Acts of Desperation (8 page)

His voiced hummed in my ear. “We’d better stop now. I’m five seconds away from the point of no return.”

I closed my eyes and laughed. I wanted him with every ounce of my being and the whole display was completely out of character for me. But he was right, we needed to stop.

“Yeah, this could get us into trouble,” I said.

He picked up his phone and called Fritz. We waited in the dark hallway, stealing a few more kisses, until we saw the car pull up. Regretfully, we headed back to work. Within seconds it seemed, we were back out in front of our building.

We took an empty elevator up to our floor, and he backed me up against the wall.

“Hey now,” I said. “We’re at work. Let’s be professional at the office. I’d hate to give off the wrong impression.”

“We’re in an
elevator, behind closed doors, this doesn’t count as the office,” he said, and when he was an inch from my face, stealing my breath, the elevator dinged. He stepped back immediately and looked forward, but his stern expression was laced with a hint of a smile.

Jax walked out first, and then we
were met with Dee’s concerned face. “Sember, your sister has called here at least five times for you. Did you forget your cell? I’ve been trying to call you too,” she said.

Something was wrong, I could feel it. Heat flooded my cheeks, as I dug through my purse.

“What’s wrong?” Jax asked.

I looked up and exhaled. “Shoot! I must have left it plugged in on my desk. I can’t believe I did that.”

“Sember?” Dee said.

“It’s fine. I-I’m sure it’s nothing,” I said quickly, knowing in my heart it was anything but. I smiled uneasily, trying to hide my concern. “I’m sorry,” I said to Jax. “Thanks for lunch, but I
have to go.”

I didn’t wait for his response and hurriedly walked down the hall. I shut the door and leaned over my desk to grab my phone.

I had ten missed calls from Sarah.

“Where the heck are you?” Sarah barked into the phone. I could tell she’d been crying.

“Sorry, I was at lunch and forgot my phone. What’s wrong?” I asked.

“That freaking judge found me in contempt!” she said, starting to cry.

Although it was bad news, I was slightly relieved
; I was afraid Anders had done something crazy. “Ok, it’s going to be alright. Tell me what happened?”

“Chuck called me and told me the ruling was in. She found me in contempt. I withheld contact from the kids and neglected to
encourage
healthy communication
with their father because I was gone a couple of extra days. Can you believe that? He called six times a day when we were away on vacation. Six times! Not to mention the video chats and the app on the iPad he used to leave messages. I think that teeters on harassment to me but nope, as usual, I’m the bad guy.”

“You’re not the bad guy Sarah. It’s going to be ok,” I said, but I sense
d she wasn’t listening when she began talking over me.

“
I kept replaying the day in court. Chuck didn’t do a
thing
to defend me or prepare me. He was disorganized and threw me to the wolves. He tried calming me down after we walked out of the hearing because I
knew
it hadn’t gone well. I
knew
the judge didn’t like me very much, and he said it was all in my head. And you know what else he said?” she asked.

“What?” My heart was pounding as my stomach twisted in knots.

“He said I looked
tired
on the stand.
Tired
. Like it was my fault.” She laughed uneasily. “I don’t know what to do.” I heard her quietly blow her nose through the line. “The worst thing is all along Anders kept telling me that my lawyer was an idiot. And look! He was right. The person that I can’t trust, that betrayed me and deceived me, was freaking right. I look like an absolute idiot. I bet he’s laughing at me right now. What am I going to do? I could go to jail, Sember.”

“Well first, relax just a little. You’re the mother of two young children, and the social worker recommended you get sole custody. That’ll speak volumes to the judge about Anders’s character. It’s highly unlikely that you’d get tossed in jail, but I think
it’s time for you to get a new lawyer.”

“Do you mean you?” she asked.

My heart dropped into my stomach. Sarah had always been a good big sister to me. I can remember plenty of times growing up where she never hesitated to protect and defend me. Like the time when we were in elementary school together. I was in kindergarten and she was in fourth grade because I was very young, but the memory is crystal clear.

We would walk the one block home together after getting off the
school bus. It must have been spring because the air was cool yet comfortable, and the ground was squishy from rain. These two little boys would torment us every day by throwing rocks at us as they passed by from across the street. One day they actually hit me in the arm, and I started to cry from the sting. It made no difference that they were bigger than Sarah. She instantly dropped her backpack and stormed across the street. After a brief scuffle, she got the bigger one in a head lock and wrestled him to the ground. Personally, I think the element of surprise aided a smidge in her victory—hell, I was there and I didn’t see it coming. The other boy stood next to her in awe, his mouth gaping, unable to move to help his friend. I remember being a little awed myself; it was really impressive the way she handled herself. I can still see that little punk look up at me from across the street. His mousy brown hair was all kinds of messed up, and he had globs of dirt and grass stuck in his front teeth from Sarah smashing his face into the earth. She whispered calmly in his ear, and then he shouted his frantic apologies to me. She dropped him then coolly marched across the street and picked up her stuff. She grabbed my hand and we walked home. And from that day on, they never bothered us again.

A
sking if I’d implied that I would represent her, I saw it as my opportunity to help and defend her, but I didn’t think I could personally do it, and it killed me a little inside to admit it.

  
“No, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean me. My emotions could affect my judgment, and I can’t risk that. If I screwed something up, I’d never forgive myself. But I promise I’ll figure something out ok. Somebody here will be able to help. I’ll take care of it. I promise. Was that all Chuck said?”

“You mean other than telling me to calm down constantly
—again? No, not really.” She laughed nervously. “He did say we’d appeal, but I don’t know why. It seemed pretty cut and dry to me.”

“Appealing would be a waste of time, and it’s expensive. I’m not sure why he’d suggest that other than
maybe racking up a bill. Besides, a ruling in family court isn’t likely to be overturned anyway. It sure wouldn’t make you any friends in that courtroom if you have to go up against that judge again. And knowing Anders, you could very easily end up there again.”

“Great. And now I have to sit and wait for my punishment to be handed down.
It’s like that judge enjoys torturing me,” she said.

“She’s not torturing you, although I can understand how you’d think that. It’s just the way the system works.”

“Seriously, I think I’m going to throw up. I don’t want to go to court anymore. I don’t want to do any of this anymore. I’m scared, and I want this to be over,” she said.

“It’s gonna to be alright. We’ll figure this out. Where are you right now?” I asked.

“At school, hiding in the coat closet. My kids are in art class. How the heck am I going to get through my day like this? I’m a wreck.”

“Just do your best, ok. I’ll call you later when I have something worked out. But you have to relax a little. I swear to you, you’re not going to jail. You’ll probably have to pay a fine. That’s all.”

The line hung empty for a few moments while she took deep, nervous breaths. “Ok,” she whispered, defeated.

“Look, this is a fight—the fight of your life—and I will not let Anders win. Mom and dad raised us to be tough. You’re tough. Go outside and take some deep breaths in the cold air. It’s not going to do you any good for your class to see you crying. When your kids come back in, you put a smile on that pretty face and pretend everything is alright,” I said.

She huffed. “Pretend. It’s all I do. Pretend I’m alright at work. Pretend I’m alright in front of the kids. Pretend I’m not terrified every time that lunatic takes my kids out to dinner or over the weekend. I’m
so
sick of pretending.”

“I know, but you have to. It’s not always g
oing to be like this. I promise it won’t. It’s going to be a bumpy road, but I’m on it with you.”

I heard a bell chime through the line. “Shoot,” she said then exhaled. “I need to get out of here. My kids are going to be walking in any second. Time to pretend again I guess. Ugh, I hate this.”

“I know. I’ll be in touch soon,” I said.

When the line disconnected, I threw my phone down and bunched my hair up at my temples, staring down at my desk. I wanted to cry. I wanted to scream. But instead of losing it, I needed focus on fixing the situation. I took my own advice and breathed in deep breaths and started racking my brain for options, but then my phone rang.

“Miss Adler, someone from the CCCS is on line one for you,” Dee said. “Would you like me to take a message?”

“No. Thank you. I’ll take it,” I said. Truthfully, I didn’t want to take it, but they took so long to return phone calls that I couldn’t miss the opportunity to talk to them. The legal system moves at a snail’s pace as it is, and I didn’t want to slow down any of my cases if I could help it.

I spoke with a representative regarding the Bellamy’s case. We worked through a few details, and laid out a plan. The next time I looked at the clock it was nearly four thirty. Most of the office would probably be getting ready to leave for the weekend. I didn’t know what I’d say to Sarah if I hadn’t figured something out by the close of business. I couldn’t let her down when she was in such desperate need of help.

I replayed our conversation in my head, and my frustrated tears returned as waves of anxiety hit me.

Screw it
, I thought,
I’ll just sit in here and launch into an ugly cry. Hopefully, by the time I’m ready to come out, everyone will be gone for the day
. My tears started flowing, slowly forming a pool on my desk as I held my head in my hands.

Then
, there was a knock at my door.

“Great,” I whispered to myself. “Yes?” I said
, artificially raising my voice.

“It’s me. You have a minute?” It was Jax.

“Perfect timing,” I said under my breath. “Yeah, just a sec,” I said, continuing to hide my emotion by my tone. I didn’t want him to see me a slobbering mess. I blotted my face and took a deep breath. “Come in.”

He opened the door, and his smile instantly fell. “What’s wrong?” he asked and walked in, shutting the door behind him.

“Nothing. What’s up?” I asked, plastering a fake smile on my face.

“Don’t say nothing. You’re crying. What’s wrong?” he
asked.

“Just a family mess I’m dealing with. It’s nothing. I’m fine,” I said
, rolling my eyes. I was trying to play it cool, but my voice cracking somewhere at the end gave me away.

He grabbed
a chair, setting it down next to me. He sat down and spun me around to face him. “Any time a woman says she’s fine, she’s anything but. Tell me.”

I sighed. “You sure?”

“Of course. I don’t like seeing you like this.”

“Ok,” I said. I took a deep breath and told him everything that had happened with Sarah
and her case. “So,” I said. “It’s just been hard living through this, and it gets to me sometimes.”

“I can understand that,” he said. “Divorces aren’t usually pretty.”

“I know, but what really sucks is I think this could have gone a lot better. Her lawyer is just awful.”

“Who’s she got?”

“A friend of a friend of a friend pretty much. Someone my dad found through a recommendation from a guy at his gym. I did a little research on him, and he checked out alright, but he seems completely disorganized. I don’t know if he’s stretched too thin or what, but my sister needs new representation,” I said. “He even blamed the loss on her physical appearance in court.”

“Wow. Sounds like a mess,” he said, “and he sounds like a real ass.”

“I know,” I laughed. “So I’m angry and frustrated with all of this. Of course I’d like to represent her, but I think it’s risky, and I’m so close with her…” I stopped myself and shook off the worst case scenario I could
think of. “I can’t imagine how awful I’d feel if I failed her. I just can’t risk it.” I shook my head.

“Sometimes working with family can be tough
and it puts a lot of extra pressure on you. Why don’t you let me handle it?” he said.

“I don’t know,” I said. “I feel like it’s a lot to ask. You just got here, and I’m sure you’ve got a full load.”

“First, you didn’t ask, I offered. And second, I’m the best she can get so why don’t you let me worry about my case load.”

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“Yes, but you’ll have to repay me
,
” he said with a hint of a smile.

I let out a light laugh. “You’re flirting with me when I’m weak. Perfect. What exactly did you have in mind?” I asked, smirking.

He gave me a mischievous grin. “Nothing, I just wanted to see you smile.”

And I did. “Well it worked. Thanks. And thanks for offering to help.” 

“It’s no problem. Now, give me your phone,” he said.

“Why?” I asked.

“Just give it to me,” he said, and I handed it over. “I’m putting my number in here. Tell your sister I’m taking over her case and to stop worrying. I’ll take care of everything else. We can walk through the details on Monday. Just let me know when she can come in.” He finished programming his information into my phone and handed it back.

“Wait,” I said. “Why did you come in here? We started talking about my sister. Did you want something?”

“Yeah, you,” he said, and my heart leapt. “I want to take you to dinner. I’ll call you tomorrow. Now, go home, you’re going to need your rest.”