“Well, I guess that’s good news,” he said, getting reacquainted with his cubicle. His face suddenly reddened. “This will be taking a bit of rest,” he mumbled, grabbing the glittery beach shot of Heidi and shoving it into a drawer.

Their lovers’ spat was definitely none of my business, but inquiring mobile homes wanted to know.

“I take it things aren’t going swimmingly with you two,” I ventured.

He stared blankly, threatening to resume the sitting-up-dead position he’d mastered prior to his dramatic exit weeks earlier.

“Oh, it’s been a pretty crappy few weeks. If you can believe it, Allison’s accident and my confrontation with the judge weren’t even the worst of it.”

I shimmied myself into the narrow parking spot in front of Matthew’s cubicle and gave his impeccably groomed brownish blond head one gentle pat. “So, what happened? Is everything O—”

“It’s Heidi,” he blurted. “She wasn’t overly supportive, to put it mildly. When I got to New York, I figured that she’d meet me at the hospital, right? I mean, that’s what I would have done but—”

“Um, hello? Are you guys, um, law clerks?” Matthew and I whipped around at the sound of a foreign voice.

“Hi, um, I’m Kate, I’m um, the new clerk, um.” I’d totally forgotten that Laura the Lesbian’s replacement was starting that day. From the looks of her, there was no way Kate would last as long as Laura. Insecurity-inspired posture. Glasses thicker than my shoulder pads. And a distracting love of the word um. At least she was wearing a cute suit.

“Um, is that guy, um, in the back, um, a clerk also?” She pointed to Evan’s corner. It was obvious that Evan hadn’t introduced himself to her, let alone provided pertinent information such as: Don’t talk, don’t smoke, don’t get sick, and don’t eat lunch.

Matthew stood up, gently grabbed Kate’s and my arm and ushered us to the back. “Hey, Evan,” he said brazenly, “did you meet our new coclerk, Kate?” Prior to his showdown with the judge, Matthew had barely spoken two words. Now he was taking charge, as if the showdown had broken a lifelong seal.

Pretending not to have noticed that a new clerk was in our midst and that Matthew had returned from sabbatical, Evan looked up. “Oh, hi. I’m Evan. Nice to meet you.” Liar. He didn’t think it was nice to meet her. He didn’t think it was nice to meet anyone who couldn’t do something for him. Recently, my disdain for Evan had ripened into loathing.