‘Don’t worry, Jonas is with a friend,’ she said, blowing her nose and taking a seat on the sofa.
‘And where’s David?’
‘Fucking his new girlfriend, probably,’ she said with surprising venom.
Matthew resisted the urge to laugh. Carla had always been very against swearing, scolding him whenever he had uttered an expletive.
‘He’s having an affair?’ he asked.
She snorted.
‘Predictable, isn’t it? And don’t say “I told you so”.’
‘I wasn’t going to.’
‘I wouldn’t blame you for doing cartwheels right now,’ she said, more tears rolling down her face. ‘I know I screwed up, but I didn’t know where else to go.’
Matthew took the coffee cup and pressed it into Carla’s unsteady hands.
‘I need you, Matt,’ she said, and he felt something deep inside him flutter.
‘You need me?’
‘You’re a family lawyer.’
‘You want me to advise you?’ he asked, sitting down beside her.
‘Why not? You’re the best.’
He shrugged.
‘I’m afraid that doesn’t matter. I can’t do it. It’s a conflict of interests. Besides, are you sure this is what you want?’
It was a question he always asked his clients: ‘Are you sure?’
She frowned.
‘I know you’re hurt at the moment, but you really need to be sure that divorce is the right way to go for you.’
He couldn’t believe he was asking her to think about it, when all he had wanted for the last three years was for her to walk out on David. The truth was, he wanted to hear her say it.
‘Yes, I want to divorce him,’ said Carla, taking a small sip of her coffee. ‘And I want to take him for every penny he’s got.’
‘Tell me what happened, from the start.’
‘You really want to know?’ She smiled weakly. ‘If you can’t represent me, what’s this? Free advice?’
‘Something like that.’
‘Thank you,’ she said, as she moved across the sofa and hugged him. ‘Really, Matt, it’s far more than I deserve.’
He froze for a moment, then hugged her back, smelling her hair, that same familiar scent of happier days.
‘Right then,’ he said, grabbing a notepad and a pen. ‘From the beginning . . .’
He sat back down on the chair ready to hear her story, Erica Sheldon’s phone number in his pocket well and truly forgotten.
10