“I don’t think so,” Natalie said, cautiously. “I mean, you’re already here now...”
“I know, but…”
“So stay as long as you need to. What difference does it make?”
“Um, because a couple of days is one thing and whole weeks is another. Isn’t it?”
“I don’t know. Is it?”
“You got that I meant whole weeks, didn’t you? Once I start?”
“Weeks, months, whichever it is, that’s fine.”
“Oh,” Evie said. She seemed to be thinking. “I can’t anyway. All my books are at home.”
“So bring them here.”
“All of them?”
Natalie shrugged.
“I’m sharing one with someone,” Evie said.
“So buy another. Or I will. What’s the problem?”
Evie sat there for a while, thinking again. “Nothing, actually.”
“What book is it?”
Evie told her. The standard summary of case law on trusts and tax. Natalie thought for a moment, trying to remember, then got up, and went into her study and hunted around for a moment. She came back and held out a copy. “It’s probably not the newest edition, but…”
Evie took it, silently. She seemed a little surprised.
Natalie felt quite pleased with herself.
“You don’t have to be here,” Natalie said. “You don’t at all. I’m not trying to be demanding, or make you do anything. I just thought it might be easier for you if you were.”
“It just seems like this is a big deal,” Evie said. “If I do.”
“Not really, is it? I’m at work all the time, so you might as well use the place to study, that’s all.”
“I suppose.”
“And I’ll be able to see you more, too,” Natalie said. “So that’s good for me.”
Evie nodded.
“Say yes,” Natalie said. “Please?”
Evie seemed to be thinking. “It might be good,” she said. “It might work quite well.”
“It might,” Natalie said. “So do.”
“I might be weeks, though. Even a month. I mean, it’s basically my whole career being decided on the next month, so I need to be settled and able to work…”
“I understand,” Natalie said. “I’ve been there too, remember?”
“Yeah, I know.”
“And it’s only you visiting. It’s only you staying with me for a while, so you have a place to work.”
“I know,” Evie said. “I heard.”
“So what’s the harm in it? Take as long as you need, and study as much as you can, and don’t worry about anything else, not until your exams are out the way.”
Evie sat there, slowly nodding. “Okay,” she said. “Thank you.”
“Yes?”
“Yep. But I hope you know what you’re getting yourself into.”
Natalie grinned. She got up, and went and fetched her car keys. “Here,” she said, and held them out.
“What’s that?” Evie said.
“Go get your stuff. The car will make it easier.”
“What, right now?”
Natalie looked at her. She had just assumed so, because Evie had been talking about how much she needed to do. “Well, if you wanted to get started,” she said. “Then yes. Or I can come too and help, whichever is easier for you.”
Evie looked at her for a moment, still thinking.
“I can’t drive though,” Natalie said. She’d been drinking wine since lunchtime, and was fairly sure she couldn’t.
“Oh yeah,” Evie said. She seemed to have forgotten. She stood up, and came over and took the keys.
“I can carry things, though, if you like,” Natalie said.
“Nah,” Evie said. “It’s fine. I’ll go.”
Natalie nodded. She watched Evie put on her coat and shoes.
“I won’t be long,” Evie said.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“Thank you,” Evie said. She stopped on her way to the door, and looked at Natalie. “Thank you for this,” she said. “It’s a wonderful thing for you to do.”
Natalie shrugged a little, embarrassed. Evie kissed her and left.
Natalie stood where she was until the front door had closed, until she was certain that Evie had gone, and then, and only then, did she let herself wonder what she’d just done. It had been impulsive, far too impulsive, and she was suddenly beginning to wonder if this was an awful, terrible idea.
She stood there for a moment, trying to imagine the worst. Imagining fights and disagreements and them each irritating the other for no good reason all. Imagining constant pointless arguments, and Natalie uncomfortable with Evie always in her space, and those things made worse by Evie’s stress about exams, and Natalie being busy at work, and it ruining the fragile thing they’d managed to find together in a matter of days.
Natalie was worried for a moment, so worried she felt slightly ill. This might all be a terrible idea, she thought. It might all go wrong. She stood there thinking, then decided it was too late to fret. She’d done what she’d done, and Evie had decided, and it was far too late to worry, or do anything but make the most of it, so she poured another glass of wine and sat down to wait for Evie.
*
Evie was back in an hour with her laptop, an armload of books, and a backpack. She stood in the middle of the lounge, looking around uncertainly, as if she didn’t know where to put everything down.
“Use the kitchen table if you like,” Natalie said. “I never do. Or my office.”
“I can’t use your office.”
“The table then?”
Evie nodded, and began piling books there. She took the backpack to the bedroom, and left it just inside the door. She came back, and walked up to Natalie, and hugged her. “Thank you,” she said. “I think this is going to be good.”
“Do you want coffee or anything?” Natalie said.
Evie nodded vaguely, and sat down. She seemed to have already started thinking. Natalie made coffee, and left it beside Evie, and then sat on the couch with a pile of work, half-watching Evie out the corner of her eye.
Evie’s studying seemed erratic, and far more haphazard than Natalie remembered hers being. Evie made piles of books, and read from one to the other, and read on her computer too, and kept stopping to email or get a glass of water or to see what Natalie was doing. She seemed to be reading six or eight books at once, all left open, all spread out around her over the table so she could type and reach for one and then another without interrupting her thoughts. It was interesting, Natalie thought. She was learning something about Evie she wouldn’t have otherwise, something she never would have actually thought to ask.
After a few hours, Natalie made dinner, which really meant warming up packages from the freezer. She put one beside Evie, along with a fork, and was about to walk away when she glanced down at the photocopies Evie had spread around, and noticed a familiar name. “I know her,” she said, and pointed. The plaintiff’s lead counsel.
Evie looked. “Oh yeah, the amortisation on film royalties thing.”
Natalie nodded. “I’m not sure I like that I just said that.”
“Why not?”
“It makes me feel old. I know people who are precedent.”
“Oh it’s way worse than that,” Evie said, and rummaged around in her photocopies. She found what she was looking for, and held it out to Natalie. “I’m really sorry,” she said, and pointed to Natalie’s name at the top of another case report. “You’re precedent too,” Evie said, grinning. “Now do you feel old?”
“God,” Natalie said, slightly dismayed, remembering. “That was five years ago.”
“So yes?” Evie said, and kept grinning.
Natalie glared at her for a moment, then went and sat down.
They ate, across the room from each other, and Evie kept reading. Natalie quite liked sitting there, watching her. Evie made coffee, and Natalie had more wine, and the sky got dark, an
d the city’s lights came on, and Natalie felt slightly guilty about being lazy and watching TV when Evie was still working, but watched TV anyway, the volume very low.
About eleven, Natalie said, “I might go to bed.”
Evie closed her book, and then shut the lid of her laptop. She stood up, and seemed about to follow Natalie. Natalie didn’t understand.
“Wait,” Natalie said. “What are you doing?”
“Coming to bed. If you’re ready.”
“No,” Natalie said. “I meant I might go to bed. You should stay up as long as you want.”
Evie looked at her.
“Unless,” Natalie said, suddenly thinking about sex. “You wanted…”
Evie was probably still concentrating on her study. She stood there, looking blank.
“Never mind,” Natalie said. “You should keep going until you’re ready to stop.”
“I don’t want to keep you awake.”
“You won’t.”
Evie seemed uncertain.
“You honestly won’t,” Natalie said. “Unless you start playing basketball inside or something. I’ll be fine.”
“You’re completely utterly sure?” Evie said.
Natalie nodded, and went over and kissed her. “I want you here,” she said. “I like someone else around. I like looking over and seeing you there, and feeling someone else in this space. I also want you to do as well as you possibly can, so write your essay how you normally would and stop being so worried about upsetting me.”
“If you’re sure.”
“I am.”
Evie looked relieved. “I might be a few hours.”
“Then I’ll see you when you come to bed.”
“Thank you,” Evie said, gravely. “For everything.”
“It’s fine,” Natalie said, and turned to go. Wanting to avoid being distracting, and to let Evie get on with what she was doing.
Evie caught her hand and pulled her back.
“Really thank you,” Evie said. “This is good. This feels good. I’m getting a lot done.”
“It’s really fine,” Natalie said. “It’s nice to have you around.”
“I’m glad.”
“Me too.”
Natalie kissed Evie, and went to bed, before she was any more distracting them she had been already. She went to bed, and went to sleep listening to Evie’s quiet typing in the kitchen.
Evie slid into bed hours later, a warm naked shape Natalie who desperately needed in her life.
“What time is it?” Natalie said, half-asleep.
“Four. Sorry, did I wake you?”
“Don’t worry.” Natalie put and arm around Evie. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“Me too,” Evie said. Then, after a moment, “Want to fuck?” She slid her hand down Natalie’s tummy, already starting.
“Um,” Natalie said. “Would you mind if we don’t? I have meetings tomorrow, is all…”
Evie nodded. Natalie thought she nodded. Her head moved, and her hand went still.
“Is that okay,” Natalie said, waking a little more, suddenly worried about the way she’d turned Evie down.
“It’s fine.”
“Shit,” Natalie said, and rolled over. “Is it really? I know how I’d be if someone said no like that to me.”
“At four in the morning?”
“Well no, not at four in the morning. At nine at night.”
“Well this is four in the morning, so it’s fine. Go to sleep.”
Natalie waited a moment longer, but Evie seemed sincere. She didn’t sound angry, and she didn’t seem hurt. She lay where she was, breathing slowly.
Natalie was relieved.
“Did we just have a fight?” Evie said, after a moment.
“I hope not,” Natalie said.
“You’re thinking we did, though.”
“I’m worrying we might have. Maybe.”
“But we didn’t?”
“No.”
“Well that’s all right then,” Evie said.
Natalie hugged her, and didn’t move.
“So that’s all organized then,” Evie said sleepily, a little later. “We both got the girl, and now we live happily ever.”
“Which is probably the tricky bit.”
“Probably. Want to find out?”
Natalie smiled. “I think I do.”
“Good,” Evie said, and seemed to fall asleep. Natalie held her for a while, and then slept too.
Evie stole the covers and snored a little and turned over once hitting Natalie’s ribs hard enough to wake her, but Natalie was still desperately glad that Evie was there.
15: Evie
Evie studied. She read over her lecture notes, and all the cases she could find that even slightly relevant, and looked through books of analysis and theory too. She took screens full of notes, and felt like she was working well. She liked being at Natalie’s apartment. She felt settled right away. It was quiet, and she could concentrate, and the first day passed almost without her noticing.
When it started getting dark, she made dinner, because it was just as easy to do it as not while she read. She had wanted to make something interesting, and looked around in the kitchen, but in the end had to settle for pasta and a tomato sauce because Natalie didn’t have very much else except a freezer full of package dinners. Once it was done, she left the sauce on the stove, keeping warm, and went back to reading.
When Natalie got home, she seemed glad to see Evie. She kissed Evie, and kissed her again, and then they ate, and it was wonderfully, interestingly domestic. Domestic in a way Evie hadn’t ever been before. Not with such everyday casualness about it, just sitting down and eating, and not with only two of them, without having to chase out her housemates first, or ignore people walking through the room. It was nice, she thought. It was comfortable already, and felt good to be there, like this, with Natalie.
“How did it go today,” Natalie said, sipping wine. “The studying?”
Evie nodded. “Yep, good.”
“It’s not too quiet here?”
“God no.”
“What did you read?”
Evie ate a forkful of pasta. “You don’t really care. Do you?”
“Actually I do.”
Evie looked at her, thinking. Natalie actually seemed interested, as if she wanted to hear what Evie had been doing. Or perhaps she was just remembering something that had been fun for her. Either way, she seemed to want to know.
“Are you sure?” Evie said. “Because I’ll tell you.”
“Please,” Natalie said.
Evie decided she might as well. “Okay,” she said, and told Natalie what she had been reading, and what she was stuck on, almost hoping Natalie would help. Natalie asking was good timing, because Evie was actually stuck. There was a complicated bit of case analysis she couldn’t do, working out how to apply two conflicting laws to a situation, and how to untangle a hierarchy of precedents to see why a particular outcome had been chosen by the court that had actually decided the matter. The decision had been made for no good reason Evie could understand. She explained that, and said it didn’t make any sense to her, but when she finished Natalie just sat there looking at her.
“What?” Evie said.
“Should I actually explain?” Natalie said. She had done that before, asking before she did, as if she was worried Evie wouldn’t want to be talked at.
“Um, can you?” Evie said. “Because if you can, then god yes.”
“I’ll try,” Natalie said, and did, but said almost exactly the same things that Evie’s lecturer a week ago, which hadn’t helped the first time, and didn’t especially help now. Natalie must have seen Evie’s face, and realized she wasn’t getting anywhere. She stopped, and said, “I’m not being very clear, am I?”
“Um,” Evie said, not wanting to be rude.
“I’m not.”
“No, you’re…”
“Hold on,” Natalie said, and went and got her phone. She called someone,
and said, “A friend is taking law and having trouble with an assignment. Yes, I’m with her now.” She handed Evie her phone, said, “Explain.”
Evie looked at Natalie, confused.
“It’s one of my juniors,” Natalie said. “She’ll remember all this more clearly than me, and can probably explain it better too. She might be able to tell you more easily.”
“You can’t just…” Evie said quietly, hoping her voice wasn’t audible down the phone.
“She wants to help,” Natalie said.
“She wants to impress you.”
“And she’d better, if she wants to get on a partnership track.”
Natalie was probably joking, Evie thought, but she said it with the phone right there, in her hand, so her junior must have heard it. Evie couldn’t quite believe Natalie was doing this, and didn’t know if she should let her. It seemed like cheating, somehow, or at least taking advantage of the junior associate.
“Just ask,” Natalie said. “Please. She’s still at work. It’s fine.”
Evie hesitated a moment longer, and then took the phone. She shouldn’t refuse help when it was offered, she thought, and besides, this would probably be her life next year. She said hi, and sorry, and tried to explain what she didn’t understand, and from what she could tell the woman on the phone didn’t seem to think being asked was odd at all. Evie talked, and Natalie’s junior listened, and asked a few questions, and then said she’d just be a moment and put Evie on hold.
“She’s checking the case to see why,” Evie said to Natalie.
“Good.”
“I could have asked a tutor.”
“I’m right here,” Natalie said. “Well, she is.”
Evie nodded.
Natalie’s junior came back on the phone, and started explaining. Evie listened, rummaging around for a pen.
“Evie,” Natalie said, and held one out.
Evie took it, and started writing. She wrote everything down, then read it back to make sure she had it right. Then, slightly uncomfortable to have been part of what seemed like some kind of exploitation or cheating, she said thank you, self-consciously, and added, “Even though you had to.”
Natalie’s junior said it was fine, not to worry, and bye.
Evie's Job Page 27
