I had fallen into sort of a groove at work. It was still chaotic and overwhelming, but that had become my new normal. Monday morning, I walked in looking for a case to distract me. I wanted to sink my teeth into something while Vaughn was gone. I hadn’t heard from him yet.
Addie looked up for a brief second.
“Good morning.” I smiled.
“Hi.” She scribbled notes on an open file.
Jessie was right behind me. “Am I late?” She was noticeably out of breath.
“No.” I shook my head. “I just got here.”
“Good.” She scooted in next to me, closer than what I was comfortable with. “I was worried that you had already started meeting with clients. I ran from the shuttle, but then I remember I left my phone so I had to find that and it was one thing after another.”
I didn’t know if I was a good mentor for Jessie or not. I didn’t enforce any type of rule system. I taught her the law of the cases we worked on. I explained what documents we needed and the deadlines for filing them. I didn’t give her advice on how to make a career in law or even how to impress the boss by showing up on time.
Addie was the complete opposite. She had handed her mentees a syllabus with expectations and guidelines for the year. They checked in with her throughout the day.
“Want me to go on a coffee run?” Jessie offered.
“Actually yes.” I needed a second to breathe. Alone. I handed her a wad of cash. “The usual.”
“No problem.” She stuffed the bills into her purse and walked out of the office.
It gave me a few minutes to settle in.
Meg poked her head in the door. “Ready?”
I waved her off, while Addie waved her first client in for the morning.
I needed more time. I didn’t know if there was enough coffee or enough minutes. But I wasn’t ready.
By lunch Jessie and I had seen four new clients and two active cases. I wanted to devote the rest of the afternoon to cases I still had pending.
It was hard to juggle the caseload with so many people piling up in the lobby. I didn’t want to turn anyone away, but I couldn’t help the people I was already committed to if I didn’t close some of the cases.
I walked to the student store to grab a salad. I pulled my phone out when it buzzed. It was a text from Greer.
Had fun last night. See you tonight, roomie. Want to watch a movie?
I smiled. Last night had been fun. It wasn’t what I had hoped for, but Preston decided not to come over when he realized it was going to be a girls’ night.
Definitely
I was glad that Greer wanted to try to bring us back together. It wasn’t her fault things had become foreign between us. I had ignored our friendship as much as she had. I was lost in some kind of Vaughn spell. I had to learn how to balance our relationship in my life. It was too easy to be consumed by him.
I paid for my salad and walked across campus, pulling my coat tighter to my chest. I decided to eat lunch at my desk while Jessie took her full hour break.
I poured a drizzle of dressing over the kale leaves when my phone vibrated again.
I wanted it to be Vaughn. I sighed when I saw the text was from my mother.
Are you coming home for Thanksgiving?
It seemed like the kind of conversation we needed to have over the phone. It was the most time off I had since I started at American.
Can I bring someone?
I waited for my mother’s response. I hadn’t talked to Vaughn about the holidays, but Thanksgiving was only a few weeks away. Of course it was entirely possible he had plans with his family. But there was a part of me that wanted to take him home to New Bern with me.