What was the matter with her? Why was she acting like such a moron? It was just being in the state of Florida that did this to her, she decided, and concentrated on channeling her Philadelphia big city big firm composure.

"Okay." She took a deep breath. "Take two. Yes. I have family here. My mother, two brothers, and, as noted, my stepfather. Since he practices in this area, you probably know him."

"I know Jimmy," Jack said, but didn't elaborate.

Well, she thought, that was to be expected. Most lawyers in the area either knew Jimmy or knew of him. With the type of high profile personal injury cases he handled – and the huge jury verdicts he pulled in – he was no stranger to the nightly news, either.

"You used to work for Graham, Spalding," she said, naming one of the national firms that had an office in Tampa. It was a well-respected law firm and the main competitor for the firm her father had been with. Serious business lawyers, and litigators handling complex commercial cases, with offices in most major cities in the U.S., and several foreign countries.

"Well, someone else did their research."

"My assistant printed out background information for me to read on the plane," she admitted, adding, "I've run across some lawyers from the employment law section in their Philly office a few times."

"Hmmm. So what else do you know about me?"

"Well, I know that you are also a Florida native, graduated with high honors from Columbia – impressive – then came back to University of Florida for law school. Again, high honors, law review editor, followed by a federal clerkship, then Graham, Spalding. Five years ago you left and opened your own office."

"My compliments to your assistant. Now you know everything there is to know about me."

She doubted that. "Maybe I know the what, but I don't know the why."

"So ask me."

"Ok. Why UF? With your credentials, you could have gone to Harvard, Yale, wherever you wanted."

"I did go where I wanted. Are you 'dissing my Gators?"

"No, I just – you know very well what I mean."

"Yeah, I think I do. Next question, counselor?"

She sat back in her stool. Oh, great, she'd already offended him, and anything she said now was probably just making it worse. "I don't know, I think I've got a hostile witness on my hands."

"Not at all," he said, his tone measured.

"O—kay, why did you leave Graham, Spalding? Go out on your own."

"Maybe I couldn't cut it in the big leagues." He was looking straight at her and she noticed that his shirt matched the exact color of his eyes. Probably had a whole closet full of them he trotted out to impress female jurors. Her own eyes narrowed.

"Now you're making fun of me." She swirled her drink in the glass, then looked up at him. "Your name came up on a lot of reported cases, Jack, on the winning side. No way Graham, Spalding was showing you the door."

"Is it so hard to believe I preferred to start my own practice?"

She hesitated a moment while a seagull landed on the railing, then took off suddenly and swooped back over the water, giving a loud cry, spreading its wings as it skimmed close to surface. Not the sort of thing she usually saw when dining out with a colleague in Philadelphia, that was for sure. Then again, Jack was turning out to be a lot different from the lawyers she typically dealt with in her practice.

"Please. Something must have happened. Nobody leaves a firm like that unless they . . . well, they just don't usually walk away from that kind of practice."

"Unless they're asked to leave? To answer your question, I wasn't asked to leave – I quit. Big firm practice just wasn't my style." She couldn't tell from his expression whether he was annoyed or amused.

"But it's..." She stopped, at a loss for words.

"The top of the ladder? The pinnacle of success as an attorney?"

"Okay, now I know you're making fun of me."

"Not everybody wants to be managing partner of an international law firm with offices in ten cities, Grace."

Um, really? "That's like saying not everybody wants to be successful."

"You can measure success in different ways."

"I guess." After all the time, education and hard work it took to prove herself at a major law firm, Grace only saw one way to measure success – making partner.

"You know that saying, be careful what you wish for?"

She shook her head. "That never made any sense to me. Before I wish for anything, I know exactly what's involved."

"Plan your life pretty carefully, huh?"

"I try to."

He considered her. "You probably try cases the same way."

"I like being prepared."

"It's important to be prepared. But you still have to be flexible."

"I'm very flexible," she said. She leaned back quickly, and her stool tilted backward. Jack reached out a hand and steadied her. She noticed again how the corners of his eyes crinkled when he smiled. "Good to know."

Oh, God, was she blushing? She really had to get a grip. "Guess I forgot where I was for a second."

"Another Margarita?"

"No. Thanks. Another Margarita and I might fall off this barstool for real."

"I'd catch you," he said, with a quick smile.

"Please. I've disgraced myself enough already."

"You've been absolutely charming."

"Uh huh. Sure."

He left the top down on the drive back and she was glad, since it made conversation impossible, especially at the speed he was driving. At least the rush of fresh air should blow away the slight buzz she was feeling, though whether it was from that first blast of tequila on an empty stomach or the company she was keeping, she wasn't quite sure. Since she'd noticed Jack barely touched his second beer, the right person was definitely behind the wheel.

She made a mental note to rent a car when she got back to the hotel. Her mother would lend her one as long as she wanted, but it was really simpler just to get one herself. So far, her mom didn't even know she was here. To be honest, she'd been secretly relieved when she called that morning and had gotten her mother's voicemail. It wasn't that she didn't want to see her mom – of course she did - but her mother would want her to stay at the house, and be hurt when Grace said she was fine at the hotel. It was just simpler this way, and she'd be so much more productive in her quiet hotel room, sending emails, reviewing documents, and planning her strategy in the Shell-Morr case.

She scrolled through her messages, pressing the phone against her ear so she could hear over the sound of the wind blowing through the open convertible. Grace, I'm sorry I missed your call this morning. Jimmy and I are going to a show at the Straz Center tonight in Tampa, so if you don't reach me I'll have to catch up with you later. Love you. Grace closed her voicemail and then dropped her phone back into her purse. She felt relieved that she didn't have to call her mother back tonight, and then immediately felt guilty for feeling relieved. Lawsuits were easy to understand. They had rules, and predictability, and she always knew what to do next. Family relationships, on the other hand, were complicated.

She'd call tomorrow, maybe have dinner on Sunday, she decided, as Jack dropped her off at the hotel. She slung her laptop case over her shoulder and pulled her compact travel bag behind her, waving off the bellman as she checked in, then rode the elevator to her room. It looked like any other hotel room in any other city. Kitchenette, spacious desk, hers for the week, maybe longer. Nothing here to make her think of old memories better left in the past, old hurts she always thought she'd put aside until they unexpectedly worked their way back to the surface. She sank onto the crisply made bed and breathed in the quiet order of the room. She'd see how the file review went tomorrow, then plan from there.

* * *

Jack pulled out his cell phone as he drove away.

"Hey Jimbo?" He grinned when the voice boomed back at him through the speaker. "Take a guess who my new co-counsel is?"

Things just got a lot more interesting – and a lot more complicated – he thought, as he hung up the phone a few minutes later. He'd been surprised when they left the café and Grace told him to drop her at a hotel instead of at Jimmy and Ellen's house. Now he was even more surprised that Jimmy hadn't known Grace was in town.

Grace obviously had some resentment toward her stepfather, but she hadn't even told her mom she was going to be down here working on a case? Of course, she'd mentioned she only got the assignment yesterday, so perhaps he was making too much of it.

So far he knew his co-counsel was good looking, sexy in a wouldn't-it-be-fun-to-find-out-what's-underneath-that-cool-and-proper-exterior sort of way, and smart. She'd have to be wicked smart to make it at a law firm like Keaton Dunleavey. He didn't mind the snooty attitude – he'd spent time in a top shelf law firm himself, and as far as he was concerned, it went with the territory. Add the fact that there was a bit of mystery about her, and it made a very intriguing package.

All in all, Jack was looking forward to getting to know Grace Wallace a whole lot better.