It's Complicated

Chapter 19

I went into work the next morning fully aware that I looked like an absolute train wreck. I was there almost an hour early, making sure to avoid running into Jamie.

When our paralegal, Jessica, came in for the morning, I stepped out and let her know that I wasn't going to be taking any appointments or meetings today.

"Yeah Cas no problem," she said. She looked up from her computer at me and did a double take.

"Everything good?" She asked.

"Yeah," I sighed, "just didn't get much sleep last night."

"Okay," she said hesitantly, obviously not buying what I was saying.

I went back into my office and shut the door, doing my best to stay awake and focus on my work.

Later that afternoon, my office phone rang. "This is Cas," I answered.

"Hey," Jessica said on the other end of the phone, "I know you said you weren't taking any meetings today...but Jamie Callahan is out here insisting that she needs to see you."

I rubbed my face in my hand and sighed, "No. Absolutely not. Sorry."

"Oh," Jessica said, sounding a little bit surprised. "Okay no worries I'll let her know."

My god this is not going to be easy, I thought.

When 5:00 came around that day, I stayed put and continued working. There was no way I was taking the chance of seeing Jamie.

I heard a soft knock at my door and heard Jessica on the other side. "Hey Cas, can I come in for a second?"

"Yeah sure," I replied, "just finishing a few things up."

She stepped inside of my office and gave me a concerned look. "I don't mean to overstep or anything...but weren't you and Jamie working together pretty closely on this case?" Jessica asked.

I felt my stomach drop, trying to think of an explanation. "Yeah, we were," I started, "we just have had um, just a few disagreements I guess."

"Okay," Jessica said, "just wanted to check in with you. Have a good night."

"Thanks Jess, I'll see you tomorrow."

A couple more days went by, and Jamie finally seemed to realize that she needed to give me some space.

We had come to the day of the mediation for the divorce case we were both working on. I got in the elevator to go up to the office that morning and saw someone coming up to doors as they were closing. I briefly met Jamie's eyes before quickly looking down, thankful that the doors had shut just in time.

I knew we were going to have to be in the same room for the mediation today, but that didn't mean I wanted to deal with her at all before then.

I went over my notes that morning and eventually headed to the conference room. I took a deep breath as a I sat down, trying to prepare myself for this.

Whatever I tried to do, it didn't help. Jamie came in a few minutes later and sat down at the table across from me.

The whole process ended up being an absolute shit show for me. I stumbled over my words, misplaced my notes, lost my train of thought; anything and everything that could have gone wrong absolutely did.

I met Jamie's eyes as we finished up and got ready to leave. I could see the pity and guilt in them as I quickly looked away and got up and left the room.

I was walking back towards my office when I felt a hand grab on to my wrist. I turned around to come face to face with Jamie. Of course, who else would it be?

"Cas," she said quietly, making sure no one else that was leaving could hear her.

I pulled my hand away from hers and shook my head. "I'm not doing this here, Jamie."

I quickly turned around and went back to my office.

Damn it I needed to figure this out before I messed up this case anymore.

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