Read The Sassy Belles for Free Online Page B

“It’ll be fine,” I said, hoping I was right. “Let’s go.” I
parked and we got out.
    The Tutwiler was so elegant. It was a regal 1920s hotel with
most of its original architecture still intact. Dapples of yellow and cream
splashed the walls, shadows of the afternoon sun dancing and darting up and down
the curving banisters and sprinkling light across the 20-foot ceilings. Sunlight
peeked through the palms planted in oversize ceramic pots scattered throughout
the lobby. White ceiling fans whirred slowly, just enough to stir the
jasmine-scented air and cause the palms to wave in their breeze. The large
French doors around the lobby opened onto the courtyard at every corner, and the
three-layer fountain stood in the center offering a watery lullaby to the early
evening. Every sense was stirred here. It was intoxicating.
    Harry and Sonny had arrived first, and I could see them in the
shadows of the bar off the lobby. Sonny was propped up on a bar stool, his long
legs stretched out in front of him, and Harry was talking to the bartender.
Harry motioned to us. I wanted to linger a little longer.
    The courtyard beckoned, and I was swept back ten years earlier
when Harry, fresh out of law school, stood in the spring sun in the middle of
the Tutwiler courtyard. He had a martini in one hand and a peach-colored rose in
the other. God, he was gorgeous. Dressed in navy dress pants and a heavily
starched, crisp white shirt, silver wire frames and his wavy mass of dark hair,
he looked straight out of a magazine. His cuff links glistened in the
sunlight.
    I loved that Harry wore cuff links. I’d never known anyone who
wore cuff links. They made him seem elegant and refined, classic. They were a
symbol to me of who Harry was. Eccentric and his own man in every respect. He
was unexpected. The cuff links were unexpected. They made you notice that he was
confident, but not in a flashy sort of way.
    That evening in the courtyard was about a month after we’d
graduated from law school and I was meeting him for drinks. Harry had had a job
interview with the most prestigious firm in Tuscaloosa that day. They had
offices in Atlanta and Birmingham and Harry had wanted to work for them ever
since I had first met him. When he called to invite me to drinks, I thought, Oh, he got the job! He wants to celebrate! I had
hurriedly dressed in my favorite suit, covered myself in my perfumed body cream
from my hot-pink toenails to my tan shoulders, slid my favorite pink lipstick
over my lips and flew out the door.
    When I met Harry at the Tutwiler, I expected to hear all the
nitty gritty details of the interview. I spotted him in the courtyard and raced
across the lobby and out through the French doors, throwing my arms around him
once I’d reached him.
    “Hey, honey! How’d it go?”
    “Great! They told me they were hoping the next Heart out of law
school would choose their firm. My name is my reputation,” he said proudly.
    “Oh, baby, that’s great!” I said, but I sensed something else.
“Harry, what’s wrong?”
    He cocked his eyebrow up.
    “Oh, no, they’re not sending you to Atlanta, are they?”
    “Blake. Sweet, sweet, Blake,” Harry whispered as he pulled me
closer. “No, darlin’, I’ll be here in Tuscaloosa, ’cause I told them I couldn’t
leave at the moment. They’ll hand me my first file next Monday.”
    I continued holding him tight. “Oh, thank God. I don’t think
I’m cut out for long-distance.”
    “Sweetie, they’re looking for one more fresh-faced
attorney.”
    “You mean…me?” I blurted out.
    “Well, I took the liberty of suggesting you and they’d like to
talk to you in the morning.”
    “Harry! This is our dream coming true! To practice together
until we can open our own firm. I can’t believe it’s really happening.” My eyes
had filled with happy tears and I felt Harry move his hand from behind my waist
just as a waiter in a crisp white serving jacket and a black bow tie approached.
He had a