"Feelings and Fears"

Chapter 1 - "It Happened"

It was 7:00 a.m. and Joe Celano was already in his office. Actually, he was still in his office, because he stayed there all night. He had two cases that he had to study for the next week. Plus, he had a lot of thinking to do - about his situation with Vivica, and about his job. He loved working as a lawyer, but he couldn't help getting too involved. Suddenly, he remembered about some notes he had left on Lynn's office the day before.

As he searched through Lynn's table and drawers, he noticed a small paper, like a memo, fall on the floor. He caught and didn't mean to read it, but when he glanced the words "My Dear Lynn" written with Rex's handwriting, it was impossible to control himself.

And it said:

"My Dear Lynn

You know when you wait for something to happen for a long time? This was the way I felt about us all those years.

The funny thing is that I hadn't realized it until that night. You were in front of me all the time and just now I see how much you mean to me.

And, if I'm sad for all the time we've missed, and as glad as I can be for what we have ahead of us.

Rex"

Joe stood behind Lynn's desk for over a minute. Lynn and Rex? God, it had to be a joke. Then suddenly he brought back to reality by Randi, who entered the office.

"Good Morning, Joe." Randi said, wondering what he was doing there.

"Oh, hi, Randi." Joe answered weakly, still taken aback by that note. He suddenly realized he was still holding it and quickly put it back where it was before.

"So, I see you've found out about Lynn and Rex."

"You knew it?"

"Well, I can see."

"For how long?"

"The flirting? I could say a few weeks. The action? I still haven't found a way to make Lynn tell me."

"I'm so surprised."

"Disappointed?" "I said surprised."

"Hum... disappointed."

"Randi!"

"Too late, Joe. You can't say you didn't have a chance." Randi said leaving the office and not giving Joe a chance to answer.

But it didn't matter since he had nothing to say. He quickly grabbed the notes he was looking for and left the office, because he heard Lynn's voice not very far.

Lynn and Joe met in the hall.

"Hey, Joe." Lynn said, as usual.

"Hi, Lynn. Everything OK?"

"Couldn't be better." She said getting into her office and sitting on her chair. Joe followed her.

"Oh, Lynn, I took the notes from the Gordon-Lewis case. They were on your desk."

"Great. I really want to discuss some points with you. Come here when you finish reading it." As she looked through the papers lying on her desk, she came across Rex's note.

"Lynn?"

"Oh. Yes. Me." She was suddenly awaken by Randi's voice. "Where's Joe?"

"My God, Lynn. He left about tem minutes ago to his office. Where have you been?"

"I have a lot on my mind. Have you seen Rex?" She sounded embarrassed to ask those questions, something which Randi cleverly noticed.

"Yesterday he had he would go straight to court this morning, and come here in the afternoon." Randi smiled as she said that making Lynn feel even more uncomfortable.

Randi left, and Lynn rested on her chair, looking to the ceiling. She was so confused. The worst is that she had so much work to do, but it was impossible to concentrate. "Randi knows it." Lynn thought. "And... Joe?" Only the though of Joe's name was enough to make Lynn be agitated and shaky. Something that she didn't understand, since she had enjoyed so much that night with Rex. "You haven't talked to him yet, Lynn. Don't act like a woman and hope for something." She said to herself.

"Lynn? Are you busy?" Joe's voice brought Lynn back to the office.

"Oh, yes, Joe, sure. What do you want?"

"I've read your notes on the Gordon-Lewis case and I was hoping we could talk about them."

"OK. There are many points we must talk about before the hearing this Friday."

As Joe sat in front of Lynn and began to talk about the case, Lynn did her best to concentrate and forget for a moment that Rex existed.

TO BE CONTINUED...