Seth shrugs and looks down at his feet.
“Answer my question, please.” Her voice is strong, leaving no room for disagreement.
He exhales as he drops his head back against the seat. “No, it wasn’t easy.”
“Was it something you can see yourself doing for the rest of your life?”
Seth’s eyebrows rise in surprise. “Not for the rest of my life!”
“Well then, an education might be a good thing to have, Seth.” She winks at him in the rearview mirror.
I glance back to find Seth with his jaw dropped, staring at Cara in shock.
Cara pulls the car to a stop at the curb in the heart of downtown, right in front of a law office. My longtime friend Ty Sullivan is a partner here.
“Are we going in to see Ty?” I ask Cara.
She smiles and nods.
“Why do I need a lawyer?” Seth asks, his voice suddenly scared.
“You don’t, but you might work for him for a little while.” Cara leads us into the air-conditioned building as Ty walks out of his office to greet us.
“Hey, man, good to see you.” Ty moves toward us, extending his hand out for mine.
“You too. We need to go shoot pool one night soon, catch up.” I grin and shake his hand.
“I’m up for that.” Ty smiles softly at Cara and kisses her cheek, and my defenses immediately go up, even though I know being jealous of my best friend is irrational and ridiculous. Still, I can’t help but wonder, are Ty and Cara an item? If they are, I haven’t heard about it. “Hey, Carolina.”
“Hey, Ty, thanks for this.”
He just shakes his head, and when he looks down at Seth, Ty’s eyes grow cold and his face gets tight. This is exactly how he looks in a courtroom.
“Seth?”
“Yeah.” Seth’s voice is soft but still defiant. His eyes are large and he takes a step toward my side, which surprises the hell out of me.
“I’ve heard that you’re looking for a little work.”
“What can I do here? I’m just a kid!”
My thoughts exactly.
“Cara tells me you’re pretty smart. You know the alphabet, right?”
“Duh.”
Ty narrows his eyes at him and waits for a different reply.
“Yes.”
“Good, then you can do some filing. It’s important that you file them perfectly. If papers get lost, bad things happen and important people get really pissed off.”
“I can file.”
Ty nods and leads us into his office, where he has a stack of papers about two inches thick that need to be filed away.
I pull Cara back out to the hallway. “There could be sensitive files in there, Cara. Is this appropriate?”
“He assured me over the phone that there was no confidential information in the paperwork, and it’s a big enough pile to keep Seth busy for a while.” She smiles as she rests her hand on my arm. “Trust me.”
“How much do I get paid?” Seth asks.
“Seven bucks an hour, kid.”
“But this is a lawyer’s office!”
“You’re just filing, not saving someone from the death penalty,” Ty responds dryly. Seth settles in to work and Cara and I sit across from Ty at his desk.
“Can I listen to my iPod while I do this?” Seth asks hopefully.
Cara looks to me and I nod.
“Sure,” she responds.
Seth eagerly plugs in his earbuds and turns the volume up.
“How’s Jillian?” I ask Ty.
“Cara would be the one to ask, she talks to Jill more than I do.” Ty looks at Cara expectantly.
“She’s good. Working hard.” Cara smiles at us and shrugs. “We have a phone date tonight.”
“A phone date?” I ask.
“Yeah, we try to carve out a few hours every month to catch up. Tonight’s our date night.”
“Why did she decide to stay in California after the divorce?”
Ty frowns and rubs his forehead. “Good question.” He glances at Cara, his face sober. “Has she ever confided in you about what happened with the asshole?”
Cara shakes her head and sighs. “No. Even when we’ve had too much to drink, she won’t tell me.”
“She’s so damn frustrating,” Ty mutters as he pulls his hands down his face and back up through his hair in agitation. “I wish she’d talk to me about it so I’d know how to fix it.”
“You’re always fixing things for the women in your life,” I mention quietly, and cross my ankle over my knee, memories of not so long ago echoing through my mind. “Maybe she wants to take care of this on her own.”
Ty just stares back at me and cocks an eyebrow. “Would you leave it alone if it were your sister?”
“Fuck no.” I sigh.
“I wish she’d come home,” Cara murmurs. “For good. Not just to visit.”
“Yeah, I need someone to harass,” Ty agrees with a sad smile.
“You guys always did torture us endlessly. What was up with that?” Cara turns to me, looking all exasperated and adorable.
“You were girls, we were teenagers, and it was our God-given right as older brothers—and friends of older brothers—to torment you.” She bites her lip to keep from laughing, her eyes sparkling with memories.
“But no one else would dare give us a hard time for fear of your wrath,” she says, laughing, and she’s absolutely right.