I Was Told It Would Get Easier(38)

David looked at me for a moment, then said, “So, Emily, do you want to be a lawyer like your mom?”

“Absolutely not,” my daughter replied firmly. “She works too much. And I’ve heard her on the phone, it sounds stressful.” She took a sip of her Sprite. “Are you a lawyer, too?”

“I was,” he replied. He’d been a very successful lawyer; I’d read about it in the alumni newsletter. It hadn’t mentioned the divorce, or the continued incredible hotness. Alumni newsletters aren’t really exhaustive, to be fair.

“You quit?” I asked.

He nodded. “After my divorce I kind of stepped back a bit, do you know what I mean?”

I didn’t, yet, but said, “Sure,” to be supportive.

“I realized I’d been busting my hump for twenty years to get somewhere I no longer wanted to go.” His eyes were serious, and I wanted to nod thoughtfully but kept remembering things we’d done in bed. I reached for my wine.

Emily spoke. “Where did you want to go?”

He shrugged. “I wasn’t sure. So I quit the job and spent a year in the Peace Corps.”

“You are joking,” I said, stunned. This guy had been good in bed, sure, but he had also been insanely good at law, graduating at the top of the class despite that early C, clerking for a top-tier federal circuit judge, golden ticket all the way.

David laughed. “Nope, not joking. It was great, you should try it. It really cleared my head.”

I shook my head. “Not until she’s safely through college,” I said. “Then I can cut loose.”

Emily frowned at me. “You could do it now. I wouldn’t care.”

I laughed. “You would when you couldn’t afford college.” Let’s pretend I didn’t just put that at risk.

She started to say something else, but David spoke again. “Emily, you should consider traveling before college, if you can. It’s very . . . clarifying.”

“I’d love that,” she said, “but I don’t even know where I would go. What do you do now, then, if you’re not a lawyer?”

“I run a nonprofit. We connect really great lawyers with people in trouble. The clients get the best lawyers in the city, and the lawyers get to feel less guilty about their success.” He laughed. “It’s really fun to see a Harvard Law School graduate walking into court for a battered wife who’s trying to protect her kids.” He shrugged. “As I’m sure your mom has told you, the law was written by and designed for the benefit of rich white men. I’m trying to balance it up.”

“She never talks about her work,” said Emily.

I gazed at her. “I talk about it all the time.”

“You do?” She shrugged. “I guess I’m not listening.”

There was an awkward pause, and David changed the subject. “Did you know Amanda and Robert got married?”

I nodded. This was conversation I could handle. “Yeah, we’re seeing them in New York. We stayed in touch.”

“Really in touch, or Facebook in touch?”

“Really. Amanda is Emily’s godmother, actually.”

The waiter brought David’s drink, and he took a healthy swig of scotch. I sipped my wine and checked my watch. Half an hour until we could politely escape.

“So,” said Emily, putting her elbows on the table. “Do you have kids? What did they think about you disappearing for a year?”

David matched her posture and smiled. “Yes, and I’m not sure they even noticed. My kids are slightly younger than you, but not much. Thirteen and eleven.” More scotch. “I don’t have to think about college yet, thank goodness. The older one wants to be a professional video game player, which is apparently a thing now, and the younger one wants to be a vet, like most young kids at some point.”

“I never wanted to be a vet,” replied Emily. “We had a dog when I was little, but I never really got the animal bug.”

“Really?” David looked surprised and turned to me. “I thought you were such a dog lover? Remember Peanut?”

“Who’s Peanut?” asked Emily.

“A dog your mom had in college. She found him behind the lab building, eating trash, and adopted him.” He paused. “The dog was eating trash, not your mom.”

Emily turned to me. “You like dogs?”

I nodded. “I love them. I didn’t have Peanut for very long, though. He went to stay with your grandparents because you weren’t allowed dogs in the dorms, and by the time I was off campus, your grandma refused to give him back.”

“Why didn’t I know that?”

I shrugged. “You’re allergic to animal dander, remember?”

“Bummer,” said David. “And you never married?” He looked pointedly at me. “How is that possible? A gorgeous woman like you shouldn’t be single.” He narrowed his eyes in what he clearly thought was a sexy manner. “Maybe you like a lot of variety in the bedroom. You were always pretty . . . open minded.”

I couldn’t look at Emily, and simply smiled at the table, trying to pretend he hadn’t said that. Hello, idiot, my teenage daughter is right there. “I’m too busy. Too busy having a small child, then too busy working. I’ve dated from time to time, but nothing serious.” I wasn’t even going to go near the bedroom comment; I was going to pretend it was never said at all.