Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 95421 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 382(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95421 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 382(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
He opened one of the cardboard containers and used chopsticks to dish some shrimp and broccoli onto his plate. “Of course. Except now I don’t eat a whole pie, because the calories don’t incinerate with a half-hour workout at the gym like they used to.”
Simon was being modest. He looked good. Really good. Even after traveling all night from Mumbai.
“Thank you again for being okay with eating in tonight,” he said. “I’m wiped out.”
“Of course.”
“I tried to get us reservations at this fancy vegan place, Eleven Madison Park. I would’ve gotten my butt in gear to take you there. But they didn’t have an opening for more than three months.”
“This is perfect.” I shoveled some vegetable lo mein onto my plate, and we exchanged containers and a smile.
“So tell me about this job you got,” he said. “Do you like it? I never thought I’d see the day when you worked for the bad guys.”
“To be honest, I’m just happy to have a job.”
“I still can’t believe you didn’t fight getting disbarred.”
“There wasn’t anything to fight about. I did it. End of story.”
“But you were provoked.”
“Sadly, that’s not a valid defense.”
Simon popped a shrimp into his mouth. “So what exactly does a paralegal do? It’s not like a secretary, is it?”
“No. You assist the attorneys, but not the same way an administrative assistant would. It’s doing a lot of legwork, like drafting motions and prepping witness lists. It really depends on the level of work the paralegal can handle.”
“Sounds like the lawyer who hired you got a total score. The level of work you can handle is her job. I hope she appreciates you.”
“She is a he, and while Dawson can be an ass most of the time, I do think he already appreciates that he doesn’t have to explain things to me.”
“The guy’s an ass?”
“Nothing I can’t handle.” Handle. Man handle. “You wouldn’t have been able to walk the next day.” Great. Now my brain was back there again, where it had spent the hour-long trek to Simon’s apartment, a trek that should have been a half hour, tops. But I’d been so thrown by the comment Dawson made that I’d gotten on the A train going downtown instead of uptown. And I didn’t notice until we were all the way down at City Hall. Thankfully, an uptown express train had pulled in as soon as I got off the wrong one, so Simon didn’t have to wait too long. But I needed to pull my mind from the gutter.
Simon’s forehead creased. “Naomi?”
My eyes jumped to his. “Yeah?”
He smiled funny, and I realized he was holding a carton out to me. “I asked if you wanted to try a crab rangoon? They’re vegan, so the crab is probably tofu, but I figured we could give them a shot.”
“Oh. Sure. Yeah. Thanks.” My zoning out was rude, and a subject change was definitely in order. “Tell me about the work you’re doing in India.”
Simon lit up as he spoke about the kids he’d been helping. He told me about a six-year-old girl who couldn’t even speak because of the facial deformities she was born with. He and his team had done five surgeries on her, and there wasn’t a dry eye in the room when she’d come back last week and said his name. Her parents told him she’d been practicing Dr. Andrews all day and night.
“I’d known I wanted to do this trip for a long time. But I thought I’d be helping them. I didn’t realize how much they’d help me.”
“What do you mean?”
“After I finished my residency, I got caught up in thinking it was my time.” Simon shook his head. “You go to school for so many years, then make shit money and work like a dog during your residency. When I took the job at the practice where I am now, I finally made a good salary. I bought a fancy Mercedes that I don’t even need living in the City, swapped my thirty-nine-ninety-nine-a-month ratty gym membership for a four-hundred-dollar-a-month Equinox one, and I was even considering buying an apartment and leaving this rent-controlled place because it doesn’t have a view.” Simon shook his head again. “I was putting value on the wrong things in life. India has been a reminder of what’s important. You don’t get happiness from material things; you get it from the people in your life. That’s where my focus should be.” He held out a hand, and when I put mine in his, he squeezed. “I’m glad you decided to move to New York.”
Chapter 14
* * *
NAOMI
I was up early the next morning, even though Simon and I had hung out talking until midnight. After an hour of mindless scrolling on my phone, I dragged my ass out of bed and went to the gym for a Pilates class. On the way back to my sister’s, I got an iced coffee and decided to walk rather than take the subway. Dawson’s office wasn’t too far off course on the route I took, so I popped in to see if he was working today like he’d said he might. I found him at his desk, looking pretty much the same as he had yesterday, only his clothes were more rumpled, and he looked a bit haggard. He didn’t even look up as I stood at the door. So I knocked on the doorjamb.