AN: I still don't know anything about legal proceedings, so I'm just making this up as I go with what works for Carmen's story! Also, a big thanks to Riordanlover16 for your lovely review. I'm glad you liked Carmen's skillet smash!

Chapter Three

"Hey Cheryl, you wanted to see me?" I asked my boss, poking my head into her open office. She'd messaged me to meet, something that hadn't happened since my first day at the firm, so I was a bit nervous.

"Carmen, perfect! Come on in, shut the door behind you." She smiled up at me from behind her desk and gestured to a chair across from her. She waited until I was settled, then said, "You did a fantastic job with Sara's case."

"Thank you, it was… I'm really pleased with how we finished with that."

She smiled knowingly. "You mean with her ex in prison and sporting a broken face?"

There was no holding back that grin, even if I had wanted to. "That may have been my favorite part," I confessed.

Cheryl chuckled. "There is no doubt you're Athena's daughter." That just made my grin grow bigger. "But I'm really pleased with how you closed that. Now, Gladys Gladstone's long-time attorney is retiring in a few months, and she's let it be known that she's open to new representation. I want you to go win her over."

I stared, unseeing, for way too long. "I'm- You want me to do what?"

Gladys Gladstone was probably the biggest name in LA fashion, and had been for over forty years. She'd single-handedly founded her own fashion house, while also raising her daughter on her own. Her daughter had grown to join the company and added a jewelry line to the repertoire, and then her granddaughter had just started her own shoe line under the family umbrella. Gladys Gladstone had started her own fashion dynasty, and even at seventy-six-years-old, she was still sharp as a tack and involved in every major decision. Her companies were all for women, by women, and she was an early pioneer in doing everything to make fashion sustainable and ethical. And Cheryl wanted me to go talk to her?!

But she just smiled knowingly. "Gladys is very public about how much family means to her, and I think our firm would be a perfect fit for her. And I think you're the perfect one to get her to join. You get her to join, and you'll get your usual twenty-five percent, plus maybe a sizable signing bonus. She'll be your first whale, I can feel it. Do it right, and she could be your only one."

I was a bit thrown. My only whale? There were only two people in the entire firm who only had one whale, because their whale was a big enough moneymaker that they didn't need to have another, and Cheryl was one of them. And that made it so they could spend the rest of the time on their family law cases, mostly pro bono. "You think I could-"

"I have a good feeling about this. You're an incredibly gifted attorney, and you work harder than most people. You can do it."

And well, who was I to say no to that? So, I went back to my tiny shoebox of an office and pulled out my phone. A quick Google search later, and I heard "Gladstone International, how can I help you?"

A zip of nervousness ran up my spine, but I just straightened up (not that the nice sounding lady who answered could actually see me) and said, "Hi, my name is Carmen Carter. I'm with Cheryl Samuel's law firm, and we heard that Ms. Gladstone is looking for new legal representation."

"Mmm," was all she said for a long moment. Making me sweat the entire time. "Well, if you'll just leave your information with me, I'll pass it along and we'll be in touch if we're interested."

So, I left my phone number, not really thinking anything would come of it. But I wasn't going to leave it at that, of course, that's not why Cheryl hired me. No, I figured I would give it a few days, then make a stop, potentially with a box of cookies to bribe any secretaries into pushing my info along just a little bit.

Which was why the call I got the next day was such a surprise. "Carmen Carter, how may I help you?" I asked, a bit absently, since I was reading a stupidly long brief.

"Carmen, hi, this is Sage from Gladstone International. Is this a good time for you?"

I nearly dropped my phone when I heard that. "Um, yes, no, of course it's a good time!" I spluttered out, pushing the brief out of my way and waking my computer up. Just in case. "What can I do for you?"

I could hear a smile even if I couldn't see it. "You called us yesterday to check in about the new legal representative position, and Ms. Gladstone was very impressed with both your firm and your personal record. Would you be able to meet with the Gladstones on Monday? It would be a lunch meeting."

Even if I'd had a life-saving surgery on the books for Monday, I would have rescheduled it. But I had to play it cool. Or try to. "Let me see, yes, it looks like I'm free Monday midday. What time would be good for the Gladstones?" Oh, and that meant- Oh, it's probably with Gloria and Giselle, too, I realized in a mild panic. Be cool, Carmen, you can freak out once you hang up!

"The Gladstones would like you to join them at Gladys's home at one, if that would work for you?"

"I would be delighted!"

We exchanged emails, so Sage could send me the address, and she confirmed I didn't have any allergies or dietary restrictions, which I thought was very considerate for a job interview. And then we exchanged cheerful farewells and hung up.

And I stared at my phone for at least a whole minute. That really happened, right? But the phone app said the call had taken three minutes and fourteen seconds, so I hadn't just hallucinated the whole conversation. Which meant I could celebrate! Dancing in my chair, pumping my fist, and headbanging were just some of the celebratory moves I had in store. Thankfully, my door was closed, and I don't think anyone could see me through the window. Hopefully. But I didn't care too much if they could.

I shot Cheryl a quick message to let her know I had the interview, and she sent me back a quick "Told ya" with a winky face. Then my phone was back in my hand for another call.

"Mama, I got an interview with Gladys Gladstone!" I told her before she even had a chance to say anything. I could only hope she'd actually had her phone to her ear when I started talking.

"Oh, my girl! I'm so proud of you!" And then she spent the next five minutes being my very own cheerleader.

…

I may have been an anxious mess of research and studying for the rest of the week, but I felt it was well-earned. But Monday came soon enough, and I spent an hour or so with Cheryl going over my thoughts for what we could do for the Gladstone companies, what we could bring to the table. She gave me a few pointers on what I could probably expect, since this was my very first client interview. At least, from this side of things.

"You've got this, girl," Cheryl told me with a confident smile. "And if you're ever in doubt, just think 'What would Athena do?'"

That pulled me out of my head, out of my own swirling, anxious thoughts. "That's sort of how I've gone through my entire life, to be honest. Any problem I've got, just figure out what my mom would do, and head in that direction."

"And your mom is one of the smartest people I've ever met, and with a heart of gold to top it off, so that should serve you pretty well. Now, you've got a lunch to attend. Good luck."

I knew the drive out to the Gladstone house would take a bit, and there was no way I was going to be late for the most important meeting of my life to date, so I headed out with plenty of time. And by plenty of time, I meant two hours early. But you never know with LA traffic! And seeing as it did take me more than an hour to get to the Gladstone home, I was glad I had left with enough time. I drove straight to their house, making sure I knew exactly how to find it, and then drove a few miles down the road to the public beach for just a few moments of soaking up the gorgeous sunshine and ocean view. Something I was still desperate to get enough of, even for being home for several months now.

And then at exactly twelve-fifty, I pulled up to the gate in front of the Gladstone house. "Carmen Carter to see Ms. Gladstone," I told the little box.

"Just pull straight through," the guard replied. "You can park in the circular drive."

I followed his instructions and found myself staring at the unassuming house in front of me. For being the home of an actual billionaire, it wasn't nearly as big as I would have thought it would be. I mean, yeah, it was big, but, like, normal people big, not "I have more money than I know what to do with, so I've made this ostentatious monument to myself" big. And yes, there was a rather large fence around the property with very obvious security, but given that there had been kidnapping attempts with both Gloria and Giselle, multiple for each, it would have been almost negligent to not have that. But the bright white walls and red clay tile roof were charming and fit in rather well with the Spanish influenced architecture in the area, as did the fountain turned into a flowerbed.

A woman stepped out onto the front porch as I turned my car off. "Carmen, it's so nice to meet you! I'm Gloria, Gladys's daughter. We're all very excited to meet you."

This woman, who had designed jewelry specifically for actual royalty, wore a simple tee shirt, flowy pants, and no shoes. And even at fifty-five, her red hair was still vibrant, and she wore it tied up in a topknot. She looked like a woman comfortable in her own skin, and she was one of the most stunning women I'd met in my entire life. I strived for the self-confidence she oozed.

"Hi Gloria, it's great to meet you, too! Thank you all for being willing to even meet me."

She grinned as she shook my hand, making dimples pop into existence. "Come on in and meet everyone. Oh, but please take your shoes off. Mom's not a fan of shoes in the house."

"Me either," I replied, happy to comply. Even if it meant the rest of the committee of women I was supposed to be winning over wouldn't be seeing my "I'm gonna win" heels. At least my toes were painted a deep forest green, since May had insisted on us going to the salon for a few hours to take my mind off of stressing the day before.

Gloria led me through the airy home, straight toward the back of the house. "Mom, girls, Carmen's here," she announced. A bit needlessly, since all three others had turned to us the moment we walked through the door to join them in the open kitchen/dining/living area.

Giselle, Gladys's granddaughter, smiled brightly and walked toward me with her hand out to shake mine. "It's so nice to see someone who's not an old white man trying for the position," she said eagerly. Her sky-blue sundress showed off her pregnant belly gorgeously and contrasted nicely with her copper braid hanging over one shoulder.

Her words startled a laugh out of me. "Nope, not old, not white, and not a man," I agreed with a smile. "But I am incredibly grateful that you all even considered me enough to offer to meet."

Gladys, her own red hair hanging freely around her shoulders, stepped from behind the island where she'd been stirring something on the stove. She wore a loose white linen top and jean shorts, with legs that I knew a lot of women would be envious of. And I felt rather overdressed in my royal purple silk top and black pencil skirt, but there was no way I would have worn anything less professional for this meeting.

"You stood out of the crowd enough to make you worth considering," she told me. She took my hand to shake, as well, but then patted our clasped hands with her other one. "I have a good feeling about this. Lunch is almost ready, why don't you have a seat?"

"Your hair's pretty."

I turned to see the fourth redhead in the room nearly at my elbow and staring hard at my curls. "My hair doesn't do that," she said, looking adorably pouty. And all five of her years.

"Your hair doesn't do curls without a lot of work, and you're not willing to sit still long enough for them, Gia," Giselle corrected with a little amused, maybe a little exasperated, smile. "But Carmen's curls are very pretty."

"Thank you, both of you. But I'll tell you a secret," I said, crouching a bit to be closer to Gia's height. "It takes a lot of work and time to get my curls to work and look this good."

"Oh," Gia said, wrinkling her nose. "I'll keep my straight stuff then, I guess. Do you wanna see my dolls?"

Giselle opened her mouth, probably to say something about how I didn't have to, but I spoke first. "Absolutely! How many do you have?" I wasn't going to make a kid feel like they weren't important. I remembered how adults had often treated me like I didn't exist when I'd spent time at the station, first with my dad, and then with Mom, and I had always vowed I wouldn't do that to kids when I got older.

"I have five here at Gammy's, she made all the clothes for me, but she did what I told her to," Gia explained, taking my hand to pull me toward the absolutely enormous dollhouse across the room. "Mama, can I have a doll with curls like Miss Carmen?"

"We'll see what we can find, baby," she promised, sitting down on the floor with us, like she wasn't even pregnant.

"You've got to do a lot of yoga or something," I commented lowly. And then kind of wanted to smack myself, but I couldn't take that back.

Giselle laughed, like I hadn't made a huge social misstep. "Oh, I can get down no problem. It's the getting back up that's the hard part."

Gia introduced me to all of her dolls, and I marveled at their clothes. I mean, she had an actual fashion designer making her doll clothes. And one of the dolls looked exactly like her mom, so it looked like she had her very own custom Barbie to go with her very own custom clothes. "I would have killed for doll clothes like this as a kid," I mused. "These are gorgeous, Gladys."

"Thank you. I'm glad I can still sew, can still see well enough to sew," she said from the other side of the room. "Most of my friends my age either can't see well anymore or have arthritis in their hands, if not both, so I'm very lucky to still be able to do what I love."

Giselle and I played with Gia for a few more minutes, just until Gladys announced lunch was ready. Which meant I finally got to taste the delicious food that I'd been smelling the entire time I'd been in the house. "This pasta is fantastic," I told her after the first bite. It was so good, I barely was able to keep the moan in. I didn't think that would be terribly professional, after all.

She smiled, dimpling in the way that she had clearly passed on through all three generations. "Thank you, dear. I had an Italian nanny growing up, and Agustina taught me everything she could about food."

"And you love to feed people," Gloria added. She bumped her shoulder into her mom's, in a very similar way to what I tended to do with my own mother.

"I do love to feed people," Gladys agreed. "Food brings people together of all backgrounds, gives us something to have in common."

Lunch flowed easily with conversation, and it never felt stilted or uncomfortable, neither with me, since I was the newcomer, nor with Gia, since she was a child. Even with this being the first time I met any of them, it was clear that they all very much cared about each other, were very involved in each other's lives. And it wasn't explicitly said, but I really got the feeling that Gia didn't have a nanny, that Giselle and her husband were actually the ones raising her, something that was highly unheard of in families of their social and professional circles.

But once we finished the delightful lemon orzo, it was finally time to turn to our actual business. "Let's move out to the patio, that way Gia can play, and we big girls can have our boring business talk, yes?" Gladys suggested.

Gloria refreshed all of our glasses with freshly made lemonade and we took them to the large table on the patio by the pool. Gia happily scampered to the two-story playhouse with her favorite doll as we got settled, Giselle sitting where she could participate in the conversation but still keep an eye on her daughter.

"Now, Carmen, here comes the hard part," Gladys started, a little smile on her face, but still… determined. "Tell us why you think you would be the perfect fit for Gladstone International."

I straightened up automatically, but at the same time, I was pretty relaxed. I actually thought I could do this, after I'd gotten over the surprise of Cheryl's offer. "It's no surprise to anyone who's heard of Gladstone International that family is the center of all you do," I began, then gestured to the three women sitting around me with a smile of my own. "I mean, the fact that all three of you are conducting this interview together sort of spells that out to anyone with a brain. And while I'm not part of your family, I do understand that, that importance that you've placed on family, just what you have created for your family. And what you've done for women in general, well, I don't need to tell you what it's like being a woman in a male-dominated field, since you've done that for decades now, but you've paved the way for so many women already, and I would love to show my appreciation by- by widening that road for future generations of women, especially women of color."

All three of them nodded, and Gloria said, "Tell us what family means to you."

I smiled a bit sheepishly. "I can't really do that without some background info. It's a bit of a long story, though, so…"

Giselle put her hand over mine. "We all freed up our afternoons for this, so take us much time as you need. Tell us whatever you feel comfortable with sharing."