LOVING THE HEAD MAN Read Online Free Page A

Mississippi and help your brother!”
       “Ma, you know I can’t leave right now.  I just got here.”
       “So when you coming home?”
       “The program ends by Memorial Day--”
       “ Memorial Day ?   You done lost your mind!  That ain’t ‘till the end of May!  He’ll be rotting in prison by Memorial Day!”
       “Well that’s the only time I won’t have to be here and I’m not about to lose this opportunity over Ricky’s foolishness.”  If I haven’t lost it already , Bree thought.
       “Yeah, I told him you didn’t give a damn,” her mother declared.  “I told him I would be wasting my time calling you.  Because it’s always all about you.   Forget your family.  Forget your big brother.  Forget the promise you made to your poor old daddy.”
       This hurt Bree to her core, as she was certain her mother knew it would.  “I’m keeping my promise to Daddy.  That’s why I’m here.  If I can make it, then I can help y’all.”
       “ Ain’t stuttin’ us,” her mother went on.  “Just living it up in the big city, in Chicago , like you the big time girl now.  When poor Ricky sittin’ in that filthy jail cell–”
       “Ma, I have to go,” Bree said.  “I’ll call you later.” 
       And she clicked off her cell.  She hated doing that to her mother, and she hated that her brother was in trouble again, but what did they expect her to do about it?  Leave everything behind and come running to help a brother who was always in and out of jail? 
       She shook her head as if she could shake away the thought of it.  She was determined to be the one selected to work at Colgate, despite Alan DeFrame, despite her fierce competition, despite her mother’s badgering to make sure her time away from home wasn’t about to be carefree.  As if she’d ever had a carefree day in her entire life.  
       “Aren’t you cold?” a male’s voice said from behind her and Bree, startled, turned to the sound. 
       And that was when she realized that she was not alone.  To the right of the roof’s door, seated relaxed at a table, was a man she immediately recognized as Robert Colgate, the owner of the firm she was desperately trying to become a member of, and one of the most renowned criminal defense attorneys in the country.  She could hardly believe her eyes.
       She was caught so off guard, in fact, that her first reaction wasn’t just amazement over the fact that Robert Colgate had just spoken to her, but shock that he may have overheard the extremely personal, bare conversation she had just had with her mother.
       “Am I . . . cold?” she found herself asking.
       Robert lifted his eyebrows, his very pronounced, perfect eyebrows, Bree noticed.  He was seated beside a small, oval table, legs crossed, drinking coffee and smoking a cigarette.  “I believe that was my question, yes,” he said. 
       She looked younger than her video, more vibrant, but Robert still saw that sweetness in her, that something special  that made him order Alan DeFrame to reshuffle the committee selections, and include her.
       When Bree still seemed at a loss for words, he smiled.  “Come here,” he said.
       Bree moved over without hesitation.  She knew who he was and just to be able to speak with him made her excited beyond words.  Should she joke off the phone call she had just had, noting that her mother was always “kidding around?”  Should she tell him what had just transpired with Alan DeFrame?  Was he the kind of man who wouldn’t tolerate such behavior?  Or was he just as bad?  Bree had so many questions, so many concerns, that she didn’t know where to begin.
       Robert looked at her white, sleeveless blouse, a blouse that had a low-cut, looped down collar, with his expression unreadable to Bree.