Retribution (5 page)

I pulled open the door and walked inside. The reception area was as gorgeous as I remembered. The walls were a light-cream color with artwork hanging every few feet. There were two leather couches with a television mounted on the wall across from them. A glass table covered in magazines was set in the middle of the room.

The same receptionist from before sat behind her desk. She smiled warmly when she saw me. “You must be Claire.”

I nodded. “How did you guess?”

She grinned. “I remember you from before. Plus, you look absolutely terrified. That’s always a dead giveaway for new employees.” She paused. “And clients who are in a heap of trouble. Anyway, I’m Gina. If you will follow me, I’ll take you up to Becky. She’ll handle your training.”

She stood and walked around her desk. I followed her as she walked down a hallway to an elevator. I looked further down the hall. Robert’s office was only a few doors down from the elevator. I hoped that I wouldn’t see him today. I was nervous enough without him popping in to check on me. Besides, I was still angry with him.

We rode the elevator up to the second floor. When the doors opened, she led me down another hallway. We walked to the very last door. It was open, and we stepped inside without knocking.

“Becky, I have your new employee.”

A woman, who looked to be in her mid-twenties, sat behind a desk. She looked up and smiled at me. I instantly liked her. Her chocolate hair was cut in a sleek bob, making her look professional and hip all at once. Her brown eyes were covered with black-framed glasses.

“You must be Claire. Robert said you would be in this morning.”

“That’s me.” I reached across the desk and shook her hand.

“Well, I’ll leave you two alone to get started. It was nice to see you again,” Gina said as she turned to leave.

“Thanks for bringing her up,” Becky called after her.

“No problem!”

Once she was gone, Becky gestured for me to sit down. I took the seat directly across from her and grabbed my knees to keep my hands from shaking. I was so nervous. I hated change, and getting a new job was definitely a change.

“Did you fill out all the forms I gave Robert?” she asked.

I nodded. “Yeah, I did.”

She held out her hand. “Let me see them, and I’ll make sure to get them processed this morning.”

I handed my folder over to her. “Everything you sent is in there.”

“Perfect.” She put the folder down on her desk. “So, basically, I’m going to have you doing most of the filing. If I don’t have anything for you to do, you’ll run errands. Robert said I could leave the amount of hours you work up to you, so if you let me know how much you want to work, I’ll get your schedule set up in the computer system.”

I raised an eyebrow. “I get to choose how much I want to work?”

She nodded and gave me a smile. “Perks of marrying the boss.”

I laughed. I could have taken her words as an insult, but from her tone, I could tell that wasn’t the case. I was already sure that Becky and I would get along.

“I suppose so. Let’s put me down for four days a week. If that is too much, I can work less. I want to stay busy while I’m here. I’m not sure how much filing you have, but I can’t imagine that it would take a lot of time.”

She grinned. “You haven’t seen the files I have for you yet. You’ll retract that statement soon enough. We’re not a huge firm, but the cases that Robert and the other lawyers work on keep me busy all the time. It’s nice to have you here to take some of the burden.”

“I’m glad to help,” I told her honestly.

“Great. Let’s head downstairs, and I’ll show you the basement. You’re going to spend a lot of time there.”

I followed her back to the elevator. We rode downstairs in silence. As soon as the doors opened, we stepped out.

I raised an eyebrow. “It’s kind of dark down here.”
Kind of
was an understatement. I could barely see three feet in front of me.

“We usually keep the lights off on this floor. I’m the only one who comes to this level most of the time.” She flipped a switch, and several overhead lights came on.

I blinked at the sudden brightness as my eyes tried to adjust.

“There we go,” Becky said.

I glanced around the space in front of me. The basement was one large room. Support beams ran through the room every few feet. Temporary walls that were shorter than me separated a few sections. White tile floors and plain brick walls were all I could see, except for the filing cabinets. My eyes widened when I realized just how many cabinets there were. At least two hundred cabinets sat in rows. They were all marked, as were the temporary walls sectioning off specific cabinets from others.

I shivered when I realized how cool it was down here. I would have to make sure to bring a jacket with me from now on.

“Welcome to your new home. It’s not much, but you’ll learn to hate it.”

“I didn’t expect it to be this big. I thought there’d be, like, a room with a few filing cabinets and that was it,” I said.

“Yeah, well, we have a lot of paperwork.” She motioned to her left.

I looked over to see a desk that I hadn’t noticed before. It was covered in stacks of file folders.

“Unfortunately for you, I’ve neglected my filing lately. It’ll take you a few days to get through all of these, plus whatever else I will have for you each day.”

“You weren’t joking about the amount of filing,” I mumbled.

She laughed. “No, I wasn’t. Come on, I’ll show you how our system works. It’s very easy.”

I followed Becky around the room, letting her explain the system. She also stopped to show me the cabinets that were separated from others. Some sections were for things like client wills, but others were for paperwork that they needed to keep longer than normal. I tried to make note of everything, hoping that I wouldn’t mess up.

“If you’re unsure, just set the file aside, and save it for later. You can ask me for help without fear of being yelled at. I know it seems like a lot, but you’ll quickly get the hang of it.”

“I hope so. I never thought I’d need help with filing,” I joked.

“You’ll be fine, Claire. Don’t worry. I think I’ve explained everything as best as I can, so I’m going to head back to my office. Come up at noon, and we’ll grab something for lunch, okay?”

“I will. Thank you,” I said sincerely.

Once Becky left, I stared at the files on the desk. It was going to be a long morning. I grabbed a few files and started wandering around, trying to find the right cabinet for them. It seemed to take me forever to find the right spot for each one. The morning passed at a snail’s pace.

I stopped long enough to eat with Becky before getting back to work. The afternoon seemed to move even slower. I kept glancing at the clock, willing it to go faster, and I swore it laughed at me.

When quitting time finally rolled around, I’d put a decent dent in the amount of files on the desk. Still, I knew I had several more hours of filing to look forward to. That thought made me shudder as I drove home.

I had a job though. I had a purpose. That brightened my mood up a bit. Even though my job wasn’t all that exciting, it would get me out of the house. That was all that I could ask for. I smiled as I pulled up the driveway and entered the code. I was suddenly feeling very happy about the day. It had been boring, yes, but it was
something
.

My good mood was short-lived. It was after eleven at night, and Robert still wasn’t home. I’d sent him a text at ten, asking where he was, and so far, he hadn’t responded. The house was completely silent since neither Robert nor Cooper was home. I’d seen Ellie briefly when I came home, but she’d left shortly after. I’d spent my entire evening in my room, reading and pretending that the silence didn’t bother me.

If this was Robert’s idea of trying to make things right, he was already failing miserably. To try meant that he actually had to be around me. Last time I’d checked, that was how relationships worked.
But what did I know? I was just a child after all.

My phone beeped, and I grabbed it off my nightstand.

I won’t be home tonight.

I sighed and tossed it aside once I read Robert’s text. I didn’t even bother to ask where he was or what he was doing. Instead, I rolled onto my side and curled up underneath my covers.

“I have a note for you,” Becky said the next day when I walked up to her desk.

“Oh?” I asked.

She handed it to me. “From your husband.”

I took it from her and opened the envelope.

LUNCH. MY OFFICE. NOON. HAVE A GOOD DAY.

“Short and sweet,” I mumbled under my breath as I shoved the note in my purse. I looked back at Becky. “Anyway, good morning.”

“Morning. I want you to head back down to the basement again. I added new files for you.”

“You’re the best,” I teased.

“I know. And since I’m the best, I was wondering if you wanted to have lunch together today?” she asked.

“I can’t. Apparently, I’m having lunch with Robert today.”

She smiled. “Gotcha. Well, I guess I’ll see you later then.”

I waved good-bye before heading back down to the basement. I had to keep a date with a filing cabinet.

I spent the next few hours filing away until my phone told me it was time to eat. Suddenly nervous over Robert’s message, I rode the elevator up to the first floor with shaky hands. This would be the first time we saw each other after his offer to let me work at the firm. I was still angry with him for hitting me, then ignoring me, and for not even bothering to come home last night, but I was trying to give him another chance. If I stormed into his office like a raging bull, we wouldn’t be able to move forward.

Still, I felt trapped, like a caged animal. If I couldn’t forgive him, things would never be the same between us. My animosity would grow into something more, and our brand-new marriage would disintegrate—because of me. That didn’t sit well with me. I didn’t want to be the reason that we failed before we ever truly started our life together.

When the elevator doors slid open, I stepped out and walked down the hallway to Robert’s office. I stood outside for a moment before knocking. Only a few seconds after my knuckles hit the door, it opened, and Robert was in front of me.

He smiled as he opened the door wider. “Please come in, Claire.”

I gave him a small smile as I moved past him. I stopped a few feet inside his office. As he closed the door, I shifted my weight from foot to foot. I knew I looked as nervous as I felt, but I couldn’t help it.

“Relax, please,” Robert said as he walked around me to sit behind his desk. “Have a seat. I ordered lunch for both of us.”

I noticed two Styrofoam containers sitting on his desk as I sat down across from him. He slid one over to me.

“It’s not five-star dining, but it’ll do,” he said as he opened his own container.

I traced the outside of my container as I watched him. “Is there any specific reason you asked me to join you?”

He nodded. “Yes, there is. I wanted to see how you’re doing so far with your new job. We haven’t had a chance to talk about it yet.”

“That’s because you haven’t come home,” I pointed out.

“I’ve started working on a new case that’s taking a lot of my time. I stayed here last night.”

I bit my lip for a moment. “I understand work is important to you. I really do. But how do you think we’re going to work out our…issues if you’re never home?”

He pushed his container away and rested his elbows on his desk. “You’re absolutely right, and I owe you an apology. I want us to work more than anything in this world, Claire. I’m sorry if I’ve made you feel like you aren’t important to me because you are.”

“You’re important to me, too.”

“Then, let’s fix this, shall we? Starting right now, I plan to make you see just how much you mean to me.” He smiled at me. “And I promise to be home every night from now on unless I let you know ahead of time. Does that seem fair?”

“Yes, it does. Thank you.” I returned his smile.

“Perfect. Now, tell me about work. Are you enjoying yourself here?” he asked.

“I am. It’s nice to get out of the house and do something. I don’t do well with just sitting around. I get antsy.”