Page 9 of The Lawyer’s Quandary

C hapter F ive

Greg made sure he had everything ready. He had gone back and forth over what he wanted to make.

He didn’t want it to be too fancy, but he wasn’t going to make sandwiches either.

First thing in the morning, he mixed up some pasta salad, and then thought they could grill out, so he put some pork loin chops in to marinate.

He’d cook them on a low grill to make sure they stayed juicy.

He was cutting up fruit when the doorbell rang. Greg hurried out front. Mark looked amazing, and he smiled and kissed him before letting him inside. The other man—well, wow, he blinked twice at the shirt.

“This is Ashely. If you want to get sunglasses because of the shirt, feel free,” Mark said.

“Come on in,” Greg welcomed, and closed the door. “We can go on through to the sun room. I have beer and can make cocktails. I also have Coke and stuff like that.”

“Soda water with ice?” Ashley asked.

“Yeah. I’ll have a soda. We stayed up too late over cocktails, and I don’t want to go down that road again.”

“Great. Go on through, and I’ll be right in.” Greg got glasses from the kitchen and made up the drinks before joining the others. “It’s nice to meet one of Mark’s friends.”

“And how long ago did you meet?” Ashley asked.

“Earlier this week,” Greg said. “He came along with a potential client, and after the meeting, we had lunch, and he invited me swimming yesterday. Then we had dinner and now lunch today.”

Ashely sipped his drink. “And there hasn’t been any bones-jumping yet?”

Greg refused to get ruffled. “Not yet. Actually, I’ve decided to save myself for marriage.” He slipped in a little southern accent, and Mark chuckled. “After all, what sort of gay boy do you think I am?”

Mark snorted, and Ashley had no comeback. “I don’t think you’re going to win a shade contest with Greg.”

“Please,” Ashley said with a wave of his hand.

“You want to try me?” Greg asked with a grin.

“We could open the reading room.” He leaned forward.

“I’ll even start with an easy one. Your shirt is so loud, it’s going to make us deaf.

Or, if that shirt came to life, we’d be up to our ears in peacock poop.

” He cocked his eyebrows, but Ashley seemed stunned.

“Did you disappear or just turn sideways?” Ashley retorted.

“That’s nothing. The higher the hair, the closer to God, or did the can of Aqua Net explode?” He smiled and glanced at Mark, who was trying not to laugh.

Ashely put his hands up. “Okay. I get it. What do you do?”

“I’m a lawyer,” Greg answered, and then Mark laughed hard. “Which means I can argue anything with just about anyone and try to make it sound like I’m right, whether I actually am or not.”

“I see.” Ashley took a sip of his drink. “So what sort of case did Mark’s friend bring you?”

“I really can’t talk about it, and neither can Mark, for that matter.

” Greg wanted to make sure Ashley knew not to be giving Mark the third degree as soon as they left.

“And no, Mark just came for moral support. He isn’t in any sort of trouble.

At least not yet.” He winked at Mark, hoping it would pique Ashley’s curiosity just for a bit of fun. “What sort of work do you do?”

“I’m a supervisor over at Amazon. It’s my job to see to it that all the work gets done and the orders go out on time.

I have a number of shift supervisors who work for me, and I really like what I do, even if I complain about it.

I spent a number of years as one of the supervisors, and I was promoted last year.

I’m hoping in a few years to advance into a distribution center management position. But that will take a while.”

“That’s pretty awesome.”

“Yeah, it is. But there’s a lot of pressure as well.”

“I suppose. There always is when you’re supervising others.” Greg finished his soda, stood, and stepped just outside the sunroom to start the grill. He needed to get it heating before he put the meat on.

“Do you need any help?” Mark asked.

“Not really. I just need to finish cutting a few things, and once the grill is hot, I can cook the pork.” He returned to the kitchen to clean the strawberries.

Then he took the bowl out to the table before getting the pork and putting it on the grill.

They wouldn’t take long to cook, so he had to watch them like a hawk.

Pork was something that you didn’t want underdone, but if he let them cook too long, they would get leathery.

“Damn, that smells good,” Mark said as he came up behind him. “What did you do?”

“I prepared them with herbs and some mustard with a little good vinegar.” Greg turned the chops and checked them for doneness.

They needed a few more minutes, so he turned off the grill and closed the cover, letting the residual heat finish them.

Then he got the platter and took out the dishes and the salad, setting everything on the table.

Mark got it set while Ashley helped get the meat onto the platter, and then they all sat down.

“Everything is so good,” Ashley said. “You need to keep him. I swear, if I met a man who could cook like this, I’d settle down and be happy forever.”

Greg glanced at Mark. “I take it that would be quite an accomplishment. My mom taught me to cook, and she always said that a man who can cook is always in demand. So she made sure I learned some of her secrets, and this is one of them. She used to make these all the time.”

Mark bumped his shoulder. “They are amazing. How do you keep them so juicy?”

“Cook the outside and then turn off the grill and let the heat finish them. That keeps them from being overcooked.” Greg was so pleased that they enjoyed the lunch, especially Mark. He wanted to impress him without getting too fancy.

“What sort of cases do you take?” Ashley asked.

“Well, I’ve done quite a bit of defense work, because everyone deserves the best representation before the court.

But I don’t do public defense work. It’s not what I want to do, because I want to be able to have a say in the clients I take.

There are plenty of lawyers who do that, but I don’t.

I do take about a case a month pro bono, but I choose them because they have a cause or because they can’t afford proper representation.

For example, there was a family whose insurance company was jerking them around after they lost their house in a fire.

I took their case and got the insurance company to properly reimburse them.

There wasn’t a huge amount of money involved, and if I had taken a fee, then they wouldn’t have been able to rebuild their house for the family of five.

” He shrugged. “Good work comes back to you, because a year later, he referred a case to me that made me a great deal of money and got me before the appeals court, and I won that case.”

“That’s pretty cool.”

“Greg also takes interns and new law school graduates and helps train them for their future careers. Sort of a pay-it-forward kind of thing.”

“It’s important to give back. When I graduated law school, there was a firm that gave me my first job and a partner who took me under his wing and really showed me the ropes.

He took me with him when he argued in front of the Supreme Court.

I worked on that case and got to see the entire process.

I learned as great deal from him, and the one thing he always told me was to pay him back, but by helping others.

” Greg passed the fruit and the pasta salad around the table.

“Me too. I had a great coach when I was swimming. He saw something in me that I didn’t, and he coached me all the way to the Olympics.

I didn’t medal, but just being there was amazing.

Winning would have been great, but having the experience was mind-blowing.

And I’m hoping to be going back to the Olympics as a coach for the next games.

We’ve got players would could make the team. ”

“That would be something pretty amazing, to be at one of those events. I always wanted to go to the Olympics. My parents got tickets for the Paris games, and they said it was an amazing time.” Greg munched on a few strawberries, but he was pretty full.

The three of them finished lunch and sat talking.

Ashley was funny, and once he let go of the smart aleck routine, he seemed like a really decent guy.

Greg quickly took care of the dishes and refilled drinks before sitting back down.

It had been quite a while since he’d had an afternoon like this.

Mark took his hand, and they talked and relaxed, making each other laugh as they shared stories.

“We should get going,” Ashley said a few hours later.

As much as he hated to see the afternoon end, Greg stood and walked them to the door. Ashley said goodbye and left the house while Mark stayed behind.

“I’ll call you. Next weekend, I’ll be away for a swim camp, but hopefully we can get together after that.” He kissed him. “I really wish I didn’t have to wait so long to see you again.”

“Me too,” Greg agreed, kissing Mark hard. “I’ll be talking to you.” He stepped back and watched as Mark got into Ashley’s car. Then they drove off, and he closed the door, the taste of Mark still on his lips.

Work, work, and more work. That’s what he did for the next few days. There was a lot to do, so Greg kept himself busy. Each evening, Mark would call and they’d talk for a while, but it wasn’t the same as having him there. At least the conversation was easy, and they could talk for hours.

“I need to meet with some clients, so I’m heading out,” he told Angie a little after four on Thursday. “Close everything up, and I’ll see you tomorrow.”