I was surprised at how open and airy Kade’s offices were. I’d been to Derek’s office before, and it was what you’d expect from a high-end law firm, with lots of oak shelves, somber looking clothing, and things that screamed money. Kade’s offices, on the other hand, were bright and welcoming, with a lot of bright neutrals and open designs that were full of youthful confidence.
I was surprised by the age of Kade’s legal secretary, Monica. It wasn’t that she was really old, but at forty-six, she’d been a legal secretary for longer than I’d been alive. “Hi, I’m Alix, Kade’s stepsister.” I greeted her, offering my hand. “I guess this is a bit of a surprise.”
“Working with Kade, I have gotten used to surprising developments,” Monica said. She was well put together for her age, with nicely styled brown hair and glasses that kind of gave her the Sarah Palin look without the political overtones. “It’s nice to meet you. Kade does talk about you all the time.”
“No I don’t,” Kade immediately interjected, blushing. I had to grin, it made him look so damn cute, and unfamiliar in that he wasn’t totally in control. “Just when Alix did something noteworthy.”
“Which was just about once a month,” Monica retorted, grinning. “You have a talented stepbrother, Alix.”
“I know,” I said, looking at Kade out of the side of my eyes and giving a smile that he knew had a lot more meaning than just my words to Monica. “He’s pretty amazing. But enough of making Kade embarrassed. Is there a place I can set up a little work area, and maybe a computer I could nab?”
“We’ve got a spare laptop around here somewhere,” Monica said, getting out of her chair. Kade, after seeing that the two of us were okay, took his briefcase into his office, shutting the door behind him to focus on whatever his work was for the day. Monica watched him go, then looked at me and smiled. “It’s going to be much better with you around. You have no idea how difficult it is dealing with two men all the time. It’ll be nice to have some more female influence around here.”
Monica led me to a closed door, which she opened to reveal a small break room area. “We don’t use it for much except the fridge,” she explained, “and the microwave sometimes. Kade has no problems with us eating at the desks or in the conference room if we want, we just don’t when clients are in the office. So most of the room has become a storage area.”
She reached up on a storage shelf, which I could see was filled with all sorts of bric-a-brac. “Vince is a bit of a computer nerd, never throwing anything away if there’s a memory card or anything like that. Anyway, Kade sprung for upgrades to all of the office computers last year, so I’m sure his old one is still here. Hold on . . . here we are!”
Monica handed me a laptop, along with a power cord. “The battery is for sure dead, so you’ll need to run off the cord for a while, but everything should still be setup to connect to the office systems. What are you using it for?”
“Some research,” I replied, “then I have to get to cracking the books.”
I showed her my book bag, which was full of the study guides Kade had bought for me the night before, causing Monica to grin. “Thinking of going back to school? Good for you. If you need any help, ask Vince, he’s still in law school so he’ll probably have the best outlook on how to do things. Any idea what you’re going to start with?”
I nodded. “I was going to do one of the ACT practice tests, and see how that turns out. From there I guess I’ll see where I’m doing the worst and jump in on that.”
The conference room was cozy, at least as cozy as you could get with a room that had a table designed for eight people to sit around. I plugged in the computer and turned it on. Monica left once she was sure I was all set up, closing the door behind her. I launched Google and started looking around at shopping sites, thinking what Rita might appreciate. I wanted to get her something for what she’d done for me. The problem was, I didn’t know a lot about her. I’d spent a total of maybe two hours with the woman in my entire life, with most of it talking about Kade. So what do you send someone in this sort of situation anyway? I wanted to thank her for her generosity in sharing what she knew about Kade, and in guiding me. But how to do that?
I surfed around to a bunch of different sites for a while, but in each I kept drawing a blank. Finally, an hour into the morning, I sighed and took out my phone, dialing Rita’s number. She picked up after two rings, sounding chipper as ever. “Mornin’ Alix. How have you been?”
“I’m great. I’m up here in Portland, and loving every second of it.”
“Really?” Rita said with a big smile. “Just how loving?”
“Let’s just say that my backside is a little sore.”
“How many?” Rita asked, laughing.
“Twenty-one,” I said. “Eleven right, ten left.”
Rita sounded impressed. “I stand corrected. You’re stronger than I first thought.”
“Well, if it wasn’t for you, I don’t know if I’d be in the place I am now. Kade and I both know that. Which is kind of why I called.”