Bound by Lies & Fate

Chapter 2: Eden

I walk into the bar and see most of the gang sitting at one of the booths. Harper, Penny, Chris, and Alex are waving me down as if I can't see them. Our local hangout is an old-fashioned Irish pub called O'Donoghues – with its Irish-style theme, the pub is very modern and clean for its type. We picked this place once because Harper was dating the bartender and although that relationship never lasted, we still come here. As I get to the booth, Max is sitting there quietly. I have to admit Max is nothing like Alex. Alex is very over the top and bubbly, whereas Max doesn't even say one word most of the time. I suppose opposites do attract.

"So, how is my sexy lawyer?" I always laugh when Harper says that; she always thinks I am too sexy to be a lawyer.

"Says the judge's assistant," I retort. I give her a big hug, and then give everyone else one as well. I met Harper when I was handling a case, and we hit it off. Chris and Marcus (who is always late) were college buddies. Chris was studying criminal law which led him to work at the New York Police Department, and Marcus works for the District Attorney's office. I believe Marcus will become a senator one day – he has the smarts and also the thinking capacity to think beyond something so small to see insight into what the people and future need. These are good contacts to have in my line of work.

Penny is a little bit of an introvert compared to the rest of us, but the biggest gem we have. She was once a barista at a local coffee shop we always used to go to in high school, and when she told us that she wanted to become a writer for detective novels, I shared all my expertise while I was in college, and she became a New York Times bestselling novelist with her first book.

I have spent most of my adult life with these guys, with every single one getting the third degree from my mother and Alex to be my friend, and both approving.

"Where have you been?" Harper calls out, and I see Marcus strolling in and kisses me on the cheek.

"Hello, gorgeous, you look amazing," he says into my ear. Marcus is the biggest flirt, but he and I will never happen. The feelings I have for him are more like he's my cousin. Marcus and I were going to go on a date once, but after the crazy schedule we had in college, it never happened, so we became really good study partners, with Chris joining our study team not long after. I haven't seen any of them face to face since Mom's funeral because it is always hard to get our schedules aligned, and I also wasn't in the mood to go out with anyone.

"Sit, sit, I want to hear all about the will reading," Harper says and pulls me down to sit next to her. Alex and I look at each other; I am not sure how much I should tell them, so I fill in the basics. "My mom told me to go to this house that she owns and get this: my office is also working on a case in the same area." I look at the menu to see what cocktail I am having tonight.

"No way!" Chris says, now intrigued by my story.

"You know the number of family cases of unexplained wills and assets is about 1 in 10" Marcus states. He is always the one with all the useful and sometimes useless facts.

"Yeah, it is someplace in the middle of nowhere, it's just crazy that she never told me about it." I continued.

"I am sure she had her reasons," Penny replies in her soft tone. Every time I think about my mom, I grab my necklace. I always feel like Penny wants to say more to me, but never does. So, I grab her hand in comfort, she grabs my hand too and smiles. Penny doesn't talk much about her past or family, she was working full-time when we met her at 16 years old. She is the one that kept sending me food while I was crying about mom, she is the mom of our group, always caring and showing us love when we need it. I tend to give her the same love back.

Marcus gets up to get us all drinks. I didn't want to fill them in with all the details of the name difference and the fact that she doesn't want me to give it to anyone; it seems like there would be a million questions that not even I could answer.