my paralegal.”

“Two jobs?”

“Just in the beginning.” Libby didn’t think it would be long before she could hire a second person and she told Sarah as much. “I need to get on my feet first, but it will only be a matter of a few months.”

“You’re sure you could manage all that in such a short while?”

“Positive. What do you think?”

“Do you have an office?”

“Not yet. I phoned you first, but my next phone call will be to a real estate agent. I’m really going to do it, Sarah. I haven’t been this excited in months.”

Sarah hesitated. “What about clients?”

“Well,” she said, lowering her voice. “I have a line on a new one already.”

“You do?”

It surprised her that Sarah hadn’t figured it out. “Mrs. Reed.”

“Oh … of course.”

“You’ll need more work than that,” Sarah mentioned, as though Libby hadn’t already figured that out for herself.

“I know and I’ll get it.” She thought about all the people she’d met at the hospital. She’d have business cards printed and hand them out at the gym, too. Why, just the other day, Lydia had asked Libby a question regarding getting a power of attorney for her mother. My goodness, Libby should have realized it then, the answer was obvious.
She should set up her own practice. This was going to be fabulous.

“Are you on board?” Libby asked Sarah.

“I’ll need time to think about it and I’ll need to talk it over with Vaughn.”

“Of course.” Libby had understood that Sarah would want to discuss the job offer with her husband.

“I’ll get back to you soon.”

“Perfect,” Libby said.

At that moment life felt exactly that way. Perfect. Hopeful. Yet even in her excitement and enthusiasm, something was missing—or, rather, someone.

Phillip.

“Mom, we’ve got to do something to help Ava,” Casey pleaded while Lydia started dinner preparations on Monday evening. Ava and Casey had spent most of the afternoon together in Casey’s bedroom.

“Ava’s been crying all afternoon. She’s going to have a baby and she doesn’t know what to do.”

Lydia wanted to weep herself. The poor girl desperately needed help. “Does she have a caseworker?” If Ava’s grandmother was her legal guardian, then the state might have assigned the children someone from Social Services.

“I don’t know and I doubt that Ava does, either.” Casey looked as if she was ready to break into tears, too. Although she would quickly deny it, she had a sensitive heart for the pain of others. It wouldn’t surprise Lydia if Casey decided on a career in the medical field. She seemed to be drawn in that direction. “Ava’s afraid of what will happen once her grandmother finds out about the baby.”

Lydia had met Ava’s grandmother only once, and it hadn’t been a
pleasant exchange. She’d gone to the Carmichael residence to pick up Ava. The girls were going to a movie together and she’d thought it was time to meet the young teen’s guardian. Darlene, who’d just returned from work, had been short-tempered with Ava and her brother. She made a point of complaining about the cost of the movie. Lydia had assured her she’d pay for the girls. The older woman had gruffly thanked her, but didn’t seem interested in chatting. Lydia had left after a few minutes.

“Let me talk to Ava first,” Lydia said as she placed the tomato on the cutting board.

“Mom, she doesn’t want to talk to anyone, especially about the baby.”

“Where is she?”

“She had to go home in case her grandmother came back to the house after work. If Ava and Jackson aren’t there, her grandmother gets upset. She doesn’t want them roaming the neighborhood.”

Lydia wasn’t sure what she could do to help and said as much.

“Ava’s coming to the yarn store with me in the morning. She told me Libby would be there, too.”