5. HENRY

Two daiquiris was my limit. Not a personal limit, but a work night limit. After the first one, I’d sent Daddy Kringle an email with an offer to go on a date. It wasn’t unusual to ask each other out, but every time either of us asked, we were both too busy, and neither of us gave up our exact locations, except this time we were both in the city. This city.

Fallon found the entire thing hilarious considering we’d never met before, and neither of us knew what each other looked like. I didn’t mind what a person looked like,, I fell for the way a person made me feel. Daddy Kringle made me feel warm and tingly inside, he was also a certified Daddy—not the type with actual kids. I’d made sure to clarify that when we first started talking.

My new work friends were nice, they had a lot of questions about my family, and why I was changing specialties. It wasn’t like entertainment law was new to me. I subscribed to the journals, and I’d been in the loop all while working at the family firm. The only difference now was no longer feeling the pressure to take over the firm when my father retired.

I barely slept that night, not for lack of trying, but the post-alcohol nerves were getting the better of me. I was overthinking every interaction and thought I had yesterday. I didn’t want to make a fool out of myself in a professional setting, and I was well-known for acting a fool after having a drink. I was just glad none of them had seen me in Mexico this summer, otherwise they would have a completely different idea of me.

There was a lot of excited energy bumbling through me for the following day of work. I took a little cactus plant in my briefcase as a small desk ornament. Sophia and Derek had made me feel very welcome at the firm, and had filled me in on a lot of office gossip, especially about how some of the clients would act when they were in the room with them. No names were mentioned but they told me I’d learn soon enough.

I arrived early after taking another cab, which I promised myself wouldn’t become a habit as it was a little expensive to pay for a cab every single morning. But I was still hoping to make a good first impression with everyone I hadn’t yet met. I was at my desk before almost everyone, except for Elliot Rivera, he’d come out for a drink and then left without so much as a goodbye . He was on a Bluetooth speaker, tossing a baseball between hands in his office with the door wide open. He closed it as soon as we locked it.

“He hates new people,” a soft voice spoke from behind me.A woman I’d met last night was removing her coat. “But you’re early, I didn’t expect you in this early.”

“Maggie, right?”

“Good memory,” she chuckled. “I’m sure they don’t have you in this early.”

“I just wanted to get a head start,” I said. “And decorate a little.”

We walked to the deserted early morning break room kitchen as I explained my need to show how much I wanted the job, and how I wasn’t relying on my family name. Her blank expression told me I probably shouldn’t have been so hard on myself about it, I was just in my head about the whole thing.

As I helped myself to a peppermint mocha, I heard Grant’s voice. “Don’t drink all of those,” he laughed.

“Oh no, I wasn’t going to,” I said. “There’s another—”

“I’m kidding, I told you yesterday, you could help yourself to them,” he said.

“Mr. Bastian,” Maggie said. “How was Paris?”

“Paris?” I asked. “You’ve been to Paris?”

Grant smiled, his tongue poking between his teeth. “I was there for a little while.”

Cogs whirred and turned, looking into his eyes and then to the Christmas mug in his hand. “You eat a lot of baguettes?” I asked, although the words felt garbled in my mouth. “I heard they do nice jams as well.”

Maggie smacked her lips. “A dream. I asked my fiancé if we could go to Paris when we get married. Although I’m not sure if he thought I was being series.”

“I’ll have to bring some jam in,” Grant said. “I didn’t bring much back, so you’ll have to be quick if you want some of it.”

“I’m usually first in,” Maggie chuckled. “Assuming the offer is open to paralegals.”

“Absolutely, you’re the backbone of the firm,” he said. “We’re just here to give fancy speeches and convince people to hire us.”

She laughed. “Hardly. I’m happy with my position. I don’t think I could do what you guys do. I don’t have the nerve for it.”

Grant had a secret, and I knew exactly what it was. There wasn’t any other explanation for all the information. He was Daddy Kringle , and he must by now know who I was. I’d hardly been able to keep a secret identity from someone who I’d been gossiping to for a year about my life. If he was a lawyer worth anything, he’d have put the very easy puzzle together.

Maggie made a cappuccino and then left the two of us together.

“I know who you are,” I whispered.

He smiled. “You do?”

I nodded. “Yeah, you’re—” And before I could call him Daddy Kringle, a loud gray-haired lawyer came up before him, giving his back a large pat.

“Grant, it’s been forever, when did you get back?” he asked.

“I was in yesterday,” he said, turning to him. “Have you met Henry, our newest associate?”

“The Beck kid,” he said “I was in LA, just got back last night.”

I stared at the two of them, unable to form words. I had just been about to blurt out life-altering information, and now I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to pluck the courage and do it again. To make matters worse, I was working closely with Grant. Perhaps it was for the best that I didn’t say anything, I shouldn’t be complicating things with a partner. That could’ve ended horribly.

In my office, I settled into the office chair and swiveled it all the way around until I was staring out the window with my peppermint mocha warming my hands. My mind still whirring with the realization I’d come to about Grant. It was entirely possibly he was the man I’d been speaking to for a year. Scolding the tip of my tongue every time I went to drink, I needed to know if he knew I was the one he’d been speaking to as well. He had to have known, I’d been so obvious.

A clink came at the glass door. My stomach sank, but quickly relieved with Sophia’s voice. “You know you don’t get brownie points for getting into work early,” she said. “I should know, I tried it when I first started out as well.”

I turned carefully in the chair, trying to make sure I didn’t spill anything. “I’m still yet to get the subway here, so I haven’t properly factored in the time it will take,” I said.

“Where do you live?” she asked, stepping inside my office. “Probably still at home, right?”

“I live in the West Village,” I told her, “with my best friend.”

“Oh god, yeah, you mentioned that last night. I figured you were still at home because of the whole family thing.”

I shrugged. “I moved out the first moment I could.” I looked at my wristwatch. She was still early too.

“I know,” she said, as if reading my mind. “I’m always early. Never as early as Elliot, but early enough to see most people coming in. It gives the illusion of being here early, and potential face time with the partners when they get in.”

“What do you know about Grant?” I blurted.

“Grant is great,” she said. “He plays his obsession with Christmas off, but if you get him into a conversation, he’ll go on for hours. His main client is FlixMas, the Christmas channel, or formerly, I think they just use holiday programming now.” She offered with a gesture as if presenting the phrase as a banner. “Why?”

“Oh, he’s overseeing the Aurora Records contract,” I said.

“Oh, yeah, Lila would’ve demanded a partner on it,” she said with a shrug. “Don’t let it intimidate you though. They’re mostly there for the billables, but you’ll be doing most of the actual grunt work on the case.”

It wasn’t exactly the type of information I was looking for, except for confirming that my secret email exchange had been with him. “Yeah, I’ve spoke to him a couple times now,” I said. “He let me have one of his specialty coffees.”

She snickered. “Gosh, those things have been in the cupboard for a long ass time. Don’t let Elliot know if he takes a shine to you, you know, he’s obsessed with trying to get promoted on bigger projects like the contracts in foreign countries.”

“Oh, why?”

Sophia had seemed to only stop for a second, but soon sat across from me at the desk. “He’s overseeing the satellite branch of the company with a base in Paris, and some reach in Asia. It involves a lot of travel, paid for by the firm, but international law is not something I ever enjoyed.”

I knew about him spending time in Paris for work, both from his comments earlier and in the emails. The mention of Japan and South Korea, briefly, I assumed he was vacationing there, but now I wanted to go back through the emails with an eagle eye to figure out this once and for all.

“Please tell me it’s not your area,” she said. “The last thing you want is to make an enemy out of Elliot.”

“Oh, no, I never enjoyed international law, so many moving parts, and so many countries.”

“Perfect,” she said, popping her p ’s. “If you need me for anything, you know where I am. Just down the hall.”

The coffee continued to scald the tip of my tongue as I sipped my drink. It was like an electric shock to the nervous system. I enjoyed it a little.

One thing for certain, I couldn’t be alone in the same room as Grant now. I knew who he really was. I grabbed my briefcase and pulled out my cactus. It made a nice decoration beside my computer monitor. It was a spur of the moment decision, and now, I was almost wishing to have brought a snow globe. I had several of those laying around, but the complimented the Christmas decor of the apartment.

As the knot of nerves crept up on me, I tried to relax them with the peppermint mocha. I had made notes on the case yesterday, and had an argument of the contract breach, but my brain wasn’t focusing. And then Grant arrived at the door, a smile on his face.

“Everything ok?” I asked.

“Just checking in,” he said.

From the looks of people in the pit looking over, I knew that wasn’t normal behavior. “I’ve got an idea of what I want to bring up about this contract. Will I get to meet Lila?”

He smiled and nodded. “Great. Well, if you want to speak to me about anything, you know exactly where I am. Anything at all.” He spoke the last part slowly. He had to have known, he was making it very obvious now.

Once Grant left, I had Sophia back at my office wanting to know if everything was ok, and reassuring me that any help I needed, she knew who to ask. In adult mode, I didn’t like the hand holding approach to life, Henry in little space would’ve absolutely loved all the reassurance though.

The minute I got time for lunch, I called Fallon to fill him in on everything I’d figured out. We went to a coffee house between where we worked. He didn’t quite believe in the coincidence of it all, and even suggested I give it a rethink because we both knew we could get in our heads with crushes. And I’d be lying if I hadn’t said there was a small crush forming on Grant. He was a man in a position of power with some facial hair, and he looked like he could give the biggest and best bear hugs.

“This is like that time you were convinced that divorcee guy was hitting on you when he slipped you his number,” he said, fishing his finger into his hot chocolate for a marshmallow.

“And he was hitting on me, if you remember, after that, we saw him again when we went to the Playhouse Club,” I reminded him. “And we hooked up in one of the rooms.”

“Oh. Yeah, you did that,” he snickered. “So, tell me why you think this secret man and your boss are the same person?”

I’d already presented the information to him, but I would happily go through it again. It would help me to go through it, time and time again just to make sure I wasn’t reading any of the evidence with the want for them to be the same person.

“But you’ve never seen him, right?” he asked. “I mean, the man you’ve been emailing.”

Fallon knew so little about the man I’d been bonding with, I rarely spoke about him because he was a small slice of heaven I was keeping for myself. “No, but they both love Christmas movies.”

“Everyone loves Christmas movies,” he said.

I scoffed so loud that people from several tables over turned to us. “That’s just not true. Some people hate them.”

“People who say they hate them are the ones who are secretly in love with them, they love them more than the people who say they love them.”

Too much mental math for me to do, and I’d been doing a lot of that already this morning figuring out schedules of when Grant was away and the information he’d sprinkled into emails.

“If you’re so sure they’re the same person, you need to mention something from an email and see how he reacts,” Fallon suggested. It wasn’t a bad idea at all.

“Well, he’d already mentioned Paris in person, and jam, it’s a whole thing.”

It had me on my toes more so because I’d told the man in those emails more about myself than I’d ever told anyone else before. Not like I was incriminating myself with information, but it was strange to know that someone out there knew all about my secrets, and now, they potentially knew me as well.

“What’s the worst that could happen?” he asked.

“I get fired.”

“Why?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know, but that would be the worst thing that could happen.”

“So, now you’re telling me that you’re not even thinking normally,” he said. “Come on, Henry. You’re one of the smartest people I know. And if you think that there’s a single chance you could get fired over this, you would’ve stopped entertaining the idea. So, what is the real worst thing that could happen?”

I hated it when Fallon was right, and ever since he’d gotten himself a Daddy boyfriend, he’d had much more of a level head than he usually did. There was definitely less chaos floating around the apartment now, that’s for sure. “The worst thing,” I mused. “He isn’t the man I’ve been emailing.”

“And that doesn’t seem so bad,” he said. “So, what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to go back to work, smile, and I’m going to see if my new boss, or at least boss-adjacent is the man I’ve been talking to without outright asking.” I still didn’t know how I was going to do that, but I would find a way, from Fallon’s mouth, I was one of the smartest people he knew.