Maybe Baby Lite (61 page)

"Okay then," I replied
giving her a look.

Gina and I made our way
back out to the living room. Trey and Ian had finished their third
round of beers. The coffee table in front of the couch was
cluttered with empty bottles.

“
Hey babe,” Trey said
standing up as I passed by him on the way to the kitchen, “come
here,” he directed.

I looked over at Gina and
she smiled. I walked over to Trey and he put his arms around me,
swaying with me as we embraced. His lips kissed my hair and neck,
our reverie was broken by Ian.

“
Get a room you two!” he
shouted, putting his empty bottle down on the coffee table. Gina
‘shushed’ him like the best friend that she was and handed them two
fresh beers. I went into the kitchen to check on my
chili.

“
Tylar,” Gina said almost
apologetically, “I can see how much Trey loves you. I’m so sorry
for what I said. I totally misjudged what you two have
going.”

“
Gina,” I said, stirring
my chili and clicking the oven on to preheat. “It’s no big deal,
okay?” She nodded, coming forward to give me another
hug.

Twenty minutes later we
all sat in the living room eating and watching the final minutes of
the game. I was happy to see Trey bond with Ian. No matter how Trey
felt about Gina, I knew that he’d work to overcome it because of
Ian.

When the evening ended,
Trey and I stood at the front door of our apartment and said
‘goodnight’ to them. I felt like part of a couple for the first
time. I knew that we were going back to reality tomorrow, and the
reality was that we would be living and working together, an
exciting and uncharted territory for us.

It seemed as if I'd just
drifted off to sleep when I felt Trey waking up. I sat up in the
bed, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

“
It’s 6:30 Tylar, do you
want me to set the alarm so that you can sleep longer?” he
asked.

“
No, I want to get up now.
I have to fold that last load of laundry in the dryer and then get
ready. Trey, I’m not sure how to get to your office from here.” It
had finally dawned on me to ask.

“
No worries,” he replied,
smiling down at me, “the office is less than 10 minutes from here.
I’ve arranged for a cab to pick you up in the mornings and take you
home in the afternoons until you're comfortable making the drive.
Traffic can be a real hassle at the time you go in.”

I shrugged. The
arrangement was fine with me. Realizing I was still naked from the
night before, I stayed under the sheets.

“
Your cab arrives at 8:45;
the doorman will ring you, okay?”

“
Okay, and I just ask for
Janice Landrick when I get there, right?”

“
Yep,” he said, kissing
me, “have a good day, Tylar.”

“
You too, Mr. Sinclair,” I
replied in a very businesslike tone.

“
Oh, and keep your phone
with you in case I need to touch base with you,” he instructed over
his shoulder as he shut the door.

As soon as he left I
jumped out of bed, excited to start my day. An hour later I was
fully showered, dressed, and accessorized for my first day of work
at the law firm of Pierce, Harmon, Richardson & Sinclair. I
wore a black pencil skirt that fell above my knees. My top was a
classic white shirt, with a sharp collar and long sleeves with wide
cuffs. I left the top two buttons undone. I wore a black
double-breasted vest that matched the skirt. The open white shirt
collar splayed across the shoulders on the vest. Gina had insisted
I wear smoky grey tights with my three-inch plain black pumps. My
hair was pulled back tightly into a high, skinny ponytail. I wore
small silver hoop earrings and a delicate silver chain around my
neck. I'd applied some light grey eye shadow, with dark charcoal
eyeliner, and a bit of lip gloss and took a final assessment. I
decided I was presentable for my first day of work.

Déjà vu swept over me when
I stepped out of the elevator and onto the familiar marble floor
that led to the receptionist’s station. A fleeting look of
recognition crossed Debbie’s face as I approached her.

“
Good morning, Debbie,” I
greeted her, “Tylar Preston to see Janice Landrick, and yes she is
expecting me.”

“
One moment, please,” she
replied, pushing a button then talking into her headset. “Yes, Ms.
Landrick, there is a Tylar Preston in reception to see you. Very
well, thank you.”

“
Have a seat please, Ms.
Preston. Ms. Landrick will be with you momentarily.”

Janice Landrick greeted me
warmly upon her arrival at reception. She escorted me to her
office, which was just around the corner. She closed the door,
inviting me to take a seat across from her. “We have some standard
paperwork for you to fill out, Tylar,” she said, handing me an
envelope with my name on it. “You don’t have to fill it all out
right now, but if you could have it completed and returned to me
tomorrow when you come in that will be fine. Your hours will be 9
a.m. to 4 p.m. with the exception of Wednesday when your hours are
9 a.m. to 1 p.m. You have an hour for lunch every day except
Wednesday. Your total hours are 28 per week. Anything beyond that
will need to have approval by myself or one of the partners,
okay?”

“
That’s no problem, Ms.
Landrick,” I replied.

“
Call me Janice. We’re not
overly formal here, thankfully.”

“
Okay Janice,” I smiled
warmly.

“
Tylar, what you'll be
doing here at the firm is a little bit of everything. You're what
we call a ‘floater.’ You'll spend time in Central Filing where the
cases are filed and retrieved as required for the attorneys and
paralegals. You'll help with meeting preparations and conference
scheduling, mostly clerical and administrative stuff. There may be
occasions where a particular attorney’s administrative assistant
requires your assistance in mailings or making copies, so you'd
assist in those tasks too.”

“
It sounds very
interesting,” I replied.

“
You'll be busy, so at
least you won’t be bored,” she assured me. “Today you'll be working
with Leah, Mr. Harmon’s personal assistant. There is a settlement
conference at 11 a.m. that will likely run until 3 or 4 p.m. Leah
can fill you in on the details.” She led me down the marble
hallway, past Debbie again, and down several more hallways until we
reached Mr. Harmon’s suite. Janice introduced me to Leah, wished me
luck, and left.

Leah was probably in her
forties, friendly, and I liked her immediately. She said that she'd
been with the firm for 15 years, always working for Mr. Harmon, who
she described as a “doll” to work for. She showed me where to stow
my things, then toured me around Mr. Harmon’s wing. She pointed out
the restroom, the filing area, and the kitchen. She explained that
a lot of the lawyers and paralegals had occasion to work long hours
and some weekends, so the firm tried to make things as comfortable
as possible.

Leah showed me to the copy
room, which doubled as the mail center for this wing. I didn’t spot
Trey’s name on any of the mail trays. His office was apparently in
a different wing; the law firm occupied the entire top floor. Leah
jovially introduced me to employees as she gave her tour.
Thankfully, everyone wore nametags, which she explained were
programmed to allow access to certain locked areas based each
employee’s security clearance. When we circled back to her office
area, Leah settled me into an empty desk in the corner. She spent
time showing me how to use the firm’s complicated phone system, and
then she set me up opening and date-stamping the mail. When she saw
that I was a quick learn, she excused herself for a few minutes to
go to Central Filing (wherever that was). She told me that Mr.
Harmon was over in Mr. Richardson’s office and to pick up any calls
that came in.

That reminded me to check
my cell; I smiled as I read a text from Trey:

“
I hope things are going
well on your first day at this very prestigious law firm, Ms.
Preston. I forgot to tell you this morning: I love you.”

My heart did a flip-flop
when I read Trey’s text message. I realized that I'd forgotten to
tell him the same thing. I hit reply.

“
I'm guilty of the same
thing Mr. Sinclair. I love you! I'm working in Harmon’s wing…is
that close to yours?”

Trey replied. “Harmon’s
wing is at opposite corner. I'll be over there later for a
settlement conference. I look forward to ogling you then. I know
you'll make me hard

”

Blushing, I texted him
back.

“
Mr. Sinclair, ‘sexting’
at work is not appropriate! I look forward to seeing your hardness.
I know you'll make me wet

”

Leah returned just as I'd
finished sorting the mail and highlighting the case numbers on the
correspondence. “Thank you, Tylar,” she said appreciatively. “Now
you and I have to prep the conference room for the settlement
conference. There will be six attorneys total: three from here and
three from the firm of Littleton, Dexter, and Klein out of Houston.
Oh, and Barry will be there observing, so that makes a total of
seven people.”

Leah and I went back and
forth between the kitchen and conference room carrying coffee
carafes, pitchers of water, and an ice bucket filled with ice.
There was a credenza against the back wall where we arranged it
all. Once everything was laid out on the credenza, Leah asked me to
make sure that I placed seven legal tablets and pens on the
conference room table.

“
How will we know if they
run out of water or coffee?”

“
Don’t worry; none of them
are shy about asking.”

I followed Leah back to
her desk where she opened one of her drawers and pulled out a stack
of menus. “They are having a working lunch, so put one of these at
each of the places on the table. We need to have them filled out as
soon as they get here so that you can call and place the lunch
order,” she advised. I nodded and started around the corner. When I
finished that task, I set to work on the lunch order
spreadsheet.

Just then I heard Trey
clear his throat in the hallway. “Good morning Ms. Preston.” His
eyes fell on mine.

“
Good morning Mr.
Sinclair,” I replied, “The conference room is ready.”

I stood up; Trey scanned
me from head to toe, his eyes smoldered. I didn’t get a chance to
say anything further to him as the phone on Leah’s desk rang and I
reached for it. I winked at him and Trey disappeared around the
corner to the conference room. It was Debbie calling to say that
the three attorneys from Littleton, Dexter, and Klein were in
reception. Leah hadn’t returned from her errand so I told Debbie
I'd be right there. Luckily, I found my way in the maze of cubicles
to reception and introduced myself to the three gentlemen, all of
whom were wearing Stetson cowboy hats. They politely removed them,
placing them against their chests as I greeted them.

“
If you gentlemen would
please follow me, the attorneys are awaiting your arrival in the
conference room.”

“
Anywhere, darlin,” one of
them said in his Texas drawl, “you lead the way and we’ll follow
you anywhere.” I was glad that they were behind me and couldn’t see
me rolling my eyes. I led them to the conference room standing
inside the doorway, as they filed in once again removing their hats
as they passed me.

“
Thank you, little darlin”
one said, nudging his partner, “they sure don’t grow ‘em like that
in Texas, huh Del?” He winked at me then turned his attention back
to three of the attorneys from Pierce, Harmon, Richardson &
Sinclair, one of whom was glaring angrily at the flirtatious Texan.
I flushed, turning to exit and passing Leah outside of the
conference room.

“
Tylar, are you okay?” she
asked, seeing my flushed face. I nodded. “Did you get their lunch
orders?” she asked. Damn. I'd forgotten. I didn’t want to go back
in there with Trey and the cocky cowboy lawyers from Houston. Leah
read my reaction and saw that I was uncomfortable.

“
That’s all right, I have
to give Mr. Harmon a message before they start, and I can do
it.”

“
Watch out for those
Texans,” I warned her in a whisper.

A few minutes later Leah
returned to our office area shaking her head as she set the stack
of filled out lunch orders on my desk. “Boy you were right about
that,” she said, “they're something else, aren’t they?”

I laughed eyes wide and
nodding.

“
The partners will have
their work cut out for them today trying to keep those three good
‘ole boys on track. Sinclair looks like he’s ready to kill one of
them already.”

Oh geez, Trey let it
go.

Leah had instructed me to
fill in the spreadsheet already set up on a fax form for their
lunch order. I started inputting the data and stopped when I got to
Trey’s order. He'd requested a peanut butter and jelly sandwich
with a smiley face drawn next to it. I chuckled.

“
What?” Leah asked looking
over.

“
Oh, uh…Mr. Sinclair
ordered a peanut butter and jelly sandwich,” I said. “I can’t
imagine one of the partners eating a P.B. & J.”