OFG Ch 475-479 (Patreon)

Part 5/5 of OFG week. Notes one what's next below. Releasing the Epub/PDF later tonight. Note: Patreon is causing these extra spacing issues and I'm on a time-pressure issue at the moment and can't manually edit them out until later.

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Chapter 475

“Alright, folks. Let’s get this show on the road,” Judge Mathews said, then tapped his gavel, calling the court to order. “Mr Jackson, please call your next witness.”

Your evening with Gemma and Sabrina really hadn’t been that long. Fun, as always, but you hadn’t been able to collapse into bed together. Gemma didn’t have another work outfit at your place that she or Sabrina deemed worthy of Mock Court, and Sabrina’s place was closer where she did have an outfit, so they left together rather than Gemma going halfway across the city by herself after midnight.

You’d been surprised when the girls showed back up at your door a little before eight with breakfast in tow not just for you but for Mosche as well. You’d touched base with him the night before after saying goodbye to the girls - he’d spent the afternoon with Iris, and then the evening at the smaller comedy club open mic where he tested out new jokes. He hadn’t been awake in the morning - not surprising considering you were pretty sure he’d gone back to his room to play video games with Iris - but Sabrina had written him a note with his breakfast sandwich and homefries and left them on the kitchen table for him.

You’d arrived with plenty of time to spare at the Old Courthouse venue, just a couple of the Associates from the firm there before you, and they both smirked at you when you asked how they thought the case was going so far. Garrison had clearly spread the word not to offer any advice. The opposition had come trickling in, first Samantha, then Tucker and Thomas together. Eric had arrived after that, grinning as he handed off his new Motion to Dismiss for the three of you to read, and then Amanda and Maeve had come in together. That was a bit of a distraction, wondering if they’d spent the night together.

The Senior Partners of the firms who were interested, and not busy with cases, showed up right before the start time along with Judge Mathews, and after about fifteen minutes of socialising between the lawyers and the Judge that pushed everything back a bit, he’d mounted the stage.

“May it please the court, Plaintiff calls Doctor Vivian Brookes to the stand,” Tucker said.

You frowned, raising your eyebrows a little. This was another big swing to open the day, and you had to wonder if it was their plan all along or if they had decided to try and switch tactics.

Barbara, one of the senior associates from the Firm whom you’d spoken with a couple of times - and a former mentee of Garrison back from the previous time he’d been in charge of the Interns who spoke highly of him - stood up from the gallery and made her way to the front after pulling out a stethoscope from her purse and looping it over her shoulders. The prop was a little silly, but it still made everyone in the room chuckle slightly. Properly adorned, she strutted her way up to the stage and the witness stand with her script notes in hand and was ‘sworn in’ by the judge.

“Your Honour, may I approach the witness?” Tucker asked.

Judge Mathews nodded, and Tucker thanked him properly before coming to stand closer to ‘the Doctor’ and flashing her his winning smile. “Thank you for being here this morning, Doctor Brookes,” he said. “I don’t think your testimony should take too long at all, as it seems fairly cut and dry. During the multi-vehicle accident on the date in question, were you on the road that day?”

“I was,” ‘the Doctor’ answered. “I was one vehicle ahead of the accident.”

“What was the weather like that day?”

“Slightly overcast, but no precipitation,” she answered. “A little warm, if I’m remembering correctly.”

“Prior to the accident, were you paying attention to the other vehicles and drivers around you?” Tucker asked.

“I was,” she answered. “I’m not much of a ‘look at the scenery’ kind of person, so I’m always attentive to the other vehicles on the road.”

“Any other reasons you might be extra attentive?” Tucker asked, which confused you a little.

“I was in a nasty accident as a child,” ‘the Doctor’ said. “I may still have some mild anxiety over that.”

You frowned, raising an eyebrow as you glanced at Gemma next to you, and then opened the Dr Brookes file. You hadn’t seen anything about that in the depositions or biography. Tucker continued asking questions as you quickly scanned the documents.

There was nothing about an accident. You double-checked that you weren’t missing a page or anything, but nothing there either. That meant that Tucker and the Plaintiffs had different information than you. It hadn’t come up yet, but…

You looked up in alarm glancing at Sabrina, and then up at Tucker, Barbara on the witness stand, and Judge Mathews.

Judge Mathews wasn’t looking at the witness, or the lawyer. He was looking at you and smirking. Just a little.

They got different Bios than we did, you quickly wrote out on the notepad the four of you used to communicate during court.

What!? Gemma wrote back.

The depositions have to be the same, but the Bios are what we would have found on research, you wrote. They might have some information we don’t.

Sabrina looked at it and grimaced just slightly, mostly with her eyes, before reaching over. Then we have info they don’t, too.

You looked at her and felt just a little of the panic in your chest subside, and nodded. That was true. They might have little gems that would help them, or hinder you, but you would have to have the same. Probably.

Tucker, meanwhile, had been laying the foundation work building up to his big question for the Doctor. “Just prior to the accident occurring, Doctor, did you observe any erratic driving from any of the vehicles behind you?” 

“I did not,” ‘the Doctor’ answered firmly.

“Did you see what did cause the accident?” Tucker asked.

“No,” she said. “One moment the traffic seemed to be moving fine, and the next there were crashes and honking behind us.”

Us.

She hadn’t said that before.

Chapter 476

“That is all the questions I have at this time,” Tucker finished off his questioning. “Please answer any questions the defence may have for you.”

It was your turn. Tucker headed back to his table, and you were the member of the team with Dr Brookes on your rebuttal list. And now you had a decision to make - try and counter her now, to her face, or wait until you could call her ex Garret Smith.

The more dramatic, splashy thing to do would be to call Mr Smith while you were mounting your defence and poke holes in Dr Brookes’ story - and that probably would have been the right option for a Jury Trial where you really did want to put on a show for the Jury, and also use the fact that you presented after the Plaintiffs to leave the most recent impression about a witness or event. To be fair, that could be risky because whoever set the initial record could bias the Jury to a later rebuttal from another witness, but in this case, it didn’t feel like Dr Brookes would need defending if you just took the deposition, and her answers now, as gospel.

And who questioned the word of a Doctor, especially when there didn’t seem to be anything in it for them. Lying during sworn testimony, when she had nothing personal on the line, was a stupid risk to take.

You stood, clearing your throat as you stepped around Sabrina’s chair. “May it please the Court,” you said, performing the proper ritual before addressing the room. You stepped up to the small podium and set your notepad on it with your previous notes on how to handle Dr Brookes laid out in bullet points. Tucker, and Eric, both used a more ‘Hey, I’m your buddy’ kind of style, asking to approach the witness, speaking a little more casually. It worked for some things and not for others.

In this case, you didn’t think that your questions were going to ingratiate you to ‘Dr Brookes’ and based on the fact that Barbara had donned a prop for her role as the doctor, she was doing more acting than most of the other witnesses called so far.

“Dr Brookes,” you said. “Thank you for coming in today, I just have a few questions for you. On the day in question, were you driving the vehicle that you were in at the time of the accident?”

Barbara, as Dr Brookes, scowled slightly. “No, I wasn’t,” she said.

You could hear a heavy, pregnant beat before papers started shuffling behind you at the Plaintiff's table.

“Earlier, in response to opposing counsel’s question about whether you observed erratic driving in the other vehicles prior to the accident, you answered, ‘One moment the traffic seemed to be moving fine, and the next there were crashes and honking behind us,’” you said, reading your quick annotation. “Who else was driving the vehicle you were in?”

‘The Doctor’ scowled a little more. “Garret Smith,” she said.

You were walking a thin line, trying to make it seem like you had legitimately stumbled across this information based on her testimony and hadn’t had it prepared ahead of time. You had only just realised that the information packages had been different for the Plaintiff and the Defense teams, and if you could keep the opposition from figuring that out for longer then that just served you even more.

“Garret Smith,” you said, pausing to make it look like you were connecting some dots. “What was the nature of your relationship with Mr Smith?”

“We were married at the time,” ‘the Doctor’ grunted. “And are divorced now.”

“I see,” you said. “Following the accident occurring, you said that you pulled over to the side of the highway and called for emergency services. What did Mr Smith do?”

“He got out of the car and went to check on the other drivers,” ‘Dr Brookes’ said. Barbara was doing a good job of looking agitated, and her pauses before answering came across as measured and calculated as she tried to figure out how to say as little as possible. You knew what her character script probably said, though. Something along the lines of ‘Spiteful against ex-husband.’

“Is Mr Smith a trained medical professional?” you asked.

“No,” she grunted.

“But you are a medical Doctor, correct?”

“I’m an OB/GYN,” she said. “Fully licensed to practise in the State.”

“Was there a reason that your husband, at the time, went to check on the victims of the accident while you remained in your vehicle on the phone with emergency services?” you asked.

“I don’t know,” she said noncommittally.

“Did he say anything to you before leaving the car?”

“I don’t know,” she said again.

“Objection, Your Honour,” Thomas said behind you. “Asked and Answered, he’s badgering the witness.”

“The witness is being non-responsive, Your Honour,” you said.

“Objection overruled,” Judge Mathews said, then looked right at ‘the Doctor.’ “Please answer the questions presented to you, Dr Brookes. And I remind you that you are under oath.”

“Thank you, Your Honour,” you said, though you didn’t hear Thomas say it behind you.

“Did Mr Smith say anything to you, Dr Brookes, before he got out of the car or immediately after?” you asked.

Barbara did a good impression of a piece of metal getting heated up by a fire, starting to flush red. You wondered if she’d been into drama club or something prior to becoming a lawyer. “He asked me why I wasn’t coming to help,” she said.

“Did you offer him a reply?” you asked.

“I told him it wasn’t our business,” she said.

“So you did not provide any medical or first aid assistance at the scene of the accident, Doctor Brookes?” you asked, emphasising ‘Doctor’ just a little.

“No,” she grunted.

“Did Mr Smith provide first aid to victims prior to emergency services arriving?”

“... Yes,” she answered.

You nodded. “In the moments before the accident occurred, were you and Mr Smith having a heated, even argumentative, exchange of a personal nature?”

‘The Doctor’ grit her teeth and then sharply nodded. “We were arguing,” she said.

“Would you say you were paying more attention to Mr Smith or the vehicles around you during said argument?” you asked.

The Doctor sneered, and you were almost shocked by the vitriol Barbara managed to put into it. “Mr Smith,” she admitted.

“Thank you,” you said. “That is all the questions I have for you at this time.”

Chapter 477

It felt like a big win, taking apart the Dr Brookes’ testimony, but the reality of the situation for the Trial was that it would only count as one point on a Mock Trial scorecard, and if it were a real trial all you’d accomplished was to negate her testimony that there wasn’t any erratic driving. The psychological impact was a little larger though - if it were a Jury trial, you would have made the opposition look silly presenting her as a witness, though that would be a diminished effect for a Judge. The real psychological gold was in frustrating, consternating and otherwise aggravating the opposing counsel.

When you returned to your table, Tucker looked… Well, he looked like he’d seen a ghost. He was a little pale, and his eyebrows were raised while her mouth was doing a sort of pained smile expression. Samantha was furiously flipping through notes, not even glancing up. Thomas was downright scowling and looked like he wanted to curse you out.

They were on tilt. Now you had to figure out a way to keep them that way for the rest of the day.

Amanda, on the other hand, made eye contact with you and gave you a slight nod in a ‘nicely done’ sort of way. Maeve seemed like she wasn’t paying attention at all and was idly scrolling on her phone.

Thomas ended up calling their next witness, yet another of the drivers that had been involved in the accident, and went on a tear of strange questions that had Sabrina standing up constantly to voice new objections. Judge Mathews ended up scolding Thomas and suggested the ‘young man’ should remind himself of the rules of witness examination. All they ended up getting for their trouble was a confused witness on the stand while leaving you an opening.

After the proper pleasantries, you got straight to the point. “Mr Redikoff, on the day of the incident, you were one lane over and approximately one car removed from the Plaintiff’s vehicle, correct?”

“That’s correct,” answered the Senior Associate who was playing the driver. You were pretty sure his actual name started with a W, but you only knew him by his daily coffee order of Tall Black, Oat Milk.

“Did you happen to take particular notice of the plaintiff’s vehicle prior to the incident?” you asked.

“I did,” he nodded.

“Why was that?”

“Well,” he said. “They were hauling some sort of wood, but it was too long for their trunk and was hanging out the back a pretty long distance.”

“Objection, Your Honour,” Samantha said. “He’s speculating.”

“I don’t see how, Your Honour,” you said. “The witness is reporting what he saw.”

“The witness can’t know the depth of my client’s trunk space,” she said quickly. “Or how long the allegedly overhanging wood was.”

“Objection overruled,” Jude Mathews said. “Ms Van Der Groot, you are well aware that you’re reaching with that description of ‘speculation.’”

“Thank you, Your Honour,” you and Samantha both said, her’s a little harsher than yours.

“So, Mr Radikoff,” you said. “Did you notice if the trunk was secured in any way?”

“It looked like they’d tried to close it, and then tied it with something, but it was bouncing because there was too much slack.”

“And was there any sort of caution flag on the wood hanging out the back of the vehicle?”

“Not that I could see,” he said.

“Those are all my questions for this witness, Your Honour,” you said, nodding respectfully, and then backing away. Thomas got back up and tried to use their redirect to minimise the whole wood thing, but other than admissions that Radikoff couldn’t say exactly how long the wood was, how exactly how far it was hanging out the trunk, he couldn’t kill it all.

Two more witnesses were brought up before the morning break, one last character witness followed by Officer Penholt. The character witness was another easy squash for Eric to handle, pointing out the lack of relevance of their testimony to the contract matter. Officer Penholt, who you had always marked as a potential witness for the Defence, was apparently the opposition's pivot since you’d agreed to allow the suppression of the baggy of marijuana he had found in the Jacobs’ trunk post-accident. You had to assume they wanted to get Law Enforcement on record to note that the Jacobs weren’t charged for causing the multi-car pileup, and since you’d already successfully gotten the ‘confession’ of Greg Tribonello to Officer Sanchez suppressed, they must have thought Penholt was the better option.

The actual examination, conducted by Tucker again, was fairly brief. Tucker had Penholt, played by an associate from the other firm, confirm the official police report and then Tucker entered it into evidence. He then had Penholt relay his findings. You were paying particular attention to anything that could open up the Drugs line of questioning again - even though it was suppressed if the plaintiffs made it relevant again you could dig down on it.

Unfortunately, either Tucker was smart enough to skirt around the issue or the Associate was smart enough to do it for him. There just weren’t any openings to bring it up again, but that wasn’t a big loss.

Tucker finished his questioning and handed off the witness to you, and you stood up and did the requisite thanking of the court, and approached the podium with your notes. The nice thing was that, even with the drugs suppressed, you could still get the one thing you needed from any of the Law Enforcement officers who had been on the scene.

“Good morning, officer,” you said. “I’ll just have a few clarifying questions for you, so we should be able to get you out of here shortly. May I approach the witness, Your Honour?” Judge Mathews nodded, and you thanked him and approached the ‘Officer’ with a printout. “I am presenting the witness with Exhibit 2. Was this vehicle, previously identified as belonging to the Jacobs’, one of the ones involved in the accident?”

The ‘Officer’ looked at the photo and then nodded. “It was,” he said.

“What was the state of the vehicle when you first observed it?”

“Both sides had been heavily damaged,” the ‘Officer’ said. “The right side from an impact and the left from scraping along the highway raised median barrier. The rear end had collapsed in due to being struck from behind.”

“Was the trunk of the vehicle open, or closed?”

“Objection, Your Honour!” Samantha shot up from her seat.

Chapter 478

“Opposing counsel is venturing into areas discussed during pre-trial motions,” Samantha said. “This is entirely unacceptable, Your Honour.”

Judge Mathews looked down at you with a raised eyebrow.

“Your Honour, I promise this will have nothing to do with the topic discussed in pre-trial,” you said.

“Objective overruled for now,” the Judge said, giving you a stern look. “If you’re trying to find a way to wiggle into that information, Counsel, you will not like my response at all.”

“Absolutely understood, Your Honour,” you said, and he nodded. “Thank you, Your Honour,” you followed up as per protocol and heard Samantha mutter it behind you. “Well,” you said, turning back to the ‘Officer.’ “Was the trunk of the vehicle open or closed, Officer Penholt?”

The ‘officer’ checked his role script for a moment. “It was standing open,” he replied.

“Would that be the expected position for the trunk of a vehicle of its type after being rear-ended?”

Another check of the script, flipping to another page. “No, it wouldn’t,” he finally answered.

“What would be the expected position, based on your experience as a Police Officer?”

“The trunk would be buckled inward along with the bumper,” he said.

“What conclusion would you draw from the fact that the door was standing open?”

“Since it wasn’t damaged, it must have been opened prior to the vehicle being rear-ended,” the ‘Officer’ said.

“You went to examine the vehicle in detail, correct?”

“Objection!” Samantha said, standing up again, but Judge Mathews held up a hand to stop her.

“I will deal with Mr Watkins if he crosses the line,  Ms Van Der Groot,” the Judge said. “Unless you have another objection?”

“No, Your Honour,” she grunted.

“Thank you, Your Honour,” you said, not sure if an interrupted Objection was really a ruling you needed to thank him for, but the rule of thumb in court was to always be polite so you went with it. You turned back to the ‘Officer.’ “Did you give the vehicle a closer examination?”

“I did,” he said.

“Did you look in the trunk?”

“I did,” he said.

“When you looked inside the trunk, did you see any long pieces of wood, such as two-by-fours?”

“I did not,” he said.

Point, you thought to yourself.

“Did you see anything that looked like it might have been binding a pile of long pieces of wood together, but had broken?”

“I did not,” he said.

“Did you see anything that looked like it had been securing the trunk partially closed?”

He checked his script, knowing that you were putting the screws to his ‘home team’ interns, but shook his head. “I did not,” he said.

“Were you at the site of the accident until the cleanup of the vehicles?” you asked.

“I… was,” he said, flipping to the last page of his notes.

“Did you witness wooden two-by-fours scattered across the road?”

“We did,” he said.

“Would you be surprised to hear other witnesses have testified that the Jacobs’ vehicle was hauling long lengths of two-by-fours hanging out the back of their trunk?”

“I’m not,” he said. “It came up during the investigation and they were deemed not at fault for the accident.”

“I understand that Officer Penholt, and am not questioning the findings of the police report,” you said, biting the bullet there so you could get to where you needed to go. It was offering the plaintiffs a win for the ability to score a victory. “My question is whether you would consider the attested lack of proper secure bindings, lack of properly securing the trunk, and the fact that other witnesses have testified to the overhanging wooden load to not have been properly safety flagged, to be in or out of compliance with the State legal regulations on transporting a load that overhangs the back of the vehicle?”

The Associate checked his notes again, grimacing as he scanned the pages. Finally, he looked up. “I can’t say,” he said. “I don’t have the exact regulations on hand.”

“That’s more than fine,” you said. “Allow me to provide you with a copy of the regulation, which I note for the court has not been changed or modified since 1984.” You quickly went back to your table, and Sabrina already had the printouts ready. Having the ‘officer’ read from the State law was a weird place to be, but you couldn’t expect someone who wasn’t a traffic cop/highway cop to necessarily know it off-hand. You handed one copy over to Tucker at the plaintiff's table (quickly grabbed from him by Samantha), and passed one to Judge Mathews before setting the final copy in front of ‘Officer Penholt.’

“If you could read the flagged section, Officer Penholt?” you asked.

The officer quickly rattled off the fairly long traffic code regarding the allowance and limits of oversized loads and loads hanging off the back of a vehicle.

Properly loaded to prevent its contents from dropping, sifting, leaking or otherwise escaping. Check.

A red flag secured to the end of a load that extends more than four feet beyond the bed or body of the vehicle. Check.

“Thank you, Officer Penholt,” you said when he was finished. “Now that you are refreshed on the details of the Department of Transportation legal requirements, would you consider the wooden load being hauled by the Jacobs’ to be out of compliance with traffic laws?”

The Associate was frowning but nodded. “With the conditions I’ve described, I have to say yes.”

You turned to the Judge. “That is all the questions I have at this time,” you said and nodded.

Sabrina, Gemma and Eric were all grinning widely as you walked back to the table, your notes in hand. You may not have refuted anything that the ‘Officer’ had testified to for the Defence, but you hadn’t needed to. You just won the game, because it didn’t matter who was at fault for the accident. It didn’t matter whether the Jacobs were nice, or helpful, at the scene.

They’d broken the requirements of their policy contract not once, but three times.

Now all you had to do was fend off the last attack the Plaintiffs had on the contract itself.

Chapter 479

Judge Mathews called for the morning break, and you were able to relax for a moment.

“Nice job, John,” Eric said, reaching past Gemma to pat you on the back. “Seriously.”

“Thanks,” you said with a smile. “I’m still trying to figure out where their overall strategy is here though. I feel like they are just throwing shit at the wall and hoping it sticks.”

“Maybe they weren’t given as much time as we were?” Gemma guessed.

“Or they only worked on it during regular hours,” Sabrina said. “Most of our best work was done on our own time.”

“I think it’s both,” Eric said. “As well as a leadership issue. You did a really good job, Sabrina.”

Sabrina’s smile was big and broad, and you knew that hearing that from someone other than you or Gemma meant a lot to her. For how Eric had come off at the start of the summer to where you all were now, you couldn’t have imagined how well you all worked together and were friends. Part of you wondered if you would stay in contact with him afterwards - realistically it would probably just be through mutually following social media, but you also thought about those stories of someone knowing someone from college and that connection being helpful ten or fifteen years down the line. Who knew what Eric would become in the future, and how having a friendship from your interning days would connect you.

“Hey, you guys,” Amanda said, interrupting the conversation as she approached with a half-smile.

“Morning, Amanda,” you said.

“You’re looking cute today,” Sabrina said. “I love that dress and jacket combo.”

“Thanks,” Amanda said, her smile growing. She was wearing a simple dress that only showed a bit of her collarbone and hugged her curves without looking tight, and it paired with a jacket made of the same material that gave it a business feel. There was no hiding her bust, but it definitely helped minimise how apparent it was. “So, I’ve been sent over with a settlement offer,” she said, smirking just a little. “Apparently the others think they’ve pushed too hard and you’re not receptive to them. I couldn’t imagine why.” She rolled her eyes.

“Well, they’re right,” Sabrina snorted softly. “And we’re definitely more receptive to you.”

“What’s the offer?” Gemma asked.

“Three-quarters of the full policy payout, and cover our clients’ legal expenses,” Amanda said. “We’ll waive all rights for damages, and no apology from either side.”

Sabrina sighed and shook her head. “Three quarters is still a million and a half on a two million dollar policy,” she said. “Our counter is a replacement vehicle of equal value to the one that was covered by the policy, no damages, no legal fees.”

It was a little harsh, but you all knew that you had the plaintiff’s over a barrel.

“I’ll take it to my team,” Amanda said, shaking her head slightly. “But I doubt they will take it. They think this last witness will be the nail in the coffin.”

“Alright,” Sabrina nodded. “Let us know.”

Amanda smiled a little sadly to all of you, shrugged a little and then winked at you before heading back over to her team.

“Did she just wink at you?” Eric asked. “God, it’s ridiculous. You have all the luck.”

“We talked about this, Eric,” Gemma said. “Be more open to people. Hell, be more open with your girl Casey. I think you’ll be surprised.”

“Whatever,” Eric sighed. “Maybe. OK, I’m hitting the washroom before I run out of time.”

You and Gemma were about to follow him, wanting drinks and snacks from the refreshments being served out in the lobby, but Sabrina held you back. “I was chatting with Nelli this morning,” she said. “She says good luck and sent this.”

Sabrina handed over her phone, and you tapped the screen to play the video on it. It was FitNelli, her brightly dyed hair and cute, energetic expression immediately recognizable. It was short, maybe five seconds, and consisted of her just shooting air kisses around the camera cutely before ending with an emphatic kiss right at the lens, and then turning away and smacking her bare buttcheek as she was only wearing a long tank top. There wasn’t any sound, so you were able to watch it without giving anything away to anyone around.

You chuckled softly, but Gemma reached over and paused it. “You told her about the mock trial?” she asked Sabrina.

“No, well, not specifically,” Sabrina said. “I just told her we had a big presentation today at work, and she said she was rooting for us and good luck. I think she’s just… I dunno. She’s the kind of person who is just really invested in the people she’s interacting with in a really earnest way.”

“OK,” Gemma sighed, reassured. “Then it’s super cute, and you should tell her we say thank you and send kisses back.”

“Really?” you asked Gemma.

Your blonde girlfriend rolled her eyes softly and shrugged. “She’s cute, she’s being a friendly acquaintance, and she’s a good contact for your guys' side gig.”

“I know, but isn’t responding in kind sort of opening a door?” you asked.

Gemma shook her head, smiling almost like Amanda had before she left. “Whether it’s her or someone else, we know that you’ll need to work with someone else once in a while for the side gig. And the ‘all of us or none of us’ doesn’t work when I’m gone in a week. I can accept that, as long as we talk about it. So open the door.” She looked at Sabrina. “Or let her open the door. I’m OK with it.”

“God, I want to kiss you right now,” Sabrina said under her breath, beaming a smile and big eyes at Gemma.

“I know,” Gemma replied, then stood up. “Come on, let’s get out there before the vultures have picked over all the good snacks. We’ve got a case to smash.”

You wanted to kiss Gemma as well, and you wanted to talk more about her decision. Now just wasn’t the time, even if you knew how big a step it was to open ‘that door’ more and more when she was going to be away. She was right, though. You could talk soon enough when it was personal and safe, and you weren’t going to be distracted.