The Lawyer Read Free

on my notebook. The commons area of the student center was bustling with students preparing for midterms, getting coffee before class, and hanging out with friends.
              "I can't tell you what to do," Molly told me thoughtfully, "but I think that if this is a good opportunity, if it will look good on your resume, and if it will pay better, you really don't have anything to lose by applying. It's just a phone call, Sweetie. It's just one application. The worst thing that could happen is that this guys says, "No, I don't want to hire you. I just wanted to date you," and then you go back to the way things were. Nothing to lose."
              I envied the way that Molly viewed the world sometime. She was religious, and I wondered if that was where so much of her self-assuredness came from. She wasn't especially pretty or beautiful, but she was cute and funny and interesting, and she was nice to everyone.
                  "It's just-" I paused for a moment, trying to think about how to pinpoint what my problem was, exactly, with quitting Lone Cup Cafe. It had been my first serious job, okay, but it was more than that. It was how I'd met Tim, how I'd fallen in love, how I'd found someone who really seemed to understand me.
              "You're scared," Molly said succinctly. I nodded. "There's nothing wrong with you, you know. It's normal to be scared. Change is scary. That doesn't mean that it's not a risk worth taking, though." She tapped the card that was sitting in the center of the table. "Call him. What have you got to lose?"
    ***
                  I held Alex’s card in my hand as I listened to the phone ring. Was I really doing this? Was I really calling a complete stranger out of the blue to see what he wanted? And what if I didn’t like whatever it was that he wanted? Would I make a complete fool of myself? Would I-
              Before I could finish my though, I heard a “click” and a crisp, shrill voice answered the phone.
              “Hello, Smith and Smith, Attorneys at Law. How may I direct your call?”
              “Um, hi.” I was suddenly even more nervous. The butterflies in my stomach felt more like dragons. “I’m calling for Alex...Mr. Smith?”
              “Which one, Sweetie?”
              “Um, the younger one. Brown hair, blue eyes. Probably about 25.”
              “And who may I say is calling?”
              “This is Elizabeth from the coffee shop. He gave me his card and –“
              “Please hold.”
              The elevator music that suddenly filled my ear was too much to handle. I wanted to scream. Was this going to take a long time? I glanced at my watch. I had half an hour before I had to be at my class. Thankfully, I didn’t have to work today, but still. Was this how I wanted to spend my morning? Chasing after a stranger? Should I just hang up? Was I making a huge fool of myself?
              “Hello, Elizabeth.” Alex’s warm voice filled the phone and I felt shivers rush down my body. “I was hoping you’d call.”
              “Um, hi.” I said, not sure what to say. “Yeah, I got your card that you left me.”
              “I can see that,” he said. “What made you decide to call me?”
              I hadn't been expecting him to put me on the spot like that. Wasn't it his job to let me know why he had left his number for me? “I um, uh, well, I wasn’t sure exactly why you left the card.”
              Alex laughed loudly for a moment, then caught his breath. “Ah, a pretty girl like yourself? Not sure of why a man should want her to call him? Elizabeth, my dear, I’m surprised.”
              I breathed deeply. I suddenly felt very aroused