Legal Prejuduce 3 - Lessons In Life

Chapter 50

Max, Daniel, Allie, Robyn and Chris were in one of the large meeting rooms, sorting through the briefing pack Cannon had sent over on the new UK private health provider they had in their sights. Waiting for coffee conversation had turned to Rose's first few weeks at kindergarten. Allie sighed, "Well, so far, so good, wouldn't you say Dan? She seems to be enjoying it, and I've cornered the teacher a few times to check everything's okay." Daniel squeezed her hand, "It's all good I think. None of the kids have said anything about me or Allie to her, and I don't think she's had any epic meltdowns." Allie nodded, "The teacher said she's not great working as a group, but she's managing and making friends." She sighed, "Unlike me. I've tried to chat to a few of the parents, but the moms look at me like I'm dangerous to know, and the dads look too scared to be caught near me." Max stood behind her and kissed her head, "Allie honey, I'm sorry you get treated like that. I'd like to come with you one day and let 'em know what I think of their small-minded prejudice." Allie glanced at the others, smiled and said lovingly, "Yeah, well, my Dad tearing a strip off them probably wouldn't enhance my popularity, but I appreciate the sentiment."

She gave a sad smile, "Actually Emmie's who I worry most about at the moment. She's asked a lot of questions about the programme and even though no-one's been exactly mean, she's aware some of her school friends have seen it. She's got access to the internet, and I know she's done some searching. I can't blame her." She sighed, "She gets anxious if I'm late getting home for any reason. I just wish I could take that away from her." Daniel kissed her head and wrapped his arms around her, "We'll work through it sweet girl. Emmie'll be fine because she has all of us, and she has you." Max came and rubbed Daniel's back before bending to kiss Allie.

Everley had appeared at the door with coffee, and Chris jumped up to help her wheel the trolley through. She smiled and said, "Can I get you guys anything else?" Max got up to avail himself of the coffee and squeezed her shoulder, "No thanks Everley, we're good now you've brought that through. Allie was just bringing us up to speed on Rose's new school." Everley smiled, "Aww, how's she doing?" Daniel stretched, "So far, so good, no-one's called the cops yet." Chris grinned, "She's awesome." Everley left smiling, and Robyn said, "What time's Simon arriving?" Daniel stretched and said, "Allie and I are getting him from the airport around two. We're going to drop him at the hotel, and Max is collecting him tomorrow morning to bring him here."

Daniel came to collect Allie to go to the airport at one, and while they were waiting in arrivals, he bought them coffee and pulled her to sit down, still preoccupied with the conversation earlier. "Hey baby, try not to worry about Emmie. The psychologist says she's working through stuff. It's still early days." Allie smiled, taking the coffee and kissing her husband, "I suppose it is. I'm just starting to realise things get more complicated as they get older, and the questions get harder you know?" Daniel pulled her to him, "Yeah, I know what you mean, but we can deal with whatever questions they have." She smiled, and they both drank some coffee before Daniel said, "Allie, why don't we sit down with her when we're up in Sacramento for Tom and Nathan's wedding? Just check in with how she's feeling and see if she wants to ask us anything. Might be a good time to get her to open up while she's surrounded by family, and it's a happy time, you know?" Allie smiled and kissed him, "Yeah, that's a good idea."

A steady stream of people came through arrivals, and Allie twisted her head to check the board before turning back to say to Daniel, "This could be the London flight." She pulled him to his feet, and he pointed, "There he is!" Simon spotted Daniel and waved, walking over, dragging his case. As he got close and shook hands, he realised Allie was standing behind her husband, and his face broke out into a wide smile. Allie came forward to hug him warmly, leaving Simon no time to feel self-conscious about it or awkward. He pushed her back to look at her, and she laughed, "Back on my own two feet Simon! I'm so glad you've come over." He smiled at Daniel before saying, "You look really well Allie, and I'm relieved to see it." Dan clapped him on the back, "Let's get you over to the hotel. That flight's a killer." As they walked out, Simon took a surreptitious look at Allie, pleased to see she really was walking normally. He said, "Are you sure I'm not expected at the office this afternoon? I presume you two will be going back?" Allie rubbed his arm, "No, Dan's right. It's a really long flight, and no-one's expecting you this afternoon. Go relax, let Julia and the boys know you've arrived. It's late at night your time. Max is coming over at eight in the morning to bring you over."

Once he was settled in a spare office the next day and had caught up with everyone for coffee, Max came and sat at the meeting table. Simon looked at him carefully, "What's on your mind Max?" The American smiled, "There's a lot on my mind Simon, but I wanted to talk about your future in the London office." Simon nodded, "Okay, like a performance review?" Max laughed, "I guess so. How've you found it since you've joined?" Simon looked thoughtful, "Generally good. I've been building on the client base a bit because I think we'd lost some clients over recent years. I think our reputation is growing for efficient, clean work and revenue is up quarter over quarter quite steadily." Max hummed, "Yeah, the numbers look good. You guys could use a few bigger clients to feed a steadier stream of work on all legal fronts, but it hasn't passed me by that most of the new business has been fed in from the employment side, and that's down to you."

He leaned forward, "And what about Nigel? What's your working relationship like with him?" Simon inhaled, and Max watched him shrewdly, "Well, he and I don't have a great deal to do with one another outside of the partner meeting routines to be honest. He has his clique, and I've no interest in being part of it." He looked at Max and decided he could be candid. Leaning over the table, he said, "Listen, before I ever worked with the LA office, he made his dislike of the people here blatantly obvious. I could tell he particularly loathed Allie, but I've never worked out why. He told me I should watch the documentary that first time you all came to work on the Cannon Aviemore case, to understand what I was dealing with." Simon sighed, "I'm a lawyer Max, I understand that there's always two sides to a story, and even after only a few hours working with you all I had a pretty good idea the facts had been twisted to suit a certain narrative. Jeremy told me Nigel assaulted Allie the last time you'd seen him, and Daniel caught him in the act." Max nodded, and Simon continued, "I have to say I was appalled, and from that moment, I kept my distance. That was workable until that morning last December when I saw what had happened to Allie on the news. To be completely honest I was shaken to my core, really concerned about you all, and when Nigel said something vile about her in the staff meeting I was unprofessional, told him what I thought in front of everyone and walked out. Ever since he's been very hostile, but in reality, as long as I keep billing and bringing clients in, there's not much he'll do."

Max got up and walked to the window, "Thanks for being honest. He's your boss, and it's not easy to dish the dirt, but I promise you can trust me Simon." He came to sit back down, "Thing is, he's a piece of shit, but he's a partner, so it's hard to get rid of him. I have Hane crawl all over exit interviews, new hires, figures from Finance, and slowly it feels like we're bringing the London office back in line. A few of his bootlickers have left, and his influence isn't as strong as it was when Allie was there." He sighed, "Simon, they treated Allie like shit when I first went over there with her years ago, when Michael was alive. Nigel hated her because she was everything he wasn't. Clients were asking for her, and he was threatened, so he offloaded her here. I guess he never expected her to come back and show him up for the lazy, underperforming piece of crap he was. The last time we saw him in person was in a client meeting in New York. He was mad because Allie had outshone him completely. He followed her outside, and Dan caught him pinning her to a wall. I wanted to flatten the little creep, and I could see it was taking everything Dan had not to break every bone in his body."

Simon shook his head sadly, "I'm really sorry Max. I know Allie's like a daughter to you." Max sighed, "She is, but that's not what this is really about. I never want anyone else to suffer in one of our offices the way Allie did. One day, that creep will retire, and since he's pushing sixty, I don't think it'll be long. When he does, I'd like you to take over leading the London operation. What d'you think?" Simon was stunned and stuttered, "Well, I don't, really?" Max laughed, "Yeah, I'm deadly serious. I like ya Simon, I think you're a good lawyer and a good guy. We all do. Your staff surveys are positive, and the folks you've recruited are the kind of people we want working for the firm." Simon nodded, "I'm glad you're pleased with my work, and I'd welcome such an incredible opportunity, but just to be clear I'd need some support until I found my feet because that would be quite a leap for me." Max grinned, "You'd have as much support as you want, and longer term, when I finally throw in the towel, I'd like Daniel to take over as managing partner here. So you'll always have support, someone you trust from the parent office."