Melissa lets out a strange mix between a sigh and a laugh. She doesn’t look at me right away, but when she does, I see relief in her eyes, along with lingering pain. “To be honest with you, I wasn’t doing so well initially. Last week was really tough. I had to leave work early the day he broke up with me. Something I haven’t done in the ten years I’ve worked here, but I just couldn’t deal with it.” She clears her throat while tracing some designs on the tablecloth. “But now? I feel relieved. I feel fine with letting him go. I’ve realized what a selfish, immature person he really was, despite being the older one out of the two of us.”
I shift happily in my seat. I hate to be happy over her heartbreak, but I can’t help it. It means that I get to finally be the knight in shining armor I’ve always wanted to be. The goodly hero I always played in my role-playing games but never got to be in real life. At least, not until now.
She looks at me, and I still my body. She gives me an odd smile. It’s somewhat calculating and shrewd. “And I’ve decided to make my ex pay for what he’s put me through. The emotional labor and the monetary burden,” she says. I raise my eyebrows. Melissa continues, smiling wider over my expression. “I’ve decided I’m going to file charges against him. Sue him for the money I’ve given to him for various things. I’ve looked into some law, and I found that since we were in a kind of ‘common-law’ relationship because of the time we lived together, he and I actually would have shared assets. I could actually ask that he pay something in damages or restitution for infidelity while in this relationship. I’ve already told Kane about my plans, and he’s agreed to look into it for me.”
The trays of food begin to arrive. As the food gets put into the middle of our table, and all the delicious smells start to flow and mingle between us, I’ve got so much on my mind. But not just from the food. From my current train of thought. Thoughts regarding this legal action Melissa’s just implied. Though I know I’m not a practicing lawyer yet, I can’t help but begin to imagine what it would be like to truly be her defense. Not only as her lover but as her attorney. How good it makes me feel to imagine being the strong, righteous person in the courtroom. Using my words and my knowledge to help Melissa win her wealth and her freedom back from her ex-boyfriend.
I’m lost in these thoughts, and similar ones like them as Melissa begins to dish up the food for us, giving me sizable portions of everything: duck, cheesy au gratin potatoes and garlic, pan-seared greens. I wish I could find a way to be your lover and your lawyer, I think. Except one, more than the other, is going to be an obvious conflict of interest. But maybe, just maybe, there will be a way around it.
Chapter Thirty
Melissa
We eat our dinner the way I love to eat it: slowly, savoring each bit of it, enjoying more conversation. A conversation that’s turned to a lighter tone now. Away from ex-boyfriends and scuzzy, predatory bosses. While our conversation did turn to Ms. Vanacore during part of the main course, we kept it to a minimum.
I simply reminded Tommy to be prepared to gather evidence and be prepared to take this “willing” act of his to a believable level if he’s going to go forward in getting this evidence.
Now, the desert has rolled around — literally on some silver platters on rolling carts, and we are free to pick and choose from any of it. But, my eyes zero in on Tommy’s shabby, much-too-big suit. It’s the same as the one he’s been wearing for nearly a week and a half now. Whether it’s the same one he wore for his interview, or a whole other matching set (I wouldn’t be surprised if he had a whole closet of the same suit to wear every day) it doesn’t matter. I’m eager to see him in something else. Something worthy or of his good looks and his talent. Something more elegant and stylish. Something a practicing lawyer should be seen in.
It’s my turn to drink him in now, as I’ve seen him do to me a few times tonight. I study his full features. Though he has a bit of weight around his face, it only makes him look that much more boyish — young and filled with wonder, but he also has an intensity. In his face, I see a sense of justice and righteousness, which he also embodies. The way he sits his large body in the chair, it’s like he’s always meditating on his destiny, his self-actualization into a fully empowered, fully realized being. It’s a beautiful thing to see. It’s energy without arrogance, confidence without criticism, and determination without cruelty or coldness. Things that Dennis could never and would never have.