wronged party. I wasn’t just behind the scenes, I didn’t exist. I was like the hired help or something. The whole thing lasted over two years. In the end, my business and my career were history. I lost everything I owned, including my house. But fight it I did. And I won. Two weeks ago today. Funny, but I didn’t feel victorious.”
“Just two weeks ago? Jordy, I—”
“But you know what hit me the hardest? It was realizing that I’d let someone else run my entire life. Actually, I let her have my life. I thought I could sit alone in my studio and create. I believed that this life she’d built around me was actually part mine. But it wasn’t. The only thing that was mine was my craft. I had no real life. It was all hers. The clients, the parties, the support, the friends, all of it. I had nothing. And you know whose fault that is? Mine. If you don’t participate in life, you don’t really have one. I’m thirty-one years old and it took losing everything to make me understand that.” She laughed without humor. “Now
that’s
pathetic.”
“No, it’s not. You’re lucky.”
“Excuse me?”
“Not everyone gets the chance to figure that out.”
“So says the man who lives on an island?”
Cai smiled wryly. “Yes, well, maybe that’s why I have this point of view. Some days I wonder how I ended up like I did, so removed from the world. Most days I like it, other times I wonder if we did the right thing.” He thought of Arthur and Dilys and the difficult road that lay ahead for all of them as aging took its inevitable toll.
“That’s just it,” Jordy said. “I liked my solitude. Still do. But I can’t just rely on the rest of the world to take care of everything else except what interests me. And if I do, then I damn well can’t complain if I get shafted. You have to pay attention to what’s important, whatever that is. I’m just starting to figure it all out.”
“It sounds like you’re doing just that. You have learned a great deal about life.”
“Oh, I learned. I learned not to trust people. I learned the legal system isn’t about who’s right and who’s wrong but who has the most well-paid shark in the courtroom.”
“You trusted your lawyers. You did win.”
“It had nothing to do with trust. I swam with the sharks. It was bloody and damned expensive. All to prove I didn’t do anything wrong in the first place. Except trust the wrong person.” She drained her coffee, crumpled her napkin up, and shoved it inside the paper cup. “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all. We came here to talk about the case, not about me.”
“Tell me one more thing.”
The wary look returned. “Depends.”
“You’d just walked away from the two-year battle from hell. You come down here to wash the blood off and I guess try and figure out where to start over again. Why on earth did you get involved with this case?”
She fiddled with her cup. “Because I was concernedabout her. Because I know how it feels to not have anyone to turn to.” She finally looked at him. “And because I didn’t want to go home yet and I thought helping someone else might give me a clue as to how to help myself.”
“You were going to give up sculpting?”
“For a long time I didn’t think I had a choice. I thought it was lost to me.”
“Until the dragon.”
She suddenly stood. “Yeah, well, maybe that was a fluke.”
He caught her by the arm. “Wait a minute.”
“It’s really late and it looks like the storm finally let up. I should go.”
Cai stood, but didn’t let go. “Tell me about the dragon.”
She looked so vulnerable that he almost let her go. But he didn’t. She said she needed to talk. Well, this time there was someone interested in listening.
“Why did you give it to me?”
“I told you already. It was a gift. To us both. For you it was the perfect solution. To me it was.… It was hope.” She pulled her arm free. “Satisfied?”
“No, I’m not. I wasn’t
“Just two weeks ago? Jordy, I—”
“But you know what hit me the hardest? It was realizing that I’d let someone else run my entire life. Actually, I let her have my life. I thought I could sit alone in my studio and create. I believed that this life she’d built around me was actually part mine. But it wasn’t. The only thing that was mine was my craft. I had no real life. It was all hers. The clients, the parties, the support, the friends, all of it. I had nothing. And you know whose fault that is? Mine. If you don’t participate in life, you don’t really have one. I’m thirty-one years old and it took losing everything to make me understand that.” She laughed without humor. “Now
that’s
pathetic.”
“No, it’s not. You’re lucky.”
“Excuse me?”
“Not everyone gets the chance to figure that out.”
“So says the man who lives on an island?”
Cai smiled wryly. “Yes, well, maybe that’s why I have this point of view. Some days I wonder how I ended up like I did, so removed from the world. Most days I like it, other times I wonder if we did the right thing.” He thought of Arthur and Dilys and the difficult road that lay ahead for all of them as aging took its inevitable toll.
“That’s just it,” Jordy said. “I liked my solitude. Still do. But I can’t just rely on the rest of the world to take care of everything else except what interests me. And if I do, then I damn well can’t complain if I get shafted. You have to pay attention to what’s important, whatever that is. I’m just starting to figure it all out.”
“It sounds like you’re doing just that. You have learned a great deal about life.”
“Oh, I learned. I learned not to trust people. I learned the legal system isn’t about who’s right and who’s wrong but who has the most well-paid shark in the courtroom.”
“You trusted your lawyers. You did win.”
“It had nothing to do with trust. I swam with the sharks. It was bloody and damned expensive. All to prove I didn’t do anything wrong in the first place. Except trust the wrong person.” She drained her coffee, crumpled her napkin up, and shoved it inside the paper cup. “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all. We came here to talk about the case, not about me.”
“Tell me one more thing.”
The wary look returned. “Depends.”
“You’d just walked away from the two-year battle from hell. You come down here to wash the blood off and I guess try and figure out where to start over again. Why on earth did you get involved with this case?”
She fiddled with her cup. “Because I was concernedabout her. Because I know how it feels to not have anyone to turn to.” She finally looked at him. “And because I didn’t want to go home yet and I thought helping someone else might give me a clue as to how to help myself.”
“You were going to give up sculpting?”
“For a long time I didn’t think I had a choice. I thought it was lost to me.”
“Until the dragon.”
She suddenly stood. “Yeah, well, maybe that was a fluke.”
He caught her by the arm. “Wait a minute.”
“It’s really late and it looks like the storm finally let up. I should go.”
Cai stood, but didn’t let go. “Tell me about the dragon.”
She looked so vulnerable that he almost let her go. But he didn’t. She said she needed to talk. Well, this time there was someone interested in listening.
“Why did you give it to me?”
“I told you already. It was a gift. To us both. For you it was the perfect solution. To me it was.… It was hope.” She pulled her arm free. “Satisfied?”
“No, I’m not. I wasn’t
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