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Chapter 22
On Monday the seventh, she finished her leave of absence and went back to work. She nervously paced her apartment waiting for 7:00 AM. She had woken up at four that morning and was unable to go back to sleep. She wasn’t sure what would happen when she got to work that morning.
As she entered the building, she felt like it was nine years ago when she had first started working. She was anxious to see where she would be placed. Ava went up to sixteen and to her desk. Everything was as she had left it a month ago. She put her bag in the desk drawer and went to eighteen to see her uncle. He had told her that he would make sure she was assigned somewhere when she got back.
He gave her a big bear hug when she entered his office.
“Uncle Daniel, I can’t breathe.”
He let her go, and she sat in the chair in front of his desk while he made small talk with her about her father getting engaged, when the wedding would be, those sorts of details. Then he told her that she would be working for Jacob. She was surprised since Jacob had a highly capable assistant until she learned the woman was out on maternity leave and would be for at least four months.
She had mixed feelings about working for her cousin. He was a great attorney, but he was also all over her ass when it came to studying for the bar exam. She had done a lot of work last week, and she was sure he would be impressed with her progress. It was still over four months before she took the exam, plenty of time to prepare.
She left her uncle’s office and went down to Jacob’s. The door was open, and he smiled when she entered.
“So, now I have you as my assistant. I hope you won’t make me yell at you.”
“Why would I do that?”
“I’m your boss now, and I expect tip-top work. One strike and you are out so you better not slack off. I also expect you to join me for lunch so I can drill you.” He held up a large stack of those dreaded flash cards. He was going to torture her each day until she took the test. She was ready for it.
“Take that empty box over there and move your work items up to this floor. I need you closer to me. There should be a couple of empty desks nearby.”
She took the box and headed down to sixteen to collect her things. She was glad to be going back to eighteen, even if it meant dredging up painful memories. While she was cleaning out her desk, she found a long slim case that she didn’t remember. She opened up the case and saw that it contained the purple Cloisonne pen that Xander had given her several years before. She stroked the design then closed it and placed it in the box. She remembered that he gave her that pen after they had an argument before he revealed he was in love with her.
She found a desk on eighteen not far away from where Samantha was sitting. She was thrilled to be sitting near her again. They hadn’t spent much time together since she started dating Robert. She missed seeing her daily and this way she would.
Sam came out of the break room with a cup of coffee and saw her coming over and giving her a big hug. They chatted for a few minutes until Ava was finished unloading the contents of the box in and onto her desk. She then told Sam goodbye and headed down to start her penance with Jacob.
It was nice to work for Jacob. They discussed things going on with the family. He asked her about her new nephew Jackson and how Brooke was doing with her pregnancy. Sandra was due any day now, and Jacob kept his cell on him every hour of the day. Fortunately, he had no immediate court proceedings so he could be out the door the minute Sandra called him.
It turned out that call came the very next day. Ava was taking notes on a few of the files that Jacob had asked her to research. His phone buzzed, and he looked at it while jumping up at the same time.
“I have to go. Sandra just went into labor. Tell my father that I had to leave.”
He threw her the keys to his office as he grabbed his jacket and flew out the door. She got up and went down to her uncle’s office to let him know that his second grandchild was on the way. Even before she was out the door, he picked up the phone to call Aunt Mavis. They weren’t even sure what sex the baby was since they wanted it to be a surprise. Jacob and Sandra already had a son, Jake, who was three years old. They were hoping for a girl.
She continued to work in his office sitting on the large leather couch. At lunch time she locked his office and went to get a smoothie from the break room. Sam was not at her desk, and several of the legal support staff had left for lunch. She took the smoothie and went back down the hall to the alcove to sit. As she did, she stopped at the door to the office that Xander used to occupy and ran her fingers over his name on the door. So many memories came bubbling up. She removed her hand and continued to the alcove, swiping at the tears that threatened to slip down her cheeks.
At two that afternoon, she left for the day. She had stayed late, but she took the time to go over some of the flash cards that were on Jacob’s desk. The more she studied, the better off she would be. On her way home she stopped at Stan’s to get a pint of Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia. She would eat it sparingly. Her weight was steady at one hundred ten pounds, and she was working out regularly. This morning she had put in over an hour of cardio besides the run to and from the gym. Those days would end soon since the weather was getting chilly.
When she got home, she noticed that Tim had called her and left a voicemail when she was on the subway. She listened, he wanted to get together for coffee one of these evenings. She was up for coffee, but was weary of him. She wasn’t sure why he was showing up at places she went, and it made her uneasy. Ava agreed to meet him the next afternoon at a Starbucks near his apartment.
She started to study, and ended up dozing off, being awakened by her cell phone ringing. Dani was calling to tell her that Sandra had delivered a healthy baby girl, who they named Nicole. Ava was thrilled and told her to tell Jacob and Sandra congratulations. She was happy for them, but she felt that pang of envy that nagged at her each time one of her family members gave birth. Ava longed to have the same experience but she knew she never could.
Wednesday was a slow day since Jacob would be taking some time off for the baby. She would work on the items he requested and then would just have to wing it for the rest of the week. In his haste, he left his laptop on and email open.
Ava woke the laptop out of hibernation so she could shut it down and his email was fully in view. She saw some emails from clients, and then she focused on one email. It was second from the top, and the subject line was “Congratulations.” She checked the email address; it was from Xander’s work email. She knew it was wrong, but she felt compelled to click on the email and read it.
Jacob,
Congratulationsto you and Sandra on your new addition to the family. I appreciate you contacting me to let me know. How is everything on the East Coast?
HasRobert asked Samantha to marry him? That was some rock he got for her. If he hasn’t yet, she is going to be surprised. I hope I will be invited to the wedding. I miss the weather in the East. It’s always warm here most of the time, but I want some cooler weather.
Kaycee is doing well. We are going away for the weekend to Catalina Island. We went there a few weekends ago, and I enjoyed it. You should think about coming out this way when you have some time. Take care and tell everyone I said hello.
Xander
