Love Proof (Laws of Attraction) (31 page)

“Is that what you meant when you said it’s about to get worse?”

“That’s part of it,” Joe said.  “It’s also about trying to time
everything perfectly so I get out before the indictments, but land a new job
before I’m branded a snitch.  It’s tricky times, Red.”

“Don’t make a joke out of this.”

“I’m not,” he said.  “I’m just stating the facts.”

“Well explain this fact to me, then,” she said.  “Why haven’t you quit
yet?  What are you doing still hanging around that place?  Is the U.S. Attorney
making you stay?”

“No, I can leave anytime.”

“Then, why haven’t you?  Do you not understand what’s at stake here?”

“No, what’s at stake?” he asked calmly.

“Your career.  Your reputation.  You can’t go down with that ship, Joe. 
You saw what happened with me—I didn’t work again for six months.”

“I’m not worried about it,” he said.

“Well, you should be.”

“Something will come along.”

Sarah groaned in frustration.  “How can you say that?  You don’t know.”

“I’ve already had one offer.”

“Well, then you should take it!”

“I can’t,” Joe said.  “The offer expired last month.”

Sarah stared at him, confused.  “But why?  How could you let it go?”

Joe tilted his head and gave her a look she knew too well.  It was a
look that said,
You know the answer here, Red.  Think about it.

“No,” she said.  “You didn’t . . . . You didn’t let it go because of
me.”

“I told you I have a strategy,” he said.  “Why do you think I’ve spent the
last two months traveling with you almost every day?  Why do you think I stayed
behind at Thanksgiving?  Why have I been handing over all my cases to other
people in the firm, but holding on to this one?”

Her throat felt dry, but she forced herself to answer.  “Because you’re
crazy.”

“No,” Joe said, “it’s because I’m not stupid.  And I know a second
chance when I see one.  I’m not quitting this case or leaving the firm until I
know:  are you with me, Sarah?  Have I done enough to convince you that I still
love you and I wish I’d never let you go?”

Thirty-three

Sarah stared at him, too overcome to answer.

Joe lifted her hand to his lips.  “That’s all this is, Sarah.  One
long, two-month argument for why you should give me another chance.  I know how
you are—you’re going to want to be stubborn here.  It’s always your first
reaction.  So I don’t expect any kind of answer right now—in fact, I don’t want
one.”

“That really pisses me off,” she said.  The words were out before she
could stop them.  Maybe he was right about her first reactions.

“Why?” he asked.  “Because I know you?”

“No, because you
think
you know me.  You don’t.  You used to.”

“Then tell me the truth,” Joe said.  “Are you feeling all mushy toward
me right now?  Ready to throw yourself into my arms and tell me, ‘Yes, Joe. 
I’m with you.  Let’s run away together tonight’?”

“Of course not,” Sarah said.

“Then tell me what’s on your mind.”

Sarah narrowed her eyes.  Because what was on her mind could very well
be interpreted as stubbornness, and she didn’t want to give him the
satisfaction of proving his point.

“It’s like I’ve said before,” she answered.  “You take a lot for
granted.  You always seem to think I’m a sure thing.”

“Sarah,” he said, “have you not been listening?  You’re the opposite of
a sure thing.  A sure thing would have smiled the first time she saw me in six
years.  She would have been friendly.  Happy to be around me.  You’ve been like
a junk yard dog I’ve had to sing to and feed scraps of meat night after night
until you finally trust me enough to let me climb over the gate.”

She couldn’t help it—she had to laugh.  Even though she knew she should
be annoyed at the comparison.  But she also knew he was fairly close to right.

“See?” Joe said, pointing to her smiling face.  “
That.
  Do you
know how long it’s taken me to get that?”

Sarah closed her eyes and dropped backward onto the red velvet
pillows.  She never imagined when she bought them that one day she’d be sitting
on her catalog couch, resting her head on her catalog pillows, while
Joe-freakin-Burke sat there with her, telling her he had made an absolutely
horrendous career move just for the chance of flying with her to Missoula and
Billings and Pocatello so he could carry out his campaign to woo her.

“I’m not stubborn,” she said from her prone position.  “I’m just
practical.  And you realize a part of me wants to tell you whatever you want to
hear so you’ll quit that damn law firm tomorrow—tonight, even—and get out
before it’s too late.  You know that, right?”

“But I also know you’re a woman of your word,” Joe said, “and so you
would never lie to me like that.”

Sarah sighed.  And aimed one frustrated but mild kick at his thigh.

Joe caught her foot and held it.  “Red?”

“Yes?”

“It could be like this again.”

 “I know.”  She knew she sounded serious, not soft.  Like a lawyer
conceding a point.

“Do you have a good reason not to?” Joe asked.  “Tell me the truth. 
I’m willing to listen if you’ve got one.”

“So easily deterred, huh?” she asked, poking him with her free foot. 
He held on to that one, too.

“No, but I’ve thought it through and I’m ready for you.  So make
whatever kind of case you want for why you and I shouldn’t be together.”

“We’re opponents,” she said.  “Or have you forgotten?”

“Easily fixed, and you know it.  I’ll hand it over to someone else this
week.  Next?”

Sarah scowled.  She wanted to give him other reasons:  that the way
he’d treated her before was unforgivable, that they had only been together
again for less than a week, and that was hardly proof that they could sustain
it, that, that . . .

But he had narrowed her arguments by telling her they had to be true. 
And she knew those weren’t.

The truth was, she could forgive him—and last night she had.  Any anger
she felt was gone.  Maybe it had already left her before that, she thought,
maybe at the ski area above Salt Lake City, maybe outside the airport in
Pocatello, maybe in one hotel room or another.  The moments had begun to blend,
and she knew her heart had been changing all along.  She couldn’t point to one
single event and say,
Yes, that one.  That’s where I gave up being angry and
started falling in love with him again.

And the truth was that even though they had only been “together,” in
that sense, for the past week, they’d been together for two months.  And for
seven weeks before that.  And in the same way she knew by the end of a weekend
in Illinois that Joe was a man she could love, she knew that now, and didn’t
feel right lying about it.

“You’re right,” she said, her body going limp.  “I’ve got nothing.”

“Wait a minute,” he said, “no argument?”

“No, I’m too tired.”

“Not good enough,” Joe said.  “I’m not winning this by default.  You can’t
give in because you’re tired.”

“Yes, I can.  You win.”

In one swift move, Joe yanked Sarah toward him by the feet until her
legs lay over his lap.  Sarah laughed.  “Look at me,” he told her.  “Sarah, I’m
serious.”

“What?  You got what you wanted, didn’t you?  You can quit, I’ll be
your girl . . . ”

“This is not satisfying,” he said.

“Well, too bad.  You wore me down.  You’re like water on a rock—drip,
drip, drip . . . ”

But then she sprang to life again, straddling him, pinning him to her
couch.  “Is this what you want, Burke?  More of a fight?  You want me feisty?”

“A little feist is good,” he said.  “But I want to hear the words, too—can
you give me that, Henley?  Or are you going to leave me here hanging?”

“I will not leave you hanging,” she said, pressing her groin against
his.  “By no means.  I’m feeling a second wind.  And yes, Burke,” she said, resting
her hands gently on the sides of his face and gazing into his eyes, “I’ll give
you the words:  I’m with you, Joe.  Whatever this whole thing brings, I’m with
you.  Satisfied?”

“Getting there,” he said, standing up and lifting her with him.  She
wrapped her legs around his waist as he carried her in the only possible
direction.

“You still haven’t said the other thing I want to hear,” Joe said.

“You’ll have to earn that, too,” Sarah answered.  “Keep working on it.”

Thirty-four

The flight to Portland left at 5:40 Sunday night.  It was later than
Sarah liked to fly, since it meant she would have to find dinner in the
airport, but it was one of the few nonstops, and she was tired of changing
planes.  Joe’s office had made the same reservation.  She knew she’d be seeing
him at the airport.

It was strange, she thought, knowing this would be their last trip
together.  When he left her apartment that morning, he promised to start
working right away on finding his replacement.  Sarah wanted him out of that
firm as soon as possible.  She could feel the hot breath of Fitzgerald and the
U.S. Attorney’s office on her neck, even if Joe didn’t seem as concerned as she
did.

It was only because he hadn’t been through it yet, she thought.  If he
had been there April 6, he would have seen the panic, the misery, the chaos and
confusion as the feds raided her firm.  He would have wished as ardently as she
had that someone had whispered in her ear,
“Hey, you might want to quit by
April 5.  Just a suggestion.”

She finished going through airport security, then searched for
something decent to eat.  She settled for her old standby, a rice and vegetable
bowl from the Chinese fast food place.  It didn’t look nearly as appetizing as
the one Angie had been eating the day before—probably because Angie made it
herself.

Sarah looked forward to the time when she would be home long enough to cook
for herself again:  winter soups like gumbo and corn chowder; pastas with
zucchini or asparagus tossed in olive oil and garlic; Mexican and Indian
dishes; fresh baked bread.

But to be home that long meant Joe’s firm would have to implode first,
and she was in no hurry for that.

She settled into the gate area with a view of the approaching
passengers.  Marcela wasn’t there yet, she noticed, so either the court
reporter was running late or had taken another flight.

Then finally Sarah was rewarded with a long-range view of her lover. 
Wearing jeans and a sweater, carrying the raincoat he had needed outside in the
cold drizzle, smiling as soon as he caught sight of her.  Sarah returned the
smile.  Even after only a few hours apart, she missed him.

He took the seat next to hers and leaned over to whisper.  “Are you
wearing anything under that?”

She had on a pair of jersey pants similar to the ones he stripped off
her the night before.  On top she wore a comfortable knit shirt under a soft
jersey hoodie.

“Sorry to disappoint you,” she said.

“It’s all right,” Joe said.  “Shouldn’t slow me down too much.  I can
probably find us a place if you want to spare five minutes.”

Her skin warmed at the suggestion.  She had a hard time keeping a
straight face.  “Sorry, Burke, we’re back on duty.  Did you find your replacement?”

“His name’s Felix,” Joe said, shifting back to professional mode just
like she had.  “I think he’ll do all right.  It was hard to find someone on
such short notice.  He’ll take over on Wednesday.”

“Did you hand in your resignation?”

“Not yet.  I’ll do that on Wednesday, too.”

“Joe . . . ”

“It’s not fair to the clients,” he said.  “We already have depositions
scheduled.  I want to make sure they’re covered before I leave.”

She understood his reason, and couldn’t object to it.  Even though she
hated to think of even two more days going by before he was free of the firm. 
A lot could happen in two days.  She’d seen for herself how quickly a firm
could go from viable and working, to crumbling and in disarray once the feds
showed up at the door.

“Felix is pretty new,” Joe said, “so take it easy on him.”

“No promises,” Sarah said.

But the truth was, she doubted she would spend very much time with
Joe’s replacement.  She agreed with Calvin’s assessment of what would happen
once the indictments hit the news:  the firm’s clients would scramble to find
new lawyers.  There would be chaos for a few months while everyone sorted
themselves out.  And meanwhile Sarah and her team would be working at full
speed to make sure Mason Manufacturing was dismissed from the case.

“I need to grab some dinner,” Joe said.  “I’ll be right back.”  He
leaned over once again to whisper, “I want my hands on you, Henley.  As soon as
possible.  Do you think that can be arranged?”