Having Faith Read Free Page A

they'd picked up the scattered books, papers and themselves, they'd started to talk. Though Faith had been black-and-blue for a week from the encounter, the friend she'd found in Sawyer had been worth the discoloration.
    She took elevators more now, particularly after hours or when she faced a climb of four or more nights in high heels. Sawyer's office was six floors up. But he was a man, a tall, broad-shouldered man who wasn't worried about rape. Nor was he wearing high heels.
    Chuckling at that thought, she put her head back, closed her eyes and sat quietly. In a matter of minutes, Sawyer was back with the pills in his hand. He took a cup of water from the bubbler and waited while she swallowed the aspirin. Then he leaned against Loni's desk with his long legs crossed at the ankles.
    "It really is pretty amazing," he remarked.
    "What is?"
    "That we don't run into each other more. I miss seeing you. How've you been?"
    She nodded and smiled.
    "Not bad. Busy. That's good, I guess."
    "It is good. How are things at home?"
    "Quiet," she said in a voice that was just that.
    "Lonely sometimes, but it's better this way. More honest. Jack and I went in different directions. For too long we pretended something was left, but it wasn't." She rested her head against the sofa back, but her eyes were fixed intently on Sawyer.
    "You know what I mean, don't you."
    Sawyer knew. And he knew Faith knew he knew, because she'd known his wife. Joanna had needed Something else, too. They were married soon after he returned from Vietnam, and for two years she nursed him back to health physically and emotionally. She was good at her job. He had recovered, gone through law school and entered a profession in which he thrived. Joanna hadn't known what to do with the strong and independent man he became. In the end, she found someone who needed her more.
    "She married him," he told Faith.
    "The fellow with MS?"
    He nodded.
    "She'll devote her life to him. I admire her for that."
    "Do you talk with her often?"
    "Nah. She's busy. I'm busy. She knows she can come to me if she ever runs into trouble. I owe her a lot. I think I'll always feel that way.
    But we weren't very good at being husband and wife, and after a while, the constant trying was a strain. "
    Faith thought about the irony of two divorce lawyers being divorced.
    "Makes you wonder, doesn't it? Did we go into this field because we knew firsthand the pitfalls of marriage? Or did we see the pitfalls of marriage because we went into this field?"
    "Had to be the first," Sawyer decided without pause. "We were both having doubts about our marriages even back when we were in law school."
    "Not really doubts. Frustrations, and they weren't all that bad. It's just that we talked about them, you and I. Some people don't. Some people suffer year after year in silence. Just this afternoon I met with a woman who wants to end a twenty-four-year marriage. She was telling me that" -He held up a hand.
    "Shhh. Don't say it."
    "There's not much to say, just that she never thought to" "--Careful, Faith. That woman is one of the reasons I'm here."
    Faith frowned.
    "Laura Leindecker?"
    "Bruce Leindecker. I'm representing him in the divorce."
    "You're representing Bruce Leindecker?" Faith repeated. Slowly she sat up. As understanding dawned, she broke into a cautious smile.
    "You and I" -her finger went back and forth "--are going to be working together?"
    "Yup."
    She dropped her hand to her lap, and her smile widened.
    "After all this time. I don't believe it." In the next instant, the smile vanished.
    "Can we do it? Don't we know each other too well?" But she answered herself in the next breath. "No. There are no grounds for conflict of interest as long as neither of us compromises his client by saying too much. Right?"
    "Right," Sawyer said. He folded his arms across his chest.
    "Good thing you stopped me a minute ago."
    "Uh-huh."
    But she was confused.
    "Who told you I was defending Mrs. Leindecker?"
    "Mr.