Love's lawyer

Chapter 4

Bip, Bip, Bip...

My bedside alarm rang, waking me up in the middle of a wonderful dream. I groaned a little and patted around to find the snooze button of the blasted machine. When I finally found it and managed to shush the blaring sound I sighed and got out of my bed.

Today was the day. Alan had managed to persuade his wife to have a discussion with both of their lawyers present. The expectations were high. Not only from Alan, but also from the numerous associates, here at Glenn's and Sons, because Alix's lawyer was from the best law corporation in the world: GJ.

They had no less than 35 offices spread around the world, 400 associates and an income of nearly 20 billion £ per year. I knew that the battle to come was one that would be hard to win, but I sincerely hoped I would be able to win this case.

I went to the small dresser that held the few clothes I owned and picked my strictest outfit for the day. I had to dress the part as some of the lawyers liked to say when they had tough confrontations with other lawyers.

I went to the bathroom and took a quick shower before going to the kitchen and grabbing a cereal bar from the counter. I ate it while going down the stairs from my apartment and into the street where my car was parked.

I jumped in my car and headed to the office. The car ride was quite uneventful apart from a 14 wheelers truck which skipped a red light and very nearly hit my car. After a bit of swearing, I was back on the road and finally arrived at my office.

"Hey Rose, how are you?" Luke the receptionist asked as I badged in. "He's already upstairs... I sent him to your office. I hope you don't mind." He added quickly.

"Wait, who do you mean by him?" I asked stopping in the midst of my movement to pass the badge on top of the detector and going towards the reception desk.

"Mr. Rickman of course. He told me he had an appointment with you today... Should I have made him wait in the lobby" Luke asked afraid he had done another mistake.

"No, you did the right thing. Anyways, got to go. Just how long has he been waiting for?"

"Oh, only a couple of minutes. He just arrived actually."

I sighed and waved him goodbye. While I was waiting for the elevator, Mr. Glenn came up to me, his face only showing seriousness.

"Miss Addington, how lovely to see you. Today's the day?"

"Yes sir, today is the day we have the confrontation between Mr. Rickman and his soon to be ex-wife," I confirmed to Mr. Glenn as we got inside the elevator.

We chatted a bit more until I reached my floor and a few minutes later, I stepped out of the elevator and bid him a good day.

I straightened the lapels of my jacket and knocked on the door that led to my office. It was kind of odd for me to do so, but I guess it's not every day that Alan Rickman is in your office.

"Yes?" I heard his deep voice say, a little muffled by the sound of the thick wood paneled door.

I entered the room and saw him there, standing next to the sofa he must have been sitting in while he waited for me. I smiled and walked towards him, telling him to take a sit once again into the sofa. We exchanged a few greeting words before asking him if he would mind if I sat opposite him on the sofa.

"Nonsense. It's your office. Do as you like Rose. I won't ask you to bother yourself for me too much. So, you told me you had last minute advice to give to me." He told me, repositioning himself onto the sofa so that he was now facing me.

"Yes, never address her. Always me or her lawyer or lawyers, as she might bring more than one of them. Also, stay calm. The only thing she wants is for you to snap, if you do, you'll definitely lose the custody of your child. The last thing, don't agree with anything they might ask. Say that you will look it over once the discussion has ended and will give your answer in three days." I told him trying to impress on him the importance of today's meeting.

"Rose, I hope you won't mind if I ask. But why are you doing so much for me? I mean, you're putting your job on the line here and I don't think that I'm really worth it." Alan said, looking at his feet.

I was astonished, to say the least. Never would I thought him to be so insecure about himself. He looked as though he was fully at ease when talking to people. His regal features surely helped, but I know he had to power to make an auditorium full of people go completely silent by only clearing his voice. And now he was telling me he didn't feel as though he was important enough for me to put my job on the line?! It was nonsense, but I knew I had to tread carefully as not to hurt his feelings.

"Alan, why are you saying that? Of course, it's worth for me to put my job on the line for you. I plead an oath to help anyone who came to ask for my help and that's what I'm doing by having organized this confrontation with your wife, knowing full well who her lawyer or lawyers were."

"Well, it's really nice for you to say that. But do tell me more about you." He said, now smiling broadly.

"Well, I was born in Hammersmith. Mom's a teacher in English literature, dad's a mathematician. No siblings. I went to Cambridge law where I graduated top of my class. One day I was contacted by Mr. Glenn, he asked me if I wanted to come and work for him, I said yes and here we are. What about you?" I asked trying to sound as polite as possible.

Of course, I already knew everything about him, but I was curious about what he would think were key moments in his life.