palm. “How did you get out of your rut?”
“I took a case I shouldn’t have. It was a field I’d never worked in before, and it was basically unwinnable, but I also couldn’t lose it. There was too much at stake.”
“What did you do?” she asked, leaning forward with her eyes wide on mine.
“I won.” I gave her the same smirk I knew she used to hate so much, but this time, it made her laugh. “Sometimes, the only thing we need is just that one win.”
And hopefully, we would get hers on Monday.
Chapter 29
Laurie
Jacob’s plan didn’t actually sound half bad, but it was the way he said it that made me laugh. I wouldn’t have pegged him as someone who would be able to make me laugh about something that felt like such a big mountain I still had to overcome, but it was just yet another thing I was wrong about with him.
He told me more about his case while we kept eating. I was in stitches at some points of his story, trying to imagine the Jacob I knew in the situations he’d ended up in.
“I know you said you got into law to help people,” I said once he’d finished, “but why law? There are plenty of other professions that help people.”
“Most do in one way or another,” he said. “For me, it was because of my grandmother. My grandfather died when my dad and his siblings were all still in diapers. His death was an accident, and she should have been compensated, but she wasn’t. No one would help her because she couldn’t afford to pay.”
“That’s terrible.” I thought back to Thanksgiving when I’d met his dad. “I can’t even imagine what that must be like. If I think of how powerless I feel now, I just don’t know how she did it. Especially with young children to raise.”
“That’s exactly it.” He rubbed the back of his neck before a smile spread on his handsome face. “I couldn’t imagine it either, so I decided to do something about it. I might not have been able to help her, but I can help others like her.”
“It’s great that your boss lets you do it. I can’t see a firm like Eric’s taking on cases like that.”
“If I had tried to work for someone like Eric, I’d be in jail for doing something shocking to him by now. Like vandalizing his car or letting homeless people make themselves comfortable in his home. At least that way, he’d be useful to society.”
“He probably has a very nice house. I’m sure he could’ve taken on quite a few long-term guests.”
Jacob grinned. “My point exactly. Needless to say, it’s for the best I didn’t end up working for him. We would never have seen eye to eye, and I’m not the kind of person who can just stand by and watch injustices being carried out. I definitely would’ve done something drastic in an attempt to make him see the error in his ways.”
“Well, I can be pretty creative when the mood strikes. I’d be happy to help you think of a few ideas, as long as we don’t end up becoming criminals.”
“He’s definitely not worth becoming a criminal for,” Jacob said. “We should talk about him sometime, though. Not tonight but sometime. In fact, let’s agree not to talk any business tonight. Deal?”
“Deal.” I didn’t even need to think about it. “Have I ever told you about the time I accidentally told airport security that my bag might explode?”
He burst out laughing. “No. You most definitely have not. I can’t wait to hear this story, though.”
“It was just one of those moments when my brain and my mouth weren’t on the same page. I went to this fantasy-book convention. I was there to do signings of my own, but I’m also a really big fan of some of the authors who were there. I ended up buying so many books and so much merchandise that I only just managed to fit it all in.”
“I think I know where this is going,” he said, his eyes looking like spun gold in the candlelight, as lit up with amusement as they were.
I nodded, even though I was at serious risk of just staring at him looking so relaxed and carefree. “I had to get a friend to sit on my suitcase to zip it up. When I got pulled over after my flight landed, I just knew a heavy book was going