All is fair in Love & War

Chapter 1

The eyes of Katherine Woods were locked tightly on the phone that lay on the desk before her. Her elbows rested on the edge of the desk as her chin rested upon her interlocked fingers.

Every once in a while, her eyes darted to the clock on the other side of the room. Now Katherine had only been waiting for about 4 minutes, but they could still call her at any time...

Then, the sound of a phone ringing suddenly filled the room. Immediately her hands shot towards the phone before her, but that wasn't the one ringing...

Sighing, Katy put the phone back on the table and reached into her purse. The sigh turned into a groan as she saw her sister's name on the screen.

"Hey, Viv..." She said, pinching the bridge of her nose, "Look, I'm expecting an important phone call, so I don't have a lot of time."

"I know, I know, you're very important and very busy." Vivianne said with a giggle, on the other end, "Normally, I don't call you during office hours, you know that. But I just wanted to ask you two things, at what time does your flight come in and does Dave need to pick you up from the airport?"

Katy leaned back in her chair, "Tomorrow at 13:45, and I got a rental car, so Dave doesn't need to pick me up." She said, tapping her fingers on the edge of the table, "Did you call just to make sure that I remembered?" She added, raising one eyebrow.

"No," Viviane said, her voice going up in pitch, "I would do no such thing."

Katy sighed, "Viv... I know you think I focus too much on work, but I made a promise to you for your wedding. After I leave the office today, I'm yours for the entire week."

The other end of the line was quiet for a moment until she heard a small, "Thank you, Kat..."

Katy smiled, "I love you too."

Right as Vivianne was about to reply, however, the sound of a phone ringing was heard. It took Katherine a moment to figure out what was happening when she saw it was the phone lying on her desk. "Oh fuck..." She mumbled whilst frantically reaching for her phone.

"I gotta go; see you tomorrow." She said while she heard Vivianne laugh on the other end.

She could just barely hear her sister say, "See you tomorrow," before she ended the call and picked up the other phone.

"Good afternoon, this is Katherine Woods, divorce attorney; how can I help you?" She said in her most polished and polite voice as she stood up from her chair.

"Ms Woods? This is Crystal Lamora's assistant; I called to tell you that she decided she no longer needs your service."

Katy's face fell; she wasn't quite expecting that...

"It's nothing personal, really... A friend of mine recommended another attorney, and she just felt that that was the best way to go for her." She continued.

Katy nodded, momentarily forgetting that she couldn't see her over the phone, "I understand. She has to do what is best for her." She said, still nodding, "If I may be so bold to ask, who is representing her now?"

"Yeah, his name is William Clark."

Katy's empty hand shot out to her stress ball and gripped it tightly, "Ah, I see..." She said, trying not to sound angry, "Well, I wish her good luck with everything." She managed to grit out. 

"I'll be sure to tell her that, bye."

"Bye." Katy managed to breathe out as she hung up the phone, slamming it down onto the desk as she threw the stress ball through the room. Groaning, she let herself fall back into her chair as she just stared into space.

As she sat there a knock was heard on the office door right before it swung open, "Didn't get the client?" Phillip said as he poked his head around the corner.

"I did not..." Katy said, leaning back in her chair and letting her head fall back, "And it gets worse..."

"Clark got the client?" Phillip said, walking further into the room.

"Don't tell me there's a basket," Katy said, looking back up at Phillip.

"It arrived some time ago, but I didn't want to disturb you..." 

Katy groaned, letting her head fall back again before it snapped back up, "Wait, you're telling me that that son of bitch had the audacity to send a thank you basked before I even got the call?!" She said, getting up out of her chair and walking out of her office. 

"Something about thanking you for getting the divorce of the century..." Philip said, following her as she marched through the hallway. "Besides, it's a really nice one this time." He added.

Katy groaned yet again as they got to the reception desk, and sure enough, there it stood, a thank you basket. It was a small basket packed in cellophane with a large red bow around it with a note attached. Katy snatched the note and read it out loud.

"To Katerine,

I just wanted to say thank you for handing me the celebrity divorce of the century. I'll be sure to take good care of her.

Love, William."

Katy sighed as she read the note one more time.

"I mean, it's a nice gift basket." Philip said, "That's a great wine." He said awkwardly pointing at it. 

"I'm sure it is..." Katy replied, "I just would have liked to have her as a client." She mumbled, putting the note back, "Crystal Lamora is one of my favourite actresses of all time, and I was dying to meet her..."

"I know..." Philipp said, placing a hand on her shoulder, "Perhaps one day you will. Now you should go and get ready for your last appointment of the day and then get ready for the wedding."

"Yeah..." Katy said, sighing, "I probably should." She added as she started walking towards her office. After three steps, however, she turned back around and walked back to grab the basket. Phillip raised one eyebrow as he crossed his arms.

"I mean, he may be an asshole; you were right about this being a really nice basket."