Charming by Haig Moses (1st Draft)

Chapter Forty-Three

EVERYTHING AND NOTHING

"How are you feeling about the trial?" I asked the Professor Aude. Since I returned I found that I'd been spending a lot more time in her company than before. The woman had delayed her flight back to England, where she resided, in order to stay for the trial and be there to support us. Every step of the way I sought her counsel and she readily gave it.   

    "I don't know," she said honestly. "If it were up to the judge I would've told you the chances, especially after that outburst from Mr. Caffrey, would've been in our favor, but juries always so hard to put down. There really isn't a way to weigh which way the jury is going to decide anything. The second reason why more attorneys would rather settle if they can or have the court decide the matter."

    "What's the first?" I asked filled with humor.

    "Time," she laughed. "You age quicker during trial than anything else." I smiled and sipped the tea she had made me as my eyes gazed around her office. Unfortunately, Aude wasn't a tenured professor, despite how much Harvard wanted her to be. She had decided to only teach for this year before resuming work at her practice back in England. "You know Miss Wright, your dedication and skill during this case had been very... inspiring," she said. "I was wondering, as I have't taken anyone on as yet, if you'd consider a summer internship with me."

    I looked up at her, my mouth slightly open. "Really?"

    "Don't look so surprised," she said with an air of nonchalance. "We'd be leaving the day after tomorrow, so tell your parents if needed. Nothing for them to worry about, airfare and accommodations will all be provided."

    An internship with Aude had actually never been in my plan, but it was something worth disrupt that plan for. Anything was better than going back to Greatwood and having to be around Danielle and Walter right now. As the days waned, I found that I didn't hate them so much, but I wasn't ready to face them and thought a couple months away in a different country and then some more months away at college before having to actually see them come Christmas or preferably my graduation next was would be enough time for bleeding wounds to be licked and heal. Though, my rising excitement was suddenly eclipsed by the tearful brunette sitting in Kappa and I suddenly exhaled hating, more than anything, the words that were going to come out of my mouth. "I'm sorry, but I can't accept," I said to both of our surprised. "And it's not that I don't want to because I do. This opportunity would be amazing for me."

    "Which is why I don't understand why you're turning it down," she said before looking at me closer. "Unless this decision has something to do with a certain prince."

    "Louis?"

    Professor Aude sighed speaking more to herself than me. "Maybe you have less determination in you than I thought."

    "This has nothing to do with Louis," I quickly refuted. Louis had nothing to do with my decision. "I just think you should offer the internship to Ana. After everything that's happened—whether the verdict is positive or negative—she's going to need something to take her mind off of what's happened to her."

    Professor Aude sat back in her chair and studied me. "You know she wouldn't have done the same for you."

    I nodded and shrugged. "Ana and I might have the same passion, but we're not cut from the same cloth. Thank you again professor for the offer... besides there's always next year." Setting the tea on her desk, I stood and made my exit when I heard her voice behind me again.

    "Miss Wright," I turned back to the woman and saw and deepening exhaustion write itself across her face. "A word of advice until our next encounter. You'll find as you move through life that people aren't always like the cases we study in class. Not everyone is as clean cut and calculated as I suspect you need things to be. There are, in fact, a lot of grey areas in life and I find that if you try to force those situations into tidier shapes... well, they become more difficult to navigate than if you had just taken them as they came to you."