Work Text:
Olivia had been seeing him in Downtown Java for the last week now, the tall man in a suit with some brown hair still on the sides of his mostly bald head. He had a scar, too, but she didn’t know why because she hadn’t spoken to him yet. It made him more intriguing, though, and she was trying to work up the confidence to talk to him and learn more.
Yesterday, she swore he had seen her checking him out too, and he nodded hello. When he did, she noticed he wasn’t wearing a wedding ring, and she wondered if he was married and just had forgotten to put it on. Or maybe he was a widower. Or, like her, recently single. Although maybe he was divorced rather than going through a broken engagement or the end of a long-term relationship.
She had worried she was making a mistake by getting engaged to Peter, a popular minor league baseball player in Brooklyn, but he genuinely cared about her son Noah and was eager to be a father figure. Noah’s father had abandoned him at a young age, leaving Olivia to raise him on her own while she was trying to juggle law school applications and then all the 1L reading. It only got slightly easier in 2L and 3L, but she was lucky that she had a great nanny in Lucy to take Noah off her hands so she could do a summer internship with a family law firm. Olivia and Peter had met while she was in school, but they couldn’t keep up their relationship between her studies and his training and game schedule. Even with an amicable split, she was heartbroken that Noah wouldn’t have the stability she craved for both of them.
Of course, there was still hope. She had just seen a story on the news about two people who had gotten married in their 80s, although she didn’t want to wait quite that long. First, though, she had to stop looking at every man she met as a potential father for Noah. That scares guys off on the first date, Amanda, her paralegal, had warned her. Well, maybe not necessarily Olivia saying she had a kid, but looking like she wanted to settle down as fast as possible.
“Is this table taken?”
Olivia looked up from her laptop and saw the mysterious man with the scar on his head standing next to the table and holding a cup of coffee.
“No,” she replied. “I’m just getting some work done. Do you need me to move any of my stuff?”
“I have my iPad. You’re not bothering me. I just need to double check a few things before my meeting.”
“What do you do for work?” she asked before she could stop herself.
He stopped scrolling through his iPad long enough to make eye contact. “Oh. I’m a lawyer. I do a lot of corporate law and litigation. What about you?”
“Um, I’m a lawyer too,” she answered.
“Really? I’m sorry if this seems like a dumb question because maybe we have crossed paths before, but I’ve never seen you at any on-campus recruiting events or networking mixers. I’m Elliot. And you are…?”
“Olivia. All the fancy networking stuff really isn’t my thing. I’m primarily a family lawyer, so I have a lot of divorce and custody cases, but I also advocate for foster children and handle adoptions. I eventually want to work for DCS or another public interest agency. This is my second career, so I wanted to go into an area of law where I could make a difference; mergers and acquisitions wasn’t going to cut it. No offense.”
“None taken. I always wanted to go into Big Law, but I admit I’m a bit of a prestige chaser. Got a 170 on my LSATs and came into law school at NYU ready to network, applied for summer associate positions as early as possible, all of that. My parents weren’t going to settle for anything less because they didn’t want me to be one of those lawyers who took on $200,000 of debt for nothing. Had to bust my ass studying for the LSATs. What did you get on yours?”
Olivia frowned, deciding to share her best score of the three times she took it. “158,” she said. “It was good enough to get me into Syracuse, although I was told my essay put me over the top because my GPA was kind of on the fence. After all, law schools also look for people with diverse experiences and members of underrepresented populations. I’m surprised you didn’t realize how much diversity is pushed at NYU.” She was starting to think that while Elliot looked charming from afar, it seemed like a whole other story now that he had opened his mouth and seemed more eager to compare admissions profiles rather than getting to know her.
But what he said next surprised her.
“I see what you mean. There is a place for people like you in the legal field, too. My wife—well, now my ex-wife; we got married while we were still in undergrad and had no business doing so, but that’s another topic—asked me why I cared so much about money instead of going into law to serve others who were most in need of legal representation. I reminded her we already had several children to support and I was going to have student loans even if I got good scholarships and other financial aid. Plus, since I was leaving the workforce for three years, our income was going to be cut down no matter what.”
Huh. Maybe he does understand.
“You’re a career changer too?” Olivia was now again curious to hear more.
“Yep. I was a financial analyst, and for as well as it paid, I always wanted to be involved more in actual business deals and creating contracts. I felt like I had really good negotiation skills and always felt confident when I had to give presentations at meetings. Originally, I looked into going to NYU for my MBA in finance, but the life of a vice-president at a bank or an investment firm didn’t really excite me all that much. I believed that by being a lawyer, I could still have a chance to run my own business, whether I was overseeing a caseload and could make partner someday, or I could always open my own firm.”
“Interesting.”
“So, what got you into the law?” he asked.
“It’s a long story. But I got a job as a legal assistant and receptionist when I was still feeling a bit lost in life. It was a smaller firm, but the owner was willing to train the right person if they didn’t have experience in the legal field. The more I took on at the firm, the more I began to see this as a great career possibility. Not to mention it would be a better life for me and my son, who was only two at the time. He’s eight now. I had to use a lot of my student loan money to pay the nanny when I was in school.”
“I admire the tenacity. Are you divorced or something?”
“My son’s father left not long after he was born. And then I did meet somebody and we were thinking about getting engaged, but we realized our lifestyles were just too different to make a marriage work. Not to mention, if he got traded—he was playing for the Cyclones—it meant I would also have to uproot my career and take the bar in another state and see if I could get admitted.”
“Oh, I love baseball. Do you mind me asking who it was?”
“Peter Stone. Pitcher. I mean, it kind of surprised me that he was interested in me. A lot of the other players’ wives are really glamorous, and if they have kids, they tend to be stay-at-home mothers. Not that there’s any shame in that, but I didn’t think I fit the typical athlete’s girlfriend profile. It turned out he loved kids and while he hoped to have his own, he used to tell me how much he admired my grit to get through law school and take care of Noah, my son, at the same time. He was actually really curious about how I did it. Not shallow in the least.”
“Well, now I want to know more,” Elliot said, flashing a smile that made her sit up straighter. “But under one condition: if you tell me everything right here in this coffee shop, I’m worried we’ll run out of things to talk about when I take you to dinner. Or a Yankees game. Sorry; I’m a fan of the Bronx Bombers. I’m sure you’ve become a Mets supporter after your relationship with Stone.”
“Actually, I wasn’t too much of a sports fan either way.”
“So it’s settled. We can go see the Yankees and, if it’s not too corny for you, I can make a reservation at the Hard Rock in the stadium. I get comp tickets from one of the partners at the firm sometimes, and my ex has the younger kids this weekend; why don’t you say we have a nice afternoon out? But if you can’t get childcare, don’t worry about it. I’d still love to have dinner sometime. Or another coffee date…maybe with breakfast before work. I’m flexible, despite my work schedule saying otherwise.”
“I already know all about that. Even some of my family law cases feel like they’re happening around the clock.
“By the way…” Olivia changed the subject, looking towards his forehead again. “What happened to you? The scar on your head?”
“Oh. I was in a car accident when my ex-wife and I were still together and she was pregnant. It ended up being the day our youngest was born; she was close to term anyway and I think all the excitement and impact of the accident sent her into labor. She didn’t have any abdominal injuries, though, so thank God our son turned out well. His name is Eli…after me. Hard to believe the world needed another one of me.”
She laughed at his self-depreciation. “I don’t know if you saw me before today,” she continued. “But I’ve noticed you in and out of here for the last week now, and I kept getting drawn to that scar.”
“Does it flatter my baldness more? I was worried when I started losing my hair. At first I thought it was just the stress from my career change and a sign of a midlife crisis. I’ve come to embrace it, though. I feel like I look more mature in this new phase of life.’
“I’m not sure about that,” she replied, laughing again. “No offense. But scars can tell good stories, visible scars and otherwise. That’s what I believe anyway.”
“That’s beautiful. You know, I know we’re still practically strangers, but I think you’re going to bring out a whole new side of me. I can’t wait to go out with you. As long as you’re OK with dating a divorcee with five kids, of course.”
“Well, I’m a single mom and you don’t seem to be objecting to that. No legal pun intended, of course. And five kids? I want to know more about how you handled that while you were in law school.”
“All of this makes me more excited to go out with you,” Elliot said. “I’m really glad you stopped staring me down and let me sit with you.”
“And I’m happy I took the chance. I mean, when I was in law school, there were some guys like you who were a complete turn-off. But you’re actually pretty charming now that I’ve had a chance to talk to you. So, maybe I could call you when I have a better idea of when we can go out.”
“Sure.” They exchanged cell numbers and then Olivia started walking towards the subway to head back to her office. Normally, she liked to walk over when working in the coffee shop, but since it looked like it would rain any minute, she had taken the train today.
Before she headed into the station, she reached for her phone and saw that Amanda had texted her a couple of times regarding her phone messages, one of which was that a hearing she was supposed to be at this afternoon had been continued. Olivia was always relieved when she got a continuance; it gave her extra time with Noah before rushing to the office or allowed her to go home early and work remotely before picking him up from school.
By the way, Amanda’s most recent message read, Did you get lost on the way back? Or was the coffee super fresh today or something?
Olivia laughed and debated whether to tell Amanda about Elliot. But since they felt more like friends than colleagues, she decided to go for it.
Actually, I met someone while I was there. Completely unexpected, especially since on the surface, we’re total opposites. But he asked me out and…I’m not sure when I can go yet, but I said yes.
Good for you! So, what’s he like?
I’ll tell you when I get back to the office. For now, I will say that he didn’t act like it was a red flag that I have Noah, and he actually has kids with his ex-wife, so it balances out. Make sure you get me the Ramirez pleading for approval by lunchtime, OK?
On it, boss.
Olivia quickly headed down the steps into the subway station, and she smiled to herself. Her legal career so far had been based on taking risks and believing she could push through difficult times, and it was nice to meet someone who understood that as well as she did, even if she thought his first impression would show otherwise.
The legal system proved there was room for both her and Elliot in the courtroom. Hopefully she’d have room for him in her personal life too.