That tiny muscle in Matt’s jaw pops back and forth as he stares at me, then he smiles at me. Almost evilly. “Definitely love it, although they should rename it Two Nights Only. It was that good of a weekend.”
Oh, that pisses me off, and I’m pissed off at myself that it pisses me off. Score one for Matt Connover. That was like a punch in the gut and, even though I have no right to be, my feelings are hurt just a tiny bit.
Sometimes I hate being a woman and all the things that come with it that make me soft and mushy.
Pushing those thoughts aside, because they really have no room in my head, I ask Matt to tell me more about the case that is sending us all the way to Chicago for depositions. He makes a smooth transition from gloating over his weekend sexcapades, and spends the next twenty minutes until our flight is ready describing, with mind-numbing detail, about his lawsuit. It’s against a major auto manufacturer that produced a vehicle where the seatbelts were faulty, causing their customers to be ejected from the vehicle during rollovers, or shot through the windshield in head-on collisions. Matt spoke with fervor and righteous indignation over the poor victims, practically sneering when he told me he had proof that they knew the seatbelts were faulty, but didn’t want to spend the money to do a recall. Rather, they rolled the dice and hoped no one made a claim for compensation.
I have a feeling that they are going to be very sorry for crossing Matt Connover.
Apparently, we would be doing the depositions of some of the big wigs in the corporation, to see just how high up the ladder the conspiracy to keep the secrets of the faulty seatbelts went. My job would be to sit there and take tedious notes on every question and answer, making sure that I even paid attention to the deponents’ facial reactions in case Matt stumbled on something that they really didn’t want him to know about.
I’m excited to see Matt in action. Despite the rocky start to our working relationship, I am eager to learn from him. I did some of my own Googling of the illustrious Matt Connover, and found that he is well respected in the legal community. He’s already made quite a name for himself after only ten years of practice.
I just need to remember to keep my libido in check, my heart on guard, and my work beyond impeccable, and all will be well in my life.
The first day of depositions are over, and we’ve all met down in the hotel bar/restaurant for drinks, dinner, and then more drinks.
We’re on the more drinks part now, and there is room to celebrate. Matt killed it today, and it was almost a surreal experience.
First, we were at the corporate defendant’s law firm, a massive, steel-and-glass structure that dwarfed the rest of the Chicago skyline. The depositions took place in the largest conference room I’ve ever seen. The table was massive and could seat fifty people, although there were only about fifteen in attendance.
The lawsuit is complex, and there are multiple parties. There are five plaintiffs total, and all of their lawyers had flown in to hear the testimony. Matt had long ago been appointed lead counsel. He was the only one asking the questions—and the man was pure genius.
I thought the questioning would be contentious but quite the contrary… Matt took the ‘good old boy’ approach. He softened up each deponent with benign questions, carefully poking and prodding. Nodding in commiseration, he gave sympathetic looks over how hard their jobs were. At one point, during the first deposition, I even began to wonder if Matt’s heart was really in it.