Claire sighed and sat back in her chair, tilting her head side to side to release the knots in her neck. It didn’t help that Rose was estranged from her parents and she always came alone to the meetings.

‘It might help to have someone here to support you,’ suggested Claire, gently, when she’d discovered that Rose hadn’t even told her family about what she was going through. It also led Claire to wonder how Rose was paying her legal bills but she’d checked with accounts and all the billing was up to date.

Sitting up straight, she noticed it was getting dark outside and Claire switched on her desk lamp. Checking her watch, she saw she only had a couple more hours before she needed to leave for home. It was Friday and they usually had a family night, although Joshua had been doing his own thing more and more over the last few years. She tried never to push him to stay at home if he wanted to be out with his friends. He worked hard during the week and he deserved a night out.

Still, she loved it when he chose staying home over going out. The four of them together snuggled on the couch was one of the highlights of Claire’s week and she knew Chris enjoyed it too, so she quickly sent Joshua a message asking what his plans were for the evening. Her phone pinged a response almost immediately.

Sorry, Mum, off out tonight with the lads!

She was disappointed, but she quickly texted him back telling him she would save him some pizza and then got back to work. She made notes on her legal pad, the rhythmic strokes of the pen organising her thoughts, the black ink a pleasing contrast to the yellow paper. While she used her laptop for official documents, all her notes were made the old-fashioned way. It helped her think. She had cupboards full of legal pads, all boxed, labelled and filed, and could retrieve them when she needed to. Julia often joked that they would have to move to a larger office just to accommodate them.

She was so focused on writing that she didn’t see the door handle move, a figure slip in the room and walk towards her.

‘Thanks for taking this on,’ a voice suddenly said.

Claire jumped. Rose was standing in front of her desk, stock still, her heavily made-up blue eyes watching her.

‘Rose! Goodness, you startled me!’ Claire put down her pen. ‘What are you still doing here?’ she added.

‘Sorry,’ replied Rose. ‘I just wanted to come and say thanks for representing me.’

‘You’re welcome but I’m not really representing you. I’m just here to support your team.’

‘But you will be in court with me, won’t you?’ asked Rose, her fingers clasping each other anxiously.

‘Yes, I’ll be there.’