It didn’t take Phoebe long to make her way from her former Chambers to Red Lion Square in Holborn, for her next meeting. This was with her old tutor from University who was according to the email confirming the meeting, right in the middle of giving a lecture on ‘Torts’ to first year law students at the University of Westminster.

Phoebe waited in a Café close by the facility and remembered how she felt as a new student being away from home for the first time in her life and smack bang in the middle of London as well. It had been rather overwhelming for her at first but thanks to the help of the person she was meeting, she stuck at it.

It was also when she’d met Sky and Lana at the Halls of Residence they’d been in that was on Marylebone Road. They shared a small kitchen on the Thirteenth floor. All of them were away from home for the first time and even though they were from very different backgrounds, they’d almost instantly bonded and became firm friends even before ‘Freshers Week’ was over. Those were happy days for Phoebe. She didn’t have a care in the world back then. Rather different to now.

Less than ten minutes after the lecture was due to end, her former tutor, Katherine Stannard walked into the Café.

“Hi Kathy,” said Phoebe.

Kathy looked at Phoebe and grinned.

“My, my Phoebe, you have come on since we last met. No lawyer drab I see?”

The phrase ‘lawyer drab’ had been one of Katherine’s jokes but Phoebe soon found out that dressing down and wearing only grey’s and black’s was the norm for those appearing before a judge in a legal capacity. Phoebe was wearing a flower print skirt and a yellow top.

“Makes a change doesn’t it,” commented Phoebe.

Kathy ordered a Coffee at the counter and sat down opposite Phoebe.

“It was a nice surprise to get your email even if you were a bit circumspect as to why you wanted to meet.”

“I thought of you simply because I know that you have been around the legal world for some time and won’t tell me what I want to hear.”

Kathy smiled.
“At least some of what I droned on about for three years stuck.”

Then she wiped the smile from her face.
“What is it that you want my advice on?”

Phoebe opened her briefcase and pulled out the envelope with the job offer and other details inside.
“Can you tell me what you think of that?”

With a raised eyebrow, Kathy opened the envelope and pulled out the contents.

As befits an experienced lawyer, she didn’t offer any comment other than the occasional nod of the head until she’d read more than half the papers that were in front of her.

“Interesting. That is one heck of a tempting offer.”

“That’s what I thought. Do you know anything about this organisation?”

Kathy looked Phoebe right in the eye.

“Sadly Phoebe, I do.”

Phoebe’s heart sank.

“I guess you want me to say yes or no to this offer as if I was sitting right where you are?”

“Something like that.”

Kathy drank some of her coffee before continuing.

“I’d tell them to their face No, and never in a million years.”

“But why?” asked Phoebe.

“Because it will be like selling your soul to the devil. You know those shady organisations so vividly brought to life by the likes of Dan Brown in stories like ‘The Da Vinci Code’, ‘Angels & Demons’ and that sort of thing? Well, like most fiction, there is often more than a modicum of truth behind it.”

Phoebe could not stop herself from laughing.

“I dreamed up a fake history for myself that said that I worked for a company that helped people validate ownership of Art works and Antiques. It was to help me get a good deal for my wife to be in selling her house.”

Kathy raised a different eyebrow.

“Wife?”

“Yes. Long story but we are totally in love with each other.”

“I take it that she is not a lawyer?”

“No. Far from it. She runs her own IT Consulting business.”

“Good to hear that you have someone from outside the law in your life. I know to my own cost that marrying a fellow Lawyer does not always work very well.”

Then Kathy put on her serious face again.

“I meant what I said. They will use you and if you don’t equal or beat the men then they’ll spit you out just like that. The money is so very attractive. That is all part of the honey pot that is enticing you in.”

Phoebe looked confused so Kathy showed her what she meant.

“Look at these sections of the contract.”

Kathy showed Phoebe two paragraphs of the contract. Phoebe realised that taken apart they were fairly innocuous but together, they made a whole lot more sense and also confirmed what Kathy was saying.

“I didn’t connect them like that. Sorry for that.”

“Don’t be sorry. I have a lot more experience of this sort of thing than you do. It is very easy to miss how these clauses could be put together to make life very difficult for you. Did they talk about extended periods away from home or being based elsewhere?”

“Yes, they did. It was hinted that I might be based in Geneva.”

“Then this all makes sense especially as you now have someone to go home to. You may well find that very few of the people you would be working with have a home life. All those TV Shows about US Lawyers working all hours of the day and night, are very close to what these people do. Again, a dose of truth makes the fiction easier to swallow except in this case, you may well be doing it without the glamour. There is nothing in here about allowances for the different cost of living and expenses while away for the extended period of time. I saw one contract last year for a very different industry where the employee was expected to pay for all expenses out of the pretty generous salary. The downside is that your salary is such that you will be paying the top rate of tax on it and then could well be expected to pay for flights and hotels and everything out of your post tax income. I call it ‘Implication by omission’ and I think should be avoided at all costs. Sadly, this ‘feature’ is becoming more and more common in executive level employment contracts. Anything that companies can get out of paying for means more on the bottom line and also liability after all if they are not paying for a trip then they limit their liability. I’ve even heard of one US Bank charging contractors a daily rate to bring their own IT kit into the bank but they don’t supply equipment for them to do the job. A win-win for the Bank don’t you think?”

Kathy’s words hit Phoebe really hard. Not only did it show how much she had to learn about contracts but business and real life in general.
Phoebe sat there trying to digest it all. No matter which way she tried, the answer was always ‘No’ to accepting the job offer.

“Thanks Kathy. I really do appreciate what you have said.”

“Anytime Phoebe. I just wish more of my former students were as willing as you to seek advice but what happened at the Chambers? I felt sure that there would be a Tenancy waiting for you once you passed your Bar Exam with such flying colours?”

“There sort of was but things conspired and around the same time I met Samantha who turned my world upside down and inside out in a flash. So, I told them that I was leaving just when I should have been saying yes to a job as a Barrister.”

Kathy smiled.

“Life does that sometimes. Are you going to accept?”

“I was dithering but after hearing what you just said then no chance. As you said, the money is very good but those two clauses would have to go for starters for me to even consider it. I was wavering but not now. I’ll find something else to do. Not sure what yet but I’m not ready to sell my soul to the company store.”

They both laughed.

“What are you going to do next?” asked Kathy.

“I’m due to have lunch with at least one of them shortly in one of the restaurants at the Shard.”

“All to tempt you my dear. If I were you I’d go in there, tell them no and get the hell out of there. Don’t wait around to be fed or you may end up saying yes.”

Kathy looked at her watch.

“I must dash. I have a tutorial starting in twenty and I need to get the notes from my Office.”

They said their goodbyes on the pavement outside the Café. Phoebe then headed for the nearby Holborn Tube Station and her lunchtime engagement.

---

“I’m meeting a Mr Ellery,” said Phoebe to the Maitre’d as she arrived at the restaurant. The views all around the city from the ‘Shard’ tower were magnificent. She knew that eating here would not be cheap. Then she stopped herself. She would not be eating lunch that day.

“Ah yes. He is expecting you. Will you please follow me?”

Phoebe followed the man over to a table where Mr Ellery was already seated.

“Hello Phoebe,” said Mr Ellery as he stood up to greet her.

“Nice to see you again Mr Ellery.”

“Gerald please.”

Phoebe smiled back at him as they sat down.
“I’m glad you came. You seem to have brought the good weather up from the coast.”

“It is only temporary if that black cloud coming up from the west is anything to go by.”

He looked where Phoebe was indicating.

“You might be right.”

Phoebe took a deep breath before saying,

“Let me cut to the chase Mr Ellery. Thank you very much for your offer but I’m not going to accept it. I have done some research and I’m not ready to commit my life to your job or any job for that matter. That was part of the reason I left the Chambers. I’d committed more than enough to the job and really got very little back. I’m going to take my time and decide what I really want to do next. If that is nothing to do with the law then so be it.”

Then she stood up.

“I’ll leave you to your lunch. I have a train to catch.”

She didn’t wait for him to reply. Her directness even surprised herself as she made it to the lift and pressed the button. She almost caught herself looking back at him but stopped herself just in time. If she had looked, she would have seen him raising a glass in her direction and with a huge grin on his face.

Gerald Ellery might look and act like an old fool in the eyes of many, but he admired the sort of directness that Phoebe had shown just now.

---

Phoebe’s flat was quiet when she arrived home. Samantha was at her home doing some work and trying to sort out what she wanted to take with her when she moved out. There wasn’t much apart from clothes and a few knickknacks. She knew that Samantha was going to miss the place. There were a lot of memories of her childhood and adolescence in the building but she knew deep down that with the pressure from her Father and now with Phoebe in her life it was time for a break from the past. What troubled Phoebe was how smooth or rough that break with the past would be for Samantha. Phoebe resolved to do everything she could to help her lover. It was all part of being a couple.
Then she smiled. They were a couple and she could not have been happier.

Samantha arrived at Phoebe’s later that afternoon. She brought over some personal items in a box. A lot of other stuff had already been taken to the container that she was renting in Shoreham. Her home was starting to look a bit bare now but having these things with her would keep her memories of the past fresh in her mind.

She found Phoebe sitting and looking out of the window.

“Hello Darling,” said Samantha as she put the box on the table.

“How did it go?”

“I told him to his face that I was not going to accept the offer. Then I walked out.”

“You mean you didn’t get a Michelin starred lunch out of him?”

“Nah. I just felt that I had to tell him and get the hell out of there.”

“You seem far more certain that ‘No’ was the right decision than you were when you left here this morning… How come?”

“As I told you, I was going to meet my old Tutor from Uni. She read the contract very closely and… well it wasn’t good. As her speciality is Contract Law she read it and found two clauses that when put together painted a very different picture on the deal. It was that assessment that swung it for me. I was still dithering up to that point.”

Then she decided to change the subject.

“How was your day?”

Samantha smiled.
“Two loads of junk taken for recycling, one load to Shoreham and I even did some work!”

“Well done!”

Phoebe stood up and embraced Samantha.
“I missed you,” she whispered.

“Same here. It was strange not having you around.”

“All I could think about when I was up in London was getting back here and to you.”

“Now that you have decided not to take that job what are you going to do next?”

“I’ll go and sign on tomorrow then we have the little matter of finding us somewhere else to live. The next month will go by very quickly.”

“What if you get a job before then?”

“I’ll try to get the start date put back but I’m really not interested in working for a law firm full time.”

This surprised Samantha.

“When did this all come about?”

“I overheard a conversation on the train back from London that got my mind going. There are a number of advice centres in town that I am sure would love to have me as a volunteer for the time being at least. It will give me something to do while we find somewhere to live and get me out of here.”

Samantha grinned back at Phoebe.

“That is the best idea you have had since you asked me to marry you,” she remarked.

“Then there is our wedding to plan?”

Samantha shook her head.
“Have you gone off the idea already?”

“No chance of that my love. To be honest, I just want to roll up at the registry office with a few witnesses and get it done. Then go for a really good meal before we disappear off to somewhere nice for a week on Honeymoon.”

“You seem to have it all worked out?” asked Phoebe.

“Not really but you know me. No fuss, no scenes. Get it done then we can get on with the rest of our lives together.”

Phoebe thought about what her lover had said for several seconds before responding.

“Well, neither of us have any family to speak of that we want to invite it sort of makes sense.”

“My Father is certainly not welcome and I really have no idea where my mother is these days. I lost track of her once Dad had moved onto her replacement and the divorce was finalised. We were never very close though. I think that she saw me as a bit of an inconvenience. What about your family?”

Phoebe laughed.
“If I told my dad that I was marrying another woman he’d be here with a gang of his mates and my brothers who still think that a woman’s place is in the home and married to a man who earns all that is needed to run the home.”

“That bad eh?”

“Well, perhaps not that bad but getting that way. That’s why I escaped and have only been back once and that was for Granddad’s funeral.
They all made it clear that I was not welcome. In their eyes, I was a traitor to the people I lived and grew up with.”

“Then it is just Sky and Lana and their partners then?”

“Looks that way. Don’t you have anyone to ask?”

“Not really. Coming out as a woman lost me most of what few friends I had and the few that remained have got married and have families of their own. We sort of ran out of things to say after a while and I’m really not interested in a gazillion pictures of their offspring’s every movement. One of them posts at least five pictures of her children on Facebook every day. I think it is rather sad and will no doubt come back to haunt them when they get older.”

“Yeah. I was the outcast at school for not being on any social media. As Dad would not let me have a phone until I was old enough to pay for itself it was rather hard. I got bullied for that but he would not budge. Ewan, one of my brothers bought one for me but I’d only had it a week before Dad found it and stamped all over it.”

“You poor thing!” said Samantha.

Phoebe smiled.

“Not really. A bit of a blessing in disguise. What I didn’t have I couldn’t miss. Instead of spending my time seeing who was dissing whom on Facebook, I had my nose in a real book. The prospect of getting four top grade A levels and my ticket out of South Wales was more than enough reason.”

“What did you bring over in that box?” said Phoebe trying to change the subject. He past life was not easy for her to speak about. Samantha was very much in the same boat which made them very well suited for each other.

“Just a few photos and knickknacks. Not much really.”

Phoebe stood up and looked into the box. She soon spotted a photograph in a simple wooden frame.

“Is this you?” she said pointing to a young girl that was sitting on the bonnet of an old car.

“No. That’s my cousin Jacqui. She lives in New Zealand now.”

Samantha looked lovingly at the photo.

“That’s my Grandfather. It is his car. I took the photo.”

Phoebe looked at her partner. She could see that there was more to this story than Samantha was letting on.

“You don’t have to tell me the story if it is too hard for you?”

Samantha was slightly taken aback by Phoebe’s word.
Then she let out a small laugh.

“No. Just an embarrassing moment.”

“Oh, goody please tell?”

Samantha looked at Phoebe who was grinning from ear to ear.

“Oh well. If you must!”

Phoebe said nothing.

“A few years ago, I found out that the car in the photo still exists and that it was going to be on show at the Goodwood Reunion event that September. I came up with this cunning plan to buy the car. I told him that it was me in the photo and I’d like the car for sentimental reasons. The last bit is true though.”

“But you didn’t?”

“No. It sort of backfired on me. The guy who owned it was very nice. He even came up with a plan for me to buy the car if I’d do something for him.”

“Like sleeping with him?”

Samantha laughed.

“Nothing like that at all. He gave me a lift back to Hove from Goodwood. On the way he explained what he wanted me to do.”

Samantha paused.

“He wanted me to teach him how to become a woman.”

Phoebe tried her hardest but could not stop herself from laughing.

“It is all right for you but I’d only had the operation a few months before so I was still a bit sensitive about getting read. It was only later that I realised that he hadn’t read me but was genuine in his desires. But like a wimp, I did a runner. I legged it from where he dropped me to Hove Station. I jumped into a Taxi who took me home.”

Phoebe took hold of Samantha’s hand.

“I guess it was part of growing up then?”

“I was in a right state for nearly a week. Slowly it dawned on me what he really wanted and why. I was too much of a coward to phone him up and give him an answer. But it taught me a lesson. A lesson that I remembered when we were standing at the Bus Stop after the Speed Dating Event. I decided to not be a wimp and to go with my feelings and kiss you.”

Phoebe leaned over and kissed Samantha.

“I’m so glad you did,” said Phoebe a bit later.

“Otherwise we would not be here today I’m happy to say. Without that episode we would not have met, now would we? That means my darling that it wasn’t a disaster. An embarrassment for sure but not a disaster by any means and I’m so happy that you did kiss me.”

Then Phoebe said softly,
“I won’t mention it ever again.”

Then she did a zipping motion to her lips.

Samantha laughed and tried to tickle Phoebe.

---

The next day, Phoebe did as she promised, went to sign on for Unemployment benefit or as it is called 'Job Seekers Allowance'. She came out of the offices feeling totally unclean. The whole experience had been degrading and not one that she wanted to repeat in this lifetime or the next.

The staff had made her feel totally unworthy of any benefits. As she expected, there was a grand total of zero adverts for a qualified Barrister. The first person she’d seen had thought that Phoebe was a ‘Barista’ as in someone who waits on tables or serves in a restaurant.

It took her quite a while to get the mistake corrected without raising her voice or getting angry. Even then, they tried to get her to go for an interview for a job in a Coffee Shop saying that here three years of experience in London would be very attractive to the shop manager.

While having a Coffee and trying to calm down Phoebe remembered the slip of paper that Danny had given her when she was in London. After searching through her handbag, she found it. The phone number was for a place in Chichester. She knew the dialling code for the city because one of the people she’d represented in court had lived there.

After some hesitation, she left the coffee shop and after walking down to the sea front, she called the number.
“John Tomlinson please,” said Phoebe when the call was answered.

“No, I’m not a client. A Danny Swayne gave me his number. My name is Phoebe Russell.”

After almost a minute a man came onto the line.
“Mr Tomlinson?”

“Yes, he did give me your number.”

Then Phoebe recognised his voice. He had been the solicitor handing the case that she’d taken when the lead Barrister had a Skiing accident. It was her second solo case and also the second one that she’d won in court.

“I was just doing my job. It was clear that the prosecution case was not solid and your client’s alibi stood up.”

“No, I have left them. I’m currently out of work but to be honest Mr Tomlinson, I’m not that interested in working full time. I am thinking about volunteering at an advice centre.”

“Really? That sounds good.”

“Yes, I would like to meet to discuss things a bit further.”

“No, tomorrow morning at ten is fine.”

Phoebe hung up the call and immediately felt a lot better. The phone call had more than made up for the seemingly ritual humiliation of ‘Job Seekers’ at the hands of people who were supposed to be helping people find work.

---

Phoebe told Samantha about the phone call over dinner that evening.

“That’s good because I have some news as well.”

“You have a lead on somewhere else to live?”

Samantha shook her head and smiled at the same time.

“It is time for your first fitting. Jackie called me and said that she had a number of items ready for you to try on.”

Phoebe took a moment before she realised what Samantha was on about.
“I’d sort of forgotten about that…”

“I had as well what with one thing and another.”

Samantha sat back in her chair.
“Perhaps we should look for a house closer to Chichester? There are some really lovely villages on the South Downs.”

“Chicken and Egg!”

Samantha laughed.
“It won’t hurt for me to take a look in a few agents while you are seeing this Mr Tomlinson tomorrow now will it? Then we can go over to Ford for your fitting…”

“You are coming then? Don’t you have to work? You were complaining that there was a problem that didn’t seem to respond to any of the fixes you tried.”

“All done and dusted. I had this sudden bit of inspiration and after going back to version of the code from two weeks ago and making a small change, it all works. That means we are free to go house hunting for the rest of the week, unless you have other ideas?”

“No, I don’t as you well know.”

After a slight hesitation, Phoebe added,

“Ok, we can make a real effort to find somewhere over there only if my interview is successful!”

Samantha kissed Phoebe to seal the deal. This was becoming a bit of a habit and one that neither of them objected to.

---

“How did it go?” asked an expectant Samantha as Phoebe emerged from the building where Mr Tomlinson had his legal practice.

“Good. He’s going to send me a formal offer tomorrow but I agreed in principle to work about three days a week averaged out over a year.”

“Eh?”

“I agreed to work no more than one hundred and fifty days a year. That’s three days a week over fifty weeks. Obviously if there is a trial then it will be more days in a row while the trial is on but then I’ll get some free time.”

“Ah, I get you.”

“You seem to have had a good morning?” said Phoebe looking at the shopping bag that Samantha was carrying.

“I got lots of property details and we can look at them later. Now it is time to see how that dress looks on you.”

Phoebe had dressed down in Lawyer ‘drab’ for her visit to Mr Tomlinson. While getting dressed that morning, she’d realised how much she hated it. She’d told her prospective boss that if she came to work for him, she’d only wear those sort of clothes for appearing in court or visiting clients in Prison. To her surprise, he hadn’t objected.

Phoebe had chuckled to herself as she left the office. Every woman there seemed to be dressed down in variations of her lawyer drab. More than likely it was just to fit in and make an impression of being serious when dealing with customers. Phoebe had made it clear to Mr Tomlinson that there was a time and a place for everything. Appearing in Court was one and working in the office was another.

As they drove over to Ford, Phoebe realised that looking good was becoming almost second nature for her now thanks to Samantha’s cajoling. Now that she had someone to dress up for, something that had been a real PITA BS (Before Samantha) was now enjoyable and something that she actually looked forward to every morning.

Thirty minutes after they’d arrived at the Business Unit, Phoebe was changed and about to make her entrance and show off the dress that Jackie had made for her. It looked lovely but wearing a petticoat to show off the full skirt was a totally new experience for her. She looked at herself in the mirror and did a twirl. The way that the skirt moved made her happy. It was a far cry from the plain straight skirt that she’d worn for her meeting earlier.

After another twirl, Phoebe realised that her hair was all wrong for her new look. It wasn’t long enough nor was it full enough and nor was it the right colour especially when she was alongside Samantha. Something had to be done about that but that would have to wait as her deliberations were cut short by Samantha calling out,

“Darling, is there something wrong?”

Phoebe took one last look at herself in the mirror before stepping out from behind the curtain.

“Wow!” exclaimed Samantha as Phoebe appeared from behind the curtain.
“That really suites you.”

Jackie said nothing but the smile on her face said that she agreed.

Phoebe did a twirl for her audience. A month before she would have never done that in heels. Now, it was no problem. She could not imagine wearing flats with that sort of outfit.

As she preened herself in the mirror, a thought came into her mind. It made her laugh.

“What’s so funny?” asked Samantha.

“Wait a moment.”

Phoebe ducked back into the curtained off area where she’d gotten changed and retrieved the skirt and top that she’d worn to the interview earlier.

She returned and stood in front of Samantha and Jackie whereupon she proclaimed,
“This is not me!” as she pointed at the clothes in her hand.

Then she tossed them aside and did a twirl.

“This is ME!”

[the end]

[Postscript, some two years later]
After a lot more dithering and prevarication, Phoebe did not take the job offer with Mr Tomlinson. Instead, she took a course in teaching and is now a part time law lecturer at a Further Education College in Chichester. She married Samantha just before that Christmas and in the following March, they moved into a converted barn near the village of Duncton, which lies on the north side of the downs to the north east of Chichester. From the top of the nearby hill which is appropriately named, Duncton Down, you can see the sea and even the Isle of Wight on a clear day. It quickly became a favourite spot for the couple to go for picnics.

The photo of the old car somehow got lost in the move. Both of them had left a lot more than physical objects behind them in order to start their new life together.

Phoebe’s hair had not been given more than a trim since the ‘this is me’ day and now is what she considers the right length, halfway down her back. After a couple of failures, she settled on a yellow blonde colour with a black fringe.

Phoebe has just one set of ‘lawyer drab’ clothes left, which she only wears them when taking part in mock trials otherwise ‘colour’ and flare is the name of the day.

[authors note]
The ‘old car’ in the Photograph was a Morris Minor and is part of my story ‘A Minor Romance’ where Samantha makes an appearance.