Chapter Two

Tully left the suburbs and headed into the city for another day in the trenches, where she tried to find justice for those wronged by the medical industry. She used her background in medicine to help select cases in which she could improve the profession by removing a bad physician, intending to make sure that doctors earned the faith that people placed in them. With her reputation, she often heard the word “settlement” immediately from the people she was up against.

The elevator quickly reached the twenty-fifth floor of the Chevron Building where Barnes, Corey, and Badeaux had their offices. The other two partners rarely went into court anymore and had been more than happy to give Tully the large corner office with a beautiful view of the Mississippi River, downtown, and the French Quarter. She knew they had long ago nicknamed her the cash cow of the office and regularly congratulated each other for giving her a chance right out of law school.

“Are you mad at me or something?” Roxanne Lemoyne asked as soon as Tully stepped into the large office suite.

The tall, slender African American in her late thirties had been with Tully almost from the time she had become a partner. Roxanne had two assistants of her own, along with a handful of paralegals and junior partners who barely got them through when Tully was in the middle of a big case.

“Not that I’m aware of. Why? Did you do something to warrant my wrath since yesterday afternoon?”

Tully flipped through a slew of messages from potential clients, grateful that none of them concerned the Duplessy case, which they had just wrapped up. She grimaced at the memory of the surgeon who had mistakenly removed a young diabetic man’s right leg instead of his left. To make things worse, he had then spent more than twenty hours trying to reattach the mistakenly amputated limb. The bungled procedure had further weakened a body already ravaged by a very unforgiving disease. Disgusted by the damage that one careless person could cause, Tully threw more than half of the message slips in the trash.

Tully wasn’t, no matter what her partner Jessica’s colleagues thought of her, an ambulance chaser. She accepted only cases of blatant medical malpractice, cases about which she usually felt strongly. After dropping her bag on the credenza behind her large desk, Tully took off her jacket and sank into her comfortable leather chair.

“What’d you do?” she asked Roxanne again.

“I didn’t do anything, thank you very much for asking. I didn’t get my usual seven thirty phone call, so I thought you ran away from home.” Roxanne’s face clouded over a bit when she took in Tully’s appearance. “Are you okay?”

“I wish I could say I’m ecstatically happy, but I’d be a liar. Sorry for not calling, but I took the kids to school and got an earful of how I’m never around and what music they listen to is none of my business.”

Roxanne scrunched her forehead. “Ralph told you that?”

“No. Those insightful words came from the next attorney in the family, Bailey.”

“What did you tell her?”

Tully swiveled a little to the right, concentrating on the busy river traffic, and exhaled deeply before answering. “I wish I could say I came back with something really clever and insightful, but part of me knows she’s right.

“My dad worked hard all his life, but I always knew in my heart of hearts how he felt about me. I understood that when he wasn’t around, he was trying to make a living for my brothers and me.” She took another deep breath and turned her head from the river to her assistant, who had long before become more of a caretaker than an employee. “Kids today, at least my kids, don’t understand that concept. Or maybe I’m just an idiot. Whatever the answer, I’m doing a lousy job communicating with them.”

“Honey, you are many things to many people, but an idiot isn’t one of them.” Roxanne strolled over and put her hand on Tully’s shoulder. “I know you just got here, but why don’t you take off for a little bit and try to clear your head?”

“Maybe later, but now we’ve got a few other things to catch up on.” Tully reached for the first file on her desk. Though the associates in the firm represented some of the cases they took, Tully liked to check their work before they reached an unsatisfactory settlement due to their lack of experience. “Why don’t you set up the guys? We’ll review files, then have a roundtable this afternoon. I want us to look at a couple of promising cases.”

“You’re on, boss.” Roxanne moved back to the other side of the desk and jotted a few notes on the pad in her hand. “Want anything? Knowing you, you had Scotch for dinner last night and Pop-Tarts for breakfast.”

“Those food items have all the vitamins and minerals growing bodies need, so don’t knock ’em.” Tully tried to joke off Roxanne’s comment, but the night before that was exactly what she’d had for dinner, along with more than a few cigarette chasers.

Ironically, she’d started smoking several years before in the middle of a ground-breaking suit she’d led against the tobacco industry on behalf of the state. In hindsight, she should have paid more attention to the findings on how quickly you could become addicted. And they’d lied about the weight loss, she thought, and smiled at her perverse private joke.

The previous night she’d fully intended to go home and celebrate her victory in the Duplessy case with her family, but when she’d arrived she discovered that Jessica had taken the kids out to dinner. Later, when they got home, they’d all filed past the closed office door, not bothering to see if she was inside.

It was just one more night when she felt no longer a part of the family she loved so much. Bailey wasn’t the only one who had grown sullen and distant. Jessica had put a barrier between them in the bedroom, and everywhere else, that was widening by the day. Tully was beginning to worry that Jessica found her touch repulsive.

“Well, you’d better start taking better care of yourself or I’m going to be having these morning meetings with you in the cardiac wing of the nearest hospital.” Roxanne left without lecturing Tully any further.

She gathered the associates as Tully had asked and sat next to her, taking notes as they went through the files. In the end two cases caught Tully’s attention, and they started to make plans and choose teams. The associates seemed thrilled since this time around Tully said she would let them all take the lead and fight the good fight while she sat on the sideline and did her best to coach them.

“That was different,” Roxanne commented after everyone except her and Tully left the room.

“I want to have the young pups ready to venture out on their own by the time summer gets here. That way I can spend more time with Jess and the kids. What Bailey said this morning may be right. Sometime during the last year I started feeling it all slip through my fingers, and I want to stop the bleeding before it’s fatal.”

“Why don’t you start now?”

“Start what?”

Tully was amused to see Roxanne hook her jacket and hold it up.

“Get out of here and invite Jessica to lunch. When was the last time you did that?”

Tully furrowed her brow, and Roxanne laughed. “I thought so. Go on. I promise to keep the building intact in your absence.”

As Dr. Jessica Badeaux drove away from Children’s Hospital, located at the end of Tchoupitoulas Street in New Orleans, toward home, she thought about the fact that she primarily treated kids with fevers and runny noses while many staff members were experimenting with cutting-edge treatments for a multitude of illnesses. She left the exciting medicine to others, content to deal with the mundane side of healing because her father had convinced her that was the best kind of practice for a woman with children to tend to.

On most days she compared this choice to the one she’d made in her personal life. She’d left her chance for excitement when she’d decided to settle down, and just…settled. Back in college, she’d thought the life she had chosen was what she really wanted—the family, the attentive partner. It was all a young girl’s dream and what her parents had wanted for her as well.

Tully was still attentive, but lately Jessica really didn’t want her attention, and eventually she’d have to explain her feelings in acceptable terms. She just wasn’t ready for the turmoil that explanation would provoke. So for now she had to keep her desires under wraps.

She didn’t know how she really felt about her family responsibilities. If she were totally honest with herself, she’d admit that motherhood was starting to bore her. Most days she felt like an underappreciated chauffeur and tutor as she shuffled the kids to and from their various activities, then helped them with homework when she had the chance. However, she could only imagine what the world would think of her if she actually voiced her feelings. She wanted change, but hadn’t yet found the courage to make it happen so that it didn’t totally devastate the people she felt responsible for.

In the meantime, Tully strolled through the front entrance of the hospital and waved to all the volunteers manning the desk. They were blowing up balloons to hand out in the wards. If she had to guess, she’d say the youngest of them was seventy. She enjoyed seeing people almost at the end of their road help those whom illness had stranded at the side of it.

She waved one last time before she headed toward the clinic section, where Jessica’s nurse recognized her and stopped to converse.

“Dr. Badeaux, have you finally come to your senses and decided to start practicing medicine instead of suing people?”

Cathy’s remark had a bite to it that surprised Tully. “Come on, Cathy, you know how much I love suing people. You wouldn’t want to take away my fun, would you?”

“Uh-huh.” The nurse put her chart down and stood rigidly, as if impatient for Tully to get to the point.

Tully glanced at the rest of the people milling around, not seeing the one she was looking for. “Is Jess here? I thought I’d take her to lunch if she isn’t swamped. Lately you all have been working her to death, so I’ve come to rescue her for a while.”

Cathy’s face remained neutral. If anyone in the hospital kept strict regular hours, it was Jessica. In by nine and gone by four. If Jessica was putting in extra hours, it wasn’t here at Children’s.

“It’s about time, but you just missed her.” She picked up her chart again, obviously avoiding eye contact with Tully. “Said something about getting a bite to eat. I just don’t know where.”

Tully was sure the portly woman wouldn’t have held up under cross-examination. Years of courtroom work had taught her to read people and know with certainty when they were holding something back. “No problem. I didn’t make an appointment, after all.”

Though the sarcasm was hard to miss, Tully was sure the nurse didn’t want to be put in the middle. After all, she worked for Jessica.

“I’ll tell her you stopped by. I’m sure she’ll be sorry she missed you.”

Tully fought the urge to call Cathy a liar and left without another word.

Not wanting to go back to the office just yet, she headed to the coffee shop in the lobby of her building. An hour of reading the paper and enjoying a latte sounded like the best course of action. She was surprised to find Libby Dexter still behind the counter taking orders, since she usually knocked off by ten to attend classes. Tully had been coming in every morning for the last couple of years and had conversed briefly with Libby every time.

“Counselor, you’re running late today.” Libby pushed a stubborn strand of blond hair behind her ear and smiled.

“So you’re still here on the off chance I’d stop by?” Tully teased in return. “I’m flattered.” In truth she really was, since Libby always seemed happy to see her.

“How about a cup of coffee on me?”

“How about I pay for the coffee and give you a big tip, and you can ask for your bribe anyway?” A few weeks earlier, after one of their regular daily conversations, Tully had finally realized that she knew more about the young barista than she did about her own daughter.

Libby was a law student in her second year at Tulane, working as much as she could to cover what her scholarship did not. Their talks sometimes became a tutoring session when Tully came in and ended up helping Libby through a tough spot at school.

Tully always tipped generously, considering what she paid for the actual coffee, because she remembered how many peanut butter sandwiches she’d eaten during law school, not having the heart to ask her parents for one more dime. Every time Tully said to keep the change when she handed Libby a twenty, the young woman could eat a little better than Tully had when she was in college.

“Do you really have time to talk?” Libby fixed the coffee the way Tully liked it and smiled even more brightly before handing it over.

“I have as much time as you want, since it seems I’m not needed anywhere else at the moment.”

“It’s my contract law class. Professor Lange is a pompous ass who constantly tries to make me look like a buffoon.”

“John Lange is one of those people who makes the old saying true, so I wouldn’t worry too much about him. Just get through the semester and you’ll be fine.”

“What old saying?” Libby pulled her contract law book out of her ever-present bag, along with a list of questions.

“‘Those who can’t, teach.’ John knows the mechanics of the law like no one else in the city, but what good are tools if you don’t know how to use them? In the classroom he’s a menace, but in the courtroom, he’s a buffoon. I took his class almost twenty years ago, and it sounds like he hasn’t changed a bit.” She threw her newspaper on the extra chair and examined Libby’s notes.

During the next hour Tully explained the subject matter in a way that she hoped would teach Libby what she needed to know in a way she could remember, even under her professor’s withering questioning. As she started in on the last question, Tully could feel herself blush when her stomach growled. The night and morning with no food was starting to catch up to her.

“Tully, when was the last time you ate?”

“Yesterday at lunch…I believe.” Now that she thought about it, Tully couldn’t remember exactly.

“That’s it, come on. I’m treating you to lunch as a way to thank you for all this help.” Libby closed the book and pried her notepad out of Tully’s hands.

“You don’t have to do that. I’ll be okay, and we only have one more question to go.”

Libby shook her head and had to retrieve a few stray locks when they came loose from her ponytail again. She really needed a haircut, but that wasn’t in her budget for the month. “I think I finally have you figured out.”

Tully’s spontaneous laugh shed years of weariness from her face, and her eyes seemed to come alive, if only for a second. “I’m glad someone does, because lately I couldn’t begin to explain what’s going on with me.”

“You focus on something and the rest of the world falls away, doesn’t it?”

Tully didn’t detect any malice in Libby’s words, unlike Bailey’s similar remark that morning, so she took the comment at face value. “I’m focused, so I guess your assessment of me is correct. Years ago, when I lived alone, it wasn’t much of a problem, but I guess I should have paid more attention all this time, huh?”

“That’s not a bad trait, Tully, but I want you to start taking better care of yourself. If something happens to you, who’s going to help me through law school?” She put her hand on Tully’s forearm and smiled again.

At times like these the walls in Tully’s heart crumbled for the briefest of moments, and she felt lonely. “Come on, let’s get something to eat.”

Despite Libby’s objections, they ended up in a nice restaurant with linens and fine china on the tables, since Tully insisted on treating. And after the waiter told her they didn’t do takeout, Tully ordered five lunches. Libby walked out with dinner for the next three nights and told Tully that her inventive way of getting around firm, set rules was what made her a success when it counted.

After they parted, Tully called the office to inform Roxanne she was taking the rest of the afternoon off and headed home. Not much of a cook, she stopped and bought Chinese, making sure the selections included everyone’s favorite dish. She changed into a pair of shorts, set the table, and looked forward to a nice family dinner once her wife and children actually arrived. She figured the only way to change things she didn’t like was to start trying something different.

Four hours later, the back door opened and Jessica entered, issuing orders about homework and chores to Bailey and Ralph, who trailed her. They all stopped abruptly and stared from her to the table, since Tully didn’t usually get home for another hour or so.

“I didn’t know you’d be here.” Jessica looked at the containers in the kitchen. “We stopped for something after Ralph’s practice.”

“I could eat again, Mom.” Ralph winced when Bailey slapped him on the back of the head.

“Stop being such a suck-up,” Bailey muttered before heading up the stairs to her room. A minute after the door to her room slammed, the music started.

“It’s okay, Ralph,” Tully said. “Go on up and do your homework. Just let me know if you need any help.”

The hug her son gave her before leaving the room made her feel like crying for some reason, but she put the feelings aside and hugged him back.

“I’m sorry. If I’d known, I would’ve brought them home for dinner.” Jessica had yet to put her bag down, but she looked like she wanted to bolt from the room. “Why don’t you fix yourself a plate? No sense in letting it go to waste.”

Something was different about her, but whatever it was hadn’t jumped into Tully’s focus. The woman standing fifteen feet from her wasn’t the woman she’d fallen in love with, and hell if she knew when that had changed. She still loved Jessica, but plainly Jessica no longer felt the same.

“Is there something you want to tell me?”

“What do you mean?” The leather strap of Jessica’s purse creaked from the pressure she was putting on it.

“I stopped by to take you to lunch today.”

“Oh yeah, Cathy said she saw you. I was having a bad day and decided to skip out for a little while and grab something somewhere quiet.”

Under Tully’s scrutiny Jessica’s intense focus on the stack of egg rolls gave her away. She was lying, but this wasn’t the time to get into it. Their kids were upstairs, and Tully didn’t want them growing up in a war zone. When she and Jessica had their talk, they would be alone, and she wouldn’t give up until Jessica came clean.

As Tully rounded the breakfast bar wearing shorts and a T-shirt, she remembered her med-student days when Jessica had admired her tan skin, bare feet, and visible muscles from hefting nets from the water and carrying buckets of ice on her father’s boat. In fact, Jessica had pursued her until Tully took an interest. Those long-past days had been full of love and affection.

She strode past Jessica and into her office, the food left opened and forgotten, her appetite lost to hurt feelings.