Page 60 of Border Control

Ellen comes downstairs late afternoon, yawning. “Hey, Laura.”

“Hi. I can’t chat much today, sweetie.”

“I’m putting the kettle on,” she says. “I’ll make you one of your posh coffees?”

A longing for caffeine rushes through me, but it won’t be the way I like it. My coffee has to be a certain way and I don’t have time to stop. She’d have to be a mind-reader to get it right.

Like Dom.

She hesitates at the threshold. “Don’t work too hard. How long have you been at it?”

“Coupla hours.” Not long enough. My stomach cramps a couple of times, but I don’t move.

She shuffles off, and then I feel her hand on my shoulder. It makes me jump, sending a spike of icy panic straight to my heart.

‘Law-rah?’The low thrum of Dom’s voice is like an engine, ready to roar into action.

‘I’m fine,’I try saying into my head. Did he hear that? The last thing I need is someone else worried about me.

“I’m fine,” I say out loud, just in case.

My best friend places the steaming mug next to my travel mouse mat “Are you? You’re working late recently.”

“We have the inquiry this week, it’s to be expected.”

She brings up another dining chair, sitting on it backwards and resting her chin on the wooden backrest. “You’ve been working late for months, though. It’s not just this week.”

“I know, but…” Reasons flash past me, all of them good. “It’s the inquiry, Ells. I need to be at my best to get them the justice they deserve. And… and today I fucked up.”

Her eyes widen slightly. “What do you mean?”

“I…” Took an alien on a joyride, nearly got attacked, did some risque things with him, let him into my bed, and then somehow he got roped into my head.

“I slept in this morning,” I admit to her. Even that hurts a little to say.

Ellen slowly puts a hand to her mouth. “Holy shit, Law, are you serious? You slept in?” She drops her hand and the act, a glitter of mirth in her eyes.

My shoulders ratchet up another notch. “It’s so not funny. My boss chewed me up and spit me out, then ground me underneath his Gucci shoes.”

“No, okay, alright, I’m sorry. But at the same time, it’s okay to make mistakes. It’s as if you’re human.”

I grab control of my anger before it sparks. “I missed the first day, Ellen. The first day is crucial. It’s when we set out all the evidence we're going to present, and get to see the other side’s cards. What if John missed something? I wasn't there to remind him! It’s like… I don’t know, sending someone completely new in to catch a bull. A big constellation of a clusterfuck.”

Ellen frowns. “We wouldn’t send someone new to work one on one with an animal, and I doubt your firm would send a completely new barrister into a trial either. Is whoever they are capable?”

“John, yes, he’s independent of the firm and one of the best.”

“Uh-huh, so he’s not inexperienced.”

Now that I’m not in a blind panic, I lean back slightly. A last minute briefing would surely be more of a power chat, psyching him up for the opening statements. If there was anything of substance to tell him, it would be too late anyway. I did construct the arguments and prep him pretty thoroughly over the past few weeks.

‘Of course you sent your wave brother in prepared,’Dom says, a tinge of pride in his words blooming into a pale pink rose in my mind.

His comment is nice, but I can’t have him dropping in like this. “Can you pipe down?” I mutter to him.

“Ouch,” Ellen says, standing. “Okay, Law, well, I can tell you’re stressed–”

I grab her hand. “Not you, I’m sorry–”