Love to Hate You

Chapter Five

Jennie

My boss Celeste and I are super tight now, but it wasn't always like that. Rollback twelve months, and I was just a newbie at Hammond Hinkler and Fox, a boutique law firm located in the middle of downtown. She, on the other hand, was going through a hellish divorce with Ross Davis, the head of accounts, and was responsible for some legendary meltdowns.

Looking at her angelic, chilled-out face now, it's hard to imagine her being bothered to get up and walk over to the water cooler (she has staff for that), let alone pick it up and hurl it across the room like superwoman.

Funny how stress can turn you into something you're not. I wonder if that's what went wrong with Lisa and me.

Celeste is standing by the photocopier in a slim-cut black trouser suit with pointy black stilettos looking impeccably highlighted and contoured as always.

Her black glossy curtain of hair and dark eyes make me surmise that she has roots in Italy, Spain, Greece, or New Jersey" definitely somewhere exotic.

Day after day, she rolls into work, looking like she has walked off a catwalk. She must've been born stylish because this woman could wear a hessian bag and still rock it.

Sometimes when you think about it too much, it starts to be annoying. Just as it is now. So, I focus on Celeste, the person. Firm but fair, driven but measured. One thing is for sure; she is definitely happier, smilier, calmer of late.

Anna, Celeste's personal assistant, sits at the desk beside me and must hear my thoughts because she gives me a gappy grin and whispers, "She's all glowy and zen. Definitely, a new man."

She is probably right. I am surprised Celeste hasn't confided in me, though, because she knows everything about my life and an awful lot about Lisa. I am forced to divulge all at our daily coffee catch-ups. Sometimes I wondered if we'd even move off-topic and chat about work.

I was a little taken back when she encouraged me to tamper with Lisa's fancy collection of herbs and spices, but I followed through with her suggestion like any good employee.

Personal matters aside, it feels like our whole firm is only working on one case at the moment - the estate of the late and mega-rich newspaper mogul, Arthur Robert Kim. We're representing his only legitimate daughter, Jisoo Kim, who is being challenged by Arthur's wife, Alina.

His estate comes in at an eyewatering one hundred and eight million dollars. The only problem is that he has about one hundred and eight million children. I joke that he has impregnated the whole state. Adam and Chris, our junior clerks, mock me, but every day another batch of kidlets fall from the rafters, and I start to think that maybe I am not that far off.

It was mildly terrifying and also sort of funny when some of the children worked out that they had actually been dating their sibling. I remember laughing awkwardly and being admonished by Alastair Hammond, the managing partner, otherwise known as Angry Alastair.

He is rather conservative and born in the dark ages, so it's probable that we don't share the same sense of humor. Around six feet and portly, he is somewhere in his late fifties with a shock of silvery hair and a weird half mustache that he should probably give up on.

His looks don't exactly scream managing partner until he opens his mouth. He is the resident hothead armed with a monster set of tonsils and a booming voice that makes grown men cry. 

It's funny when he drops by the office because everyone is suddenly seated and furiously banging away at their keyboards. Our efficiency would go through the roof if he hung around for more than five seconds.