Free Lawfully Yours by Stacy Hoff

trophy-worthy. What are looks really worth anyway? And wanting him for his money is way worse than wanting him for his looks. The superficiality of it all sickens me.
    Between going out to clients, negotiating business terms, and drafting up leases, I’m pretty busy. I assume Jordan is busy too, or just continuing to avoid me. In the past few weeks I saw him quite a bit, but now it’s infrequent. When I do bump into him, I mumble, “Hi.” Sometimes my hello is acknowledged, other times not. It’s upsetting and awkward to not be acknowledged. Especially when he’ll be sure to grunt a hello to everyone else.
    He now regrets hiring me. It has to be the case. But is my work good enough to keep me employed, despite his apparent anger? I can’t even hazard a guess as to what’s in his head. His curt, clipped e-mails aren’t giving me a clue.
    The bright side is that no conversation means no confrontation. I won’t have to deal with figuring out what to tell him. Ever. The bleak side—no conversation means no resolution. I’ll be in limbo for the duration of my employment at Grovas. Not purgatory, but hell. Not knowing where you stand? Priceless.
    Deciding I’ve had too much distraction because of this guy, I throw myself into my work. It’s time to focus on my career. I’m learning every day, but the files are piling up, and it’s getting harder to keep up. Secretarial help is critical to my survival but Amber throws very little time or effort in my direction. I also need my own office, not having moved out of the conference room since the P & Z hearing in Canton months ago.
    Unfortunately, I need solutions and only Jordan has the power to provide them. Unclenching my fists and forcing my jaw muscles to relax, I walk into his office. He doesn’t look up until I close the door.
    “Hello, Sue,” he says with a trace of surprise in his voice.
    “Jordan, my clients are growing, and so is my work load. I need a real office and a secretary. I’m happy to share staff, but I need more than what Amber’s been giving me.”
    “Okay.”
    “Okay meaning you’ve heard me, or okay meaning you’ll arrange for this?” Confused, I feel my brow furrow.
    “I mean okay, the rest of the associates have both offices and more dedicated support staff, so there is no reason why you can’t have this, too.”
    “If I could have had this all along, why didn’t you offer it to me earlier?” Yes, confusion reigns the day.
    “Well, at the beginning you were almost always out of the office so you didn’t need all that. Later you seemed content to have the conference room. I thought you liked having all that space to yourself. The associates’ offices are so small in comparison. And they’re inconvenient. Your office, for instance, would be upstairs where the rest of the first and second years are. You’d have to come running down here all the time. I didn’t think you’d like that.”
    I don’t know how to respond. He’s being nice. I tackle the first thing that comes to mind. “Are you saying you’re going to keep me on as your associate?”
    He smiles. “Yes. I thought you knew that. Everyone else around here does.”
    “They do?”
    “Yes, they do.” He stops smiling.
    I don’t respond. I just quietly look at him.
    “You were serious when you said you barely fit in as my associate? I thought you were just trying to make a point about my personality flaws.” Now he’s frowning.
    I feel a smile creep over my face, replacing his. “Okay, you do like having me as your associate. Good. So at least one of our issues has been worked out.” Damn. I shouldn’t have even alluded to our other little issue. Ignoring it would definitely have been the better way to go.
    “Sue, no pressure, but any time you want to work out the rest of it, let me know.” He picks a pencil off a legal pad and lightly doodles a rectangle. “If you don’t want to go out with me, that’s okay. But if you change your mind, the dinner offer