Candy smiled at the secretary outside Miriam’s office, greeting her with a chipper “Morning!”. As the word came out, Candy’s intonation seemed to shift slightly and her voice sounded just a little higher. Candy gave a cough to clear her throat.
“Morning Miss McKnocks” replied the secretary dutifully, making Candy pause at the name. Her name was McKnock wasn’t it? And she certainly preferred ‘Ms’… didn’t she? Miss Candy McKnocks just sounded right though…
The thought was interrupted by a further statement from the secretary, who complimented.
“Oh! Love your skirt, by the way! Very stylish!”
Candy gave a momentary frown… er, pout… She hadn’t put a skirt on? She looked down. There was a stylish knee length skirt, not quite black in shade, and then her 3 inch heels below that. That was odd… she could have sworn she had put on a balck pantsuit… Right?
“Oh… um, thank you!” she finally remembered her manners and pulled herself from her self-inspection. Her voice still sounded a little high. “I’m, er, doing a coffee run, is Miriam in her office?”
“Ms Van Drock is in,” replied the secretary emphasising the more formal address. “You can go right in.”
Candy gave a smile and walked in, heels clicking. Miriam Van Drock had always been a rival to Candy and most of their interactions were laced with subtle quips as they tried to one-up each other. Today however, Miriam didn’t even deign to look up from her computer at Candy’s arrival. Candy’s eyes looked over the screen. The name ‘Hamilton’ headed the page and her wayward thought from before crystallised.
Hamilton! That was the name! And it was… her case wasn’t it?!
“Um, Miriam, isn’t the Hamilton case mine?” asked Candy tentatively, coffee momentarily forgotten.
The other lawyer looked up.
“I think ‘Ms Van Drock’ is more professional, don’t you Candy. And no. The partners don’t give cases this big to paralegals. It’s definitely mine.”
Candy stopped chewing her gum. Wait! Paralegal? She was a lawyer wasn’t she?!
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