Falling for the Lawyer - By Anna Clifton Page 0,25

the truth.”

Alex looked long and hard at him before nodding. “I took legal studies at school and was social justice captain too—I would have liked to work with people in need, but it’s not to be,” she added in a hoarse whisper.

“You’d like to become a lawyer then?”

“Yes, but it’s a pipedream, JP. It’s not going to fit into my life.”

“Rubbish!” he handed down his verdict without mercy. “If you want something badly enough you can make it fit in. If your family loves you they’ll see it’s what you want and they’ll support you.”

JP sat back in his chair with a thud and rubbed his whiskery chin thoughtfully before throwing himself forward again. His mind was racing as he formulated a plan.

There was no point forcing her into a decision that night—she was too shattered to decide anything. But he could stall her from deciding against it completely and that would give him time to work on her.

“Will you promise me something then—just one thing?” he asked eventually.

“What?” Alex replied, her voice empty and miserable.

“Will you promise me you’ll think about my offer for at least one week before you give me a final answer?”

“It won’t make any difference. You know what a legal career does to a woman’s life and that’s not the life I committed myself to three years ago.”

“Just promise me, that’s all I ask, yeah?”

“Okay. But what if I decide ‘no’? I guess that means I’m out of a job.”

“I haven’t worked that out yet,” he answered, remembering Adam and Justin were expecting him to resolve his PA issues sooner rather than later. “I was so sure you’d agree to the paralegal offer. It seemed like the perfect solution. I thought it would be what you want and it would be what I need …” But JP caught himself up mentally and didn’t go any further.

“I think I must have misled you about my intentions.”.

“You haven’t misled me. Anyway, I have no right to ask and you’re under no obligation to tell me anything about your personal life—you know that.”

“I appreciate your offer.”

“I’m selfishly motivated Alex, I assure you. I have to lead by example here. If I’ve got two PAs it flies in the face of everything the partners are trying to change. I can’t have one rule for myself and another rule for everyone else. Normally it wouldn’t be a problem to cut back but with you …” JP stopped abruptly in mid-sentence. He didn’t want Alex to know the problem he was having was not solely employment related.

“With me … what?” Alex pressed.

“Never mind.”

Over a week passed.

JP didn’t broach the topic of Alex’s career again. In fact she began to wonder whether he’d forgotten about it. Perhaps he’d even had a change of heart.

Alex heartily wished she could forget it.

The problem was that JP had planted a seed in her mind and tentative imaginings about becoming a lawyer had been plaguing her ruthlessly ever since. Countless times during the week she’d caught herself daydreaming about sitting in lecture theatres, wading through legal books and even making some university friends. Suddenly her dreams had burst out of the confines of her private Alex Farrer world and into the streaming sunlight of JP’s hopes and expectations.

But Alex knew it wasn’t just the law that appealed to her. It ran deeper than that. It wouldn’t have mattered what she did, whether it was an Assistant Legal PA or a High Court justice. What she really yearned for was variety in her life: failures and successes, highs and lows, and vibrant, colourful people. Suddenly JP had lowered a ladder of future possibilities down to her. Now she ached to place her foot on the first rung and begin to climb. But despite what she’d said to JP about the weight of global family expectation there was one mountain of resistance which would be more insurmountable than all the others: Simon.

Simon would not like the idea of her doing further study one little bit. He had plans for them and she’d gone along with those plans for so long that any alternative would be like a bolt of lightning out of the blue.

Nevertheless, JP’s words had filled her with hope. He was right wasn’t he? When you loved someone you supported that person in achieving their dreams. Perhaps she’d underestimated Simon. Perhaps he’d be happy to be talked around to her point of view. All she had to do was explain that their plans for parenthood wouldn’t