“Didn’t you date a lawyer?” Tyler cocked his head as though searching his memory. “What was her name again?”
“Whitley Maxwell.” She was attractive, intelligent and shallow.
“Whitley, that’s right.” Tyler snapped his fingers. “Maybe you could ask her to help.”
“You’ve still got a lot to learn, Ty, if you think that would be a good idea.” Xavier snorted.
“We didn’t exactly part on good terms.” Donovan glanced at Tyler. Had he brought up Whitley in an effort to amuse Xavier? His smile was faint, but it was the first sign of levity his friend had shown in more than a week.
Tyler shrugged. “She’s a good lawyer and you know her.”
“You’re right.” It wasn’t that Whitley hadn’t crossed his mind. But he was reluctant to return to any sort of relationship with her, considering the way their relationship had ended. “But she may be more trouble than she’s worth.”
“Maybe she’s changed.” Tyler’s voice was pensive.
“Can people really change that much?” Xavier asked.
Donovan studied the other man. He sensed Xavier was thinking about his ex-girlfriend when he posed that question.
He turned back to Tyler. “I’ll see if the other board members have luck finding a lawyer to help us pro bono. If not, I’ll give Whitley a call.”
He hoped the other members had a long list of recommendations for legal representation. He’d much rather not have to reconnect with his ex-girlfriend.
* * *
Rose was the last of the four former law school classmates to arrive at the Ethiopian restaurant after work Friday evening. She wasn’t late. In fact, she was almost ten minutes early. What time had the others gotten off work?
“Sorry to keep you waiting.” Rose offered the apology as she sat beside Maxine Ellerson in the booth.
“I just got here myself.” Maxine was the least neurotic of the three other women. Her neat, close-cut natural complemented her pixie, coffee features.
Rose’s companions had their drinks—a water, an iced tea and a lemonade. She waited as they gave their dinner requests to their waitress. The entire table ordered vegetable entrées, as usual. Rose was tempted to mix it up and order a meat dish. Instead she ordered the same thing she always did when they met once a month: the lentil salad, Azifa, and a glass of ice water with lemon.
While they waited for their dinners, Rose listened as the other lawyers brought each other up-to-date on personal and professional events. Maxine was a junior partner with a law firm not far from the restaurant in the Short North neighborhood. She’d been dating a chemist for the past several years. Tasha Smalls was unhappily married with two young children. She was legal counsel for a financial institution headquartered in downtown Columbus. Claudia Brentwood-Washington had her own practice in the suburbs, and never missed an opportunity to boast about her well-trained husband and prodigy daughter.
Why do I do this to myself? Rose’s gaze chased around the warm, vibrant colors of the restaurant’s traditional decor. The air was fragrant with exotic spices, well-seasoned meats and savory stews. Their dinner conversation always reminded Rose of everything she should have had. She wasn’t married. She wasn’t even dating anyone. She was happy with her job at the law firm, but she wanted more. Why am I here?
Their conversation was briefly interrupted as the server brought their entrées, then Rose returned her attention to her former classmates.
She’d met them during their first year at law school while attending a Black Student Union meeting. Despite their different backgrounds and personalities, they’d stayed in touch over the past ten years, mainly through emails and these once-a-month dinners.
Tasha shook her head, sending her long, thin braids over her shoulder. “Rose, I felt so sorry for you when I heard that Ben was added to your legislative update panel for our reunion. How are you holding up?”
That didn’t take long.
Rose lifted her eyes to hold Tasha’s dark gaze. There was a time when she would have believed the innocent expression on the other woman’s round, nutmeg face. But now she recognized the satisfied glint in Tasha’s eyes. “Ben and I were over a long time ago.”
“What are you going to do?” Claudia always looked as though she’d just walked out of a salon. How could she maintain a solo practice, care for her family and look perpetually perfect?
“Why do I have to do anything?” Rose shrugged one shoulder, feigning indifference. She swallowed a forkful of her salad. The savory dish tasted like ashes. Her ruined appetite was one more sin to count against Benjamin.
Claudia and Tasha exchanged incredulous looks.
Seated beside Rose, Maxine sipped her iced tea. “Ben probably got himself assigned to Rose’s panel for the exposure, hoping she’d once again make him look good.”
Rose lowered her gaze to her barely touched salad. Long ago she’d come to the same conclusion: Benjamin had used her success and popularity at their law school to meet people who could help him. She’d been so in love with the snake in disguise that she hadn’t realized he’d only been interested in her body and her connections, not necessarily in that order.
“When did you finally notice he’d only been using you?” Tasha’s question echoed her thoughts.