Matt quickly waves us into his office and motions us over to a large worktable that takes up one corner of his office. We take a seat and wait for him to finish his phone call. I busy myself flipping through a few files but when I take a peek up every now and then, I catch Lorraine staring hungrily at Matt.
I wish I could tell her about my night with him and mock her with my “neener, neener, neener” move. That would knock that lustful gaze right off her face.
Oh well.
When Matt hangs up and stands up from his desk, Lorraine’s head snaps down to a file in front of her, and she hastily opens it up. I mentally roll my eyes over her pathetic attempt to cover up the fact she was checking him out. Matt seems oblivious though, as he walks over and takes a seat between the two of us.
“Okay, so I want to go through your entire case list, figure out if you’re comfortable handling them on your own, or if you need help, and sort of set a review schedule so I can stay in the loop with things.”
I nod at Matt in understanding, but Lorraine just can’t help herself. She does that little maneuver where she reaches out to touch his arm and says, “I have a good handle on my cases, Matt. I don’t think you need to waste your time with them. I mean… I’ve been practicing for twelve years now.”
Nope… I can’t help the smug satisfaction I get when he pulls his arm away from her touch.
I could have told her that Matt is definitely all business when he’s inside this building. It’s equally as satisfying when Lorraine’s face goes red when he says, “I appreciate that, Lorraine, but I have my fingers in all the cases in this firm. I like to know what’s going on and ensure the cases are being worked well. And while you’ll be reporting to Bill, I want to use today for me to get familiar with what you have.”
With that, Matt starts having Lorraine go through each case where she gives him a summary, he gives a few recommendations if necessary, and they move on to the next case. Lorraine’s mouth is set into a grim line by the time they are finished, although she does get a tiny bit cheerful when he points out the cases that I’m to work on underneath her. It’s apparently a happy day for her that she will still have a little bit of control over me.
“Lorraine… you can go ahead and get back to work while I talk to McKayla about her brain injury case.”
Lorraine opens her mouth to say something, but she can tell by the look on Matt’s face that her time in his presence today is at an end. She grabs her files and leaves.
Matt pinches the bridge of his nose with a sigh. “Is she always like that?”
“Yeah,” I say with a heavy heart.
“Well, if you have any problems with her, just let me know.”
“Not going to happen,” I tell him assuredly.
His eyebrows raise, and his lips quirk at me. “Excuse me?”
“I can handle Lorraine on my own. I won’t be running to you if I have an issue.”
Matt opens his mouth to argue, I can just tell, but I stare at him with a look that says the subject isn’t open for discussion. His mouth snaps shut, and he shrugs his shoulders. “Suit yourself.”
He then proceeds to grill me about my case, but I know it forward and backward. I can’t tell if he’s impressed or not when I tell him about how I proved the headlights were on. He merely grunts and nods his head, but I imagine compliments don’t come often from someone like Matt.
After I finish, he says, “You know this case is a major uphill battle.”
“Yeah… I sort of figured that out when seven other law firms turned it down.”
“Then why did you take it?”
I hate to admit this, especially to a high-powered lawyer like Matt, but no sense in hiding it. “I just really liked Miranda and Larry Jackson. I felt sorry for them, and they remind me of my parents. Strong, hardworking… they didn’t deserve this, and their life has been ruined because of it. I know those are stupid reasons to take a case.”