In the Fire's Shadow

6. The Office - Tom

It was well past 11 when I finally made it to the firm. I felt awkward being so late.

The receptionist greeted me with a warm smile but was quickly pulled back into a conversation with two of the paralegals from the transactional department.

The elevator ride was quick and the halls were mostly empty, except for a few junior lawyers and secretaries. Once I made it to my suite I felt slightly better, knowing I didn't have to explain why I'd been so late.

I walked into my waiting room. Charlotte's desk was neatly organized, but she wasn't there. I continued through, about to open the door to my office when she pulled it open from the inside.

"Oh! Mr. McAlister! I'm so sorry." Charlotte stood in the doorway with a guilty look on her face. She had a large pile of folders in her arms.

"It's quite alright, Charlotte. Go ahead." I stepped aside to let her pass then made my way to my desk.

I switched on the computer and pulled my notes from the day before out. Charlotte came back in and began putting folders in certain trays. She was normally chatty, but today she was very quiet. After a few moments of concentrated silence, I glanced at her.

She was deep in thought, her eyebrows pulled together incredulously above her librarian, glasses. Her long auburn hair was pulled back in a severe bun, and she was dressed as she always was; very office formal.

Without looking at me or saying a word, she laid a single file in front of me, grabbed my suit jacket, that I had casually draped over the client's chair, and began to walk towards the door.

"Charlotte," I called after her.

"Yes, sir?" Her breathing was uneven.

"Is everything alright?" She nodded and forced a nervous smile.

"Of course, Mr. McAlister. Is there anything I can get for you, before I return messages?"

"No, Charlotte that would be all. Thank you." I smiled warmly at her, but she had already turned without looking back up to me and closed the door behind her.

I didn't want to presume that I was the expert on Charlotte's behavior, but something felt off. She'd been my legal secretary for six years now and more than that, we were friends.

Caroline had introduced us about seven years ago, hoping we'd hit it off romantically. After a few dates we realized the feelings just wasn't there, but only romantically. I had learned about her education and I admired her meticulous behavior so I offered her a job instead.

I wonder what's bothering her... I thought

I looked over at the file Charlotte had laid down. It was Adara's. I pushed everything else out of my mind, for the time being. Regina was well known for her attention to detail, so I was going to need all my focus to review this.

After a solid forty five minutes of review, I came to the conclusion that everything was as it had been agreed upon and I found no real cause for concern. I emailed Regina back with my approval and asked her to go ahead with an official agreement.

Once I hit send, I took a moment to look at my inbox. I had set my automatic reply to some generic response stating I was unable to take any new cases at this time. There were almost 100 new client requests and just as many referrals. They dated back 10 months, and I felt tremendously guilty.

I turned the automatic response off and began reading through, and responding to as many as I could. The thick haze of despondency that had been so ever present in my life was gone; I didn't realize how absent I had become.