Chapter Five

I met with Cheryl the next morning, and we both agreed that I would give it a couple of days before stopping by Gladstone International to check in. Both on Gia and on how my interview had gone. I mean, it was only polite! And I was concerned about Gia, even after Chim's reassurance, so it gave me the perfect excuse to go. Though I was probably using the job interview as an excuse to check on Gia more than the other way around, to be honest. I was really worried, okay?

My next client came in at nine, and we went over the divorce agreement to make sure it included everything she had wanted to get in. We made a few tweaks that I then sent to her ex's lawyer, and I promised her that it was almost over. She shed a few tears, and I supplied her with tissues and her favorite chocolate bar.

I had some deep diving to do for another client, going through all the financials our investigator had pulled on the wife. But I found exactly what I needed on the fifteenth page, the smoking gun, so to speak. Or really, the secret credit card account she'd opened in my client's name without his knowledge or consent.

I was already reaching for my cell phone to call my client when my office phone rang, instead, startling me pretty badly and making me laugh at myself. "Hey, Casey, what's up?"

Cheryl's assistant replied, "Can you come to the conference room? Cheryl wants you to meet with some clients with her, and they just showed up."

"Uh, sure, I'll be right there."

I hurried out to the conference room, tablet in hand for notes just in case, and Casey grinned up at me as I passed his desk. "Just head on in."

I had to knock on the door, of course, since that was just the polite thing, but I then went ahead and opened it. "You wanted to see me, Cher- Oh, how's Gia?" I pivoted my sentence as soon as I realized that the three Gladstone women were waiting with Cheryl.

"She's doing just fine," Giselle assured with a big smile as I took the seat next to her. "She's relaxing at home with her daddy, who knows all about how much cracked ribs suck."

"Yeah, he would probably know about that," I replied, nodding understandingly. After all, he'd been a professional hockey player for over a decade, so it made complete sense that he'd broken his ribs before.

She grinned wider. "Yes, he does. So, they're at home enjoying lots and lots of Tangled and Doc McStuffins, and she's loving getting to watch TV in Mom and Dad's bed for once."

"And the ribs are the only lasting effect the doctors seem to think she'll have, all thanks to you," Gloria said. She brushed a tear away impatiently, then looked very sternly at me. "And there's nothing you can say that will negate that, so thank you, dear."

"I'm just glad I was there to help," was the only thing I could say. Anything else would sound like I was arguing with her, or unhappy that I had helped Gia.

"So am I," Gladys said, a sly little smile lifting one corner of her mouth. "Because a pregnant woman, a middle-aged woman with a heart condition, and a fossil would have had a hard time saving her, had you not been there."

That made us all laugh, even if Gloria protested the fossil part. "But in all seriousness, we are grateful to you," Gladys continued, looking me straight in the eye. "And in an unrelated note, we wanted to come offer you the position of legal representation for Gladstone International and the Gladstone family."

My heart stopped at that. That's exactly what I wanted to hear, but also, maybe a tiny part of me was disappointed? That they were only offering me the job because I'd saved Gia, not because I actually deserved-

"She did say 'completely unrelated'," Cheryl said dryly, stopping my spinning thoughts.

Gladys nodded. "I did. We wouldn't have invited you for an interview if you weren't qualified, if we didn't think you could possibly be a good fit. And you can bet I wouldn't put such an important part of my company in hands that I didn't think could handle the load. Even with saving Gia, we wouldn't be offering this if we didn't think you were the absolute best who'd applied."

"We already were pretty convinced by the time we finished eating lunch," Giselle added, her own little smile turning up the corner of her mouth, just like her grandmother.

"Yes, the questions after were really just the formality," Gloria finished, with the exact same smile.

Looking at each one, I could tell they were being completely honest with me. So, I took a deep breath and said, "Then I'm all yours!'

Giselle and Gloria cheered, while Gladys settled more comfortably into her chair with a very satisfied smile. "We would have tried to steal you from Cheryl completely, if you hadn't let us know how much you appreciate doing the family law side of things, too," she told me with a sly little grin.

Cheryl grinned back. "I'm just glad I could arrange this match so well. We're going to have a glorious partnership."

We spent the next hour or so hammering out the details of the contract, and I promised Gladys I would have it written up by the end of the day and sent over to their current attorney. "You'll be marvelous, I just know it," she said, completely matter-of-fact, and it made my heart soar.

"Now that we've got all the business out of the way, I do have some things for you," Giselle said. She pulled her bag into her lap and withdrew a folded piece of paper. "Gia said to give you this. Insisted, in fact."

Well, that was just too cute! I unfolded it, and there were two stick figures drawn holding hands. One had brown curls, the other straight red hair, and even though they were roughly the same size, I had a feeling it was supposed to be me and Gia. And "Thank you Caremn!" was scrawled across the top. And the misspelling only made it more adorable.

"Um, I love this, and it's going up on my wall," I assured, looking up with slightly damp eyes. "Tell Gia thank you for me, please!"

Giselle looked very pleased. "I will, absolutely! But I have something else for you, something from us big people to say thank you."

I tried to refuse the box she pulled out next, but redheads are feisty! All three of them insisted, so I took the box (with Gladstone written in classy letters on top) and opened it. "Oh, my- This is gorgeous! Thank you!" I squealed, unable to take my eyes off the beautiful black and gray leather bag inside.

"I almost gave you a pair of heels, but Gammy thought a bag would be more practical," Giselle said. I could hear a note of satisfaction in her words, even if I hadn't looked up from the bag to look at her, yet. Or any of them. It was just too pretty!

"I thought a bag would be useful," Gladys added. "And there's a padded pocket in there for a computer, another for a tablet, and plenty of space for files, too. Not to mention keys and lip gloss and whatever else you might need."

"This is beautiful, thank you!" I gushed. "It's the perfect professional bag, with just a touch of femininity. The bow is perfect!"

Gladys beamed. "I always want things to be both beautiful and functional. I'm glad it hit the mark for you."

"And you can use it as either a briefcase or a backpack, whichever you prefer," Gloria pointed out. "It's part of Mom's spring collection.

"I love it! I can't wait to use it!" I also sort of wanted to panic at the thought of the price tag that it probably normally had, but managed to keep that to myself. Just barely.

…

I spent the rest of the week with Albert Norris, the retiring attorney for Gladstone. We went over everything together, and he assured me that he would still be available for a while after he retired, should I have any questions. And I knew I would have questions; I just didn't know what all they were just yet.

Needless to say, I was very grateful for the weekend, for a chance to turn my brain off for a couple of days, lounge around the house without having to look professional. As evidenced by the fact that I changed into pajamas as soon as I got home Friday night. "Car, it's about time!" May hollered as I beelined to my bedroom. "I waited to watch with you, and you get home an hour late!"

"I know, I'm so sorry, traffic was awful!" I apologized through the closed door. "But does the fact that I ordered Chinese and it will be here in ten make up for it?"

I opened my bedroom door to see her considering face. "Did you get any shrimp?"

"Who do you take me for, Michael? Of course I got shrimp!"

She nodded once, very decisively. "Then you are forgiven."

We were halfway through the first episode of the current season of The Bachelor when Harry emerged from his room. "Hey Car, do you have anything going on tomorrow?"

I eyed him for a moment. It was a bit unlike him to want to hang out with me, at least without me planning the occasion and paying for it, like a typical teenager. "Why?" I asked, drawing the one word out a bit.

He rolled his eyes at me. "I wanna go to the beach with Chris and Denny, and I figured you could hang out with Buck and Eddy, since you're a boring old person with no friends."

"Wow, I'm feeling the love."

"He's not wrong," May muttered into her wine glass.

I gasped dramatically, even going so far as to clutch my imaginary pearls. "I got you dinner, I shared my wine, I was even going to do your nails tonight, and this is how you treat me?"

"Maybe Buck and Eddie don't want to hang out with you," Harry muttered this time.

I gasped again, making both of them laugh. "Betrayal, all around!" But my phone buzzing in my hand distracted me from my traitorous siblings.

Buck: Eds and I re taking the boys to the beach tomorrow for the day. Wanna come?

Eddie: But Harry can still come even if you don't want to, we can pick him up no problem.

Buck: Oh, yeah, no sweat!

Buck: But I know you have no friends in LA anymore and you have a normal job with Saturdays off, sooo…

Me: I was high on painkillers, Buckley, that should have been sacred!

Me: But sure, I'll hang out with you boys. What can we bring?

I looked up to Harry. "I was just invited, so yeah, I'll drive you. Are you wanting to take your board?" He nodded, and I continued, "We'll have to see if I can take Mom's car then."

"Why?" he asked, eyebrows furrowed. When did they get so thick? And was that actual scruff on his cheeks?

"Babe, I don't have a luggage rack on my car, and we would end up scratching both your board and my car, which would not end pretty for either of us."

"Good point. Buck said something about meeting around ten?"

Buck: We were thinking ten at Santa Monica.

I grinned up at Harry. "Yes, he did. Okay, we'll leave around nine and get breakfast on the way?"

"Best hermit big sister ever," he replied, then ran to his room before I could move enough to smack him with a pillow.

Eddie: There are usually food trucks around so you don't even need to bring anything.

Buck: Unless you want snacks

Buck: Then bring snacks

Buck: Snacks are always good

Me: I'm guessing you want us to bring snacks, Buck?

Eddie: You can't see it, but he's pouting at his phone right now

Buck: I hate you both

Eddie: You could never

Me: You love us! See you tomorrow!

…

Per his reputation as a typical teenager, Harry didn't get out of bed until nine, not that I was that much better. But since we were just spending the day at the beach, there wasn't much we needed to do to get ready, so we were out the door within twenty minutes or so. We packed the beach chairs, towels, and a cooler for our water, then wrestled Harry's surfboard onto the top of Mom's car, which took nearly ten minutes on its own. I'm not very strong, okay? A quick stop for gas, snacks, and breakfast later, and we were on our way. A good forty minutes after I had wanted to leave, and knowing LA traffic, it would take us at least that long to get to the beach, especially on a Saturday morning.

"Text Buck or Eddie to let them know we're running late," I told Harry.

He just rolled his eyes and continued eating his second breakfast burrito. "You're such an adult," he groaned, mouth still full.

"Yes, I am. Now, please text one of the other adults we're meeting and let them know we're late."

He grumbled, but did text one of them. Or Chris, as I found out when he said, "Chris said they're saving us room, so we're good."

At least the adults seem to know, I reminded myself.

Thankfully, traffic wasn't as bad as I feared, so it was just after ten-thirty when we pulled into the parking lot. Harry and I heaved the surfboard down, then he grabbed both chairs and his board, while I snagged the cooler and bags of snacks and towels. "Do not forget to put sunscreen on," I warned him. "And to wait for at least fifteen minutes before you get into the water."

"Okay, Mom," he groaned. "When did you get so… adulty?"

The way he said adulty made me think he had something else he'd been thinking. Like boring, for example. "Hey, who's the one who just paid for your breakfast and snacks?" I reminded. "And you're not getting skin cancer on my watch. Mom would kill me otherwise."

We did have to stop and actually call Buck to find them, but we joined them eventually. Both Buck and Eddie stood up to help us get everything arranged, putting their ridiculous physiques on display for all the world to see. And enjoy. And listen, I know they're firefighters, and they have to be in good shape, but I'd seen other firefighters who weren't that ripped. But I could definitely enjoy the view. Well, mostly Eddie, since ogling Buck felt vaguely incestuous. And Eddie made swim trunks and sunglasses look good.

They had a full set up going with a canopy and everything. I could even see the little wagon they had to pull everything in. "When you guys do a beach day, you go all out," I said, partly teasing, partly admiring. Okay, probably mostly teasing.

Eddie laughed. "The wagon and canopy are all Buck."

"And yet, who's the first one to say 'We should grab the canopy and the wagon?' every time?" Buck shot back. "And besides, I got a good deal on both of them."

"He takes being an uncle very seriously," Chris said with a huge grin on his face.

"Didn't he have the wagon before Jee was ever born?" Denny threw out.

Chris just grinned more. "I was actually meaning for the three of us."

"Oh, you mean the fun adult who pretends like he's not responsible, but is actually super responsible?" Harry added with a grin of his own.

"Okay, that's enough out of all of you. Go play in the water, you little monsters," Buck said, faux-exasperatedly.

"Not until you are properly sunscreened, Harry Carter Grant!" I screeched and grabbed his arm. "You didn't do it before we left the house, so now you get to do it here."

Harry wrinkled his nose but took the bottle I handed him. Denny took the opportunity to tease him, though. "Oh, you just got full-named! You're really in trouble when she pulls out the full name!"

"Shut it, Diesel," Harry shot back, lightly shoving Denny. And promptly forgot about the job he was halfway through when he chased after him. Christopher whooped and charged after both of them, not even struggling a little bit in the sand with his crutches.

I picked up the abandoned spray can and sighed. "At least the front half of him got sunscreen."

"If he gets a really bad burn, it'll teach him to pay attention better next time," Buck offered.

I may have snorted as I started applying the sunscreen on myself. "Or he'll just get a really bad sunburn next time, too," Eddie countered, clearly on the same wavelength as me.

"Well, yeah, probably, but I was trying to make Carmen feel better about it," Buck huffed.

I just laughed. "Thanks, but I know my little brother. I'll have one of you hold him down when it's reapplying time. Would you get my back?"

Buck took the sunscreen from me. "I'm just glad Chris's never been fussy about putting sunscreen on," he said, like he was the kid's dad. It was pretty adorable.

"Yeah, he's always been good about it," Eddie agreed. "And Hen and Karen had Denny already slathered up before we picked him up. I guess big sister just isn't as scary as mom."

"Especially when your mom is Athena," Buck said.

"Yeah, I have no way of coming close to Mom," I allowed with a shrug.

Now that the boys were all playing by the water, not even surfing yet, just playing right at the water's edge, the three of us adults settled into our beach chairs. We weren't under the canopy, not just yet, since at least I was still working on my tan, but I knew I would be grateful for it in a few hours. "So, I still don't know how you two even know each other," Eddie realized. "I mean, you already knew each other when we met up at that call."

I laughed, and I could hear Buck snickering from Eddie's other side. "Oh, yeah, I've known Carmen for, what, a year now?" Buck asked me.

"Uh, yeah, I think so. I mean, you got struck by lightning in what, May? And then I had my accident in June, so almost a year, yeah."

I glanced over, and Eddie looked so confused. "I'm- What do you getting struck by lighting and you being in an accident have to do with you two knowing each other?"

Buck and I shared a grin over his head. I mean, there was a reason why I'd said it like that, and it was entirely to mess with Eddie, just a little bit. But I wasn't cruel, so I started explaining. "Well, about a week after Buck finally got to go home after his stint in the hospital, I was in a car accident. And because Mom had used so much of her leave to be with Buck and with Bobby at Buck's bedside, she couldn't fly up to be with me."

"I'm still really sorry about that," he interjected, looking like the saddest puppy ever. Just like he had every other time the topic came up.

"It's not your fault," I waved it off. Just like I had every other time it had come up. "So anyway, Mom was feeling bad that I was all by myself, and just before she was about to have her mom come stay with me, which would have resulted in a homicide, she had Buck call me and we kept each other company."

"Athena literally grabbed my phone from me, punched in your number, and shoved it back at me," Buck remembered with a laugh. "She ordered me to call her sad, injured daughter."

"Apparently, this is how you make friends as an adult: your mom shoves her work kids at you and orders you all to play nice."

"And you guys just kept talking to each other?" Eddie looked less confused, but there was still confusion.

"Hey, when you bond through pain and oxy, it brings you close," I joked back.

Buck nodded, but far more seriously than I did. "It was nice to have someone once everyone else went back to work. Or when my parents finally left, that was a bit of a nightmare. But I didn't have to worry about potentially waking Carmen up in the middle of the night after a twenty-four, since there was a good chance she was already awake, too. And hadn't gone to work, either. And it was- Having someone else go through something similar-ish at the same time was nice. And before you start, I know I can always talk to you, I know, I swear. But sometimes, you just need someone who's-"

"Going through it at the same time," Eddie finished, understandingly.

"Yeah, Buck kept me sane for the month I was stuck at home," I said quietly. "There were times that one or the other of us fell asleep while we were talking, because pain meds, and the other would still be there when we woke up. Not always awake, either, but it was just nice. And it saved me from Mom calling her mother to stay with me. Someone would have died, and I do not look good in orange."

"You don't get along with your grandma?" It was Buck's turn to look confused, all scrunchy forehead and sad mouth.

"Beatrice is not my grandmother," I replied quickly, firmly. "She may be my mom's mother, but she is not my grandmother. It's kinda hard having a good relationship when you know she considered your adoption a mistake."

Both guys looked to me, and even with their sunglasses on, I could see their wide eyes. "I'm sorry, what?" Eddie squawked.

"Yep, Beatrice told Mom that adopting me would be a mistake, that she'd never find a man who would want her if she had a kid, too. Of course, she didn't mean for me to hear it, but…"

"But she still said it," Buck finished, still horrified.

"And you can't hide how you feel that well," Eddie said. "Even if you hadn't heard her say that, you would still know by how she treated you. I mean, Chris knows that my parents love him, but he also knows that they think he's… They baby him, and he knows that. Has known that since he was a baby. So, you would have known how Athena's mom felt about you, even if she tried to hide it."

"So, you see why it would have been a bad idea for her to come 'help me'," I said, finger quotes and all. "Oh, but that reminds me! The time, the thing that made me realize that Bobby was a keeper for Mom was when he stood up to Beatrice for Mom. She was doing her usual shtick of belittling Mom and making her feel like garbage, and Bobby told her she needed to apologize to Mom. She never really did, from what I heard, anyway, but at least Bobby showed he had Mom's back. And when I heard about it, from May, actually, that's when I decided I liked Bobby."

"Bobby is pretty great," Buck grinned happily at me.

"Yeah, yeah, we all know your dad is awesome," Eddie laughed, shoving his shoulder. "And we all know you're his favorite. It's obvious."

Buck shrugged, a faux-innocent look on his face. "I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about."

"Eddie's just jealous," I added with a grin of my own, "'cause Bobby likes us better."

"What a shocker, a man likes his own kids better than the neighbor kids. Such a surprise." Eddie's perfect deadpanned delivery made Buck and me burst into laughter. And Eddie's pleased little smile at our laughter was pretty adorable.

AN: Here's some fun, as well as a littl emore background for Carmen. Thanks for reading, and a big thanks to RiordanLover16 and Angel JJK for your reviews!