Love Proof (Laws of Attraction) - By Elizabeth Ruston Page 0,102

ask for permission when she’d already made up her mind. Not to say, “Would it be okay . . . ?” when what she really meant was, “I’m doing X.” Letting people think they still had a chance to change her mind only led to fruitless, frustrating conversations. It was one of the reasons she hadn’t consulted Joe before sending out her e-mail. She had already decided it was the right thing to do.

So instead of writing back to her team, “Would one of you be able to take over for me immediately, and fly to Spokane tonight for tomorrow’s deposition?” she wrote, “One of you needs to fly to Spokane tonight. Please make this arrangement among yourselves and book the plane ticket immediately. I will not be attending Wednesday’s deposition.”

Sarah sat back and looked at the e-mail before sending it off. She knew she had to be very careful with her words from now on. Every one of them would be scrutinized by someone—maybe even by the ethics committee of the Bar at some point. She was willing to face the consequences of her behavior, but she saw no reason to make her situation worse.

With that in mind, she deleted the last line, and changed it to, “Let me know as soon as possible who will be attending Wednesday’s deposition.” Joe had had the right attitude about not leaving the case or his firm until his colleague Felix could take over. Sarah couldn’t abandon the client, no matter what. She would have to wait until she knew for certain some other lawyer had taken her place.

She pressed Send, then checked the clock. The morning was already flying. She still needed to eat, shower, and dress for the morning’s deposition.

A text popped onto her phone.

Are you there?

It looked like Mickey was awake.

Sarah thought about what she might say: Thanks for everything; thanks for getting me that opportunity; I’m sorry it didn’t work out; I’m sorry.

A text wasn’t going to do it. A phone call probably wouldn’t, either.

Sarah left the phone on the desk and went to take a shower.

***

“Good morning.” Ryan Sollers seemed especially cheerful. “So nice to see you today, Sarah.”

“Oh, you, too, Ryan,” Sarah said just as cheerfully. She greeted the court reporter more sincerely, then sat and unpacked her laptop.

“Sleep all right?” Ryan asked.

“It’s so nice of you to be concerned,” Sarah said.

Ryan grinned. He seemed to think there was no reason to hide how much he was enjoying himself.

Joe entered a few minutes later with a woman around Sarah’s mother’s age. She had short wiry hair that looked like it had never met a brush.

While Ryan began his seduction—“Can I get you anything, Ms. O’Connor? Coffee? Water? Are you comfortable? How’s the temperature in here?”—Sarah refreshed her e-mail. There were already several from the associates.

The one named Bingham—the one Calvin had already mentioned would take over for Sarah if and when there were more depositions in the new year—had arranged a flight to Spokane that would arrive that night.

So Sarah was off the hook.

Or, put another way, she thought, she was now officially out of work.

She only half-listened while Sollers quizzed Joe’s client about every aspect of her hair routine. About every single flammable item near where she set her hair iron down. One by one, methodically going through the instruction manual, all while pretending to have a pleasant conversation.

Sarah had harder things to think about. She had been putting it off until just this moment, when the final piece was in place, but now she knew she had face the next step:

She was about to be poor again.

She had negotiated a good salary with Calvin. And had been frugal with it, not spending wildly just because she had money again, but instead dutifully paying down her debts.

But now she would be back to the bare bones again. Trying to budget for her rent, car expenses, groceries, utilities. Forget any of the Flourish like workouts with Angie or sending money to her parents. Sarah would have to draw in tightly now, defend her borders, and not let a single cent out of her fortress unless it was absolutely necessary and she could justify it.

She mentally reviewed her bank accounts. How much did she still have in savings? She had depleted the fund substantially over the six months she was out of work, and had only put back a little in these past two months. How much longer would it last? And if the money ran out