I kiss Ryan goodbye, leaving him to hisproject, walk outside and hail a cab.
I take the elevator to the twenty-third floorof the Chrysler building. I step out into an opulent reception areawith dark wood floors and a long sleek desk. There’s a large, tangranite wall behind the desk with all four partners’ names writtenin big block letters: Remington, Anderson, Smith and Steele. It’svery commanding.
I walk up, smoothing my shirt, and approach ayoung girl with strawberry blonde hair, freckles and big greeneyes. She’s very pretty.
“Who are you here to see?” the girl asks witha smile.
“John Remington,” I announce and her smilegets bigger.
“You must be Alana.”
“Yes, I am,” I smile back tightly.
“Right this way,” she walks out from behindthe desk and escorts me through the huge double glass doors. As wewalk through the main hallway of the law firm I catch glimpses ofdifferent things through the glass walls, lawyers in meetings, onthe phone or engrossed in their computer screen.
“I’m Reyna,” she says as we walk.
“It’s nice to meet you,” I reply. “How longhave you worked here?”
“Just a few months,” she says cheerfully. “Ijust moved here from Texas, I got lucky and landed this job rightaway.”
“You don’t sound like you’re from Texas.”
“No, I’m not. I’m from California originally.Sierra Nevada area, I move around a lot.”
“What brought you to New York?”
“Jay-Z,” she laughs.
“Excuse me?”
“It’s true,” she laughs harder. “No onebelieves me when I tell them that. I heardEmpire State ofMindand I just had to come experience the city formyself.”
“Does it live up to the hype?”
She nods her head enthusiastically.
I think Reyna and I are going to get alongjust fine.
Reyna leads me into a little room with nowindows, a desk and a chair. She hands me a clipboard with a stackof papers on it and a pen. “Fill this out and I’ll let Mr.Remington now you’re here.”
“Okay, thank you.” I sit down at thedesk.
“Alana, I’m here for whatever you need,okay?”
I smile at her thankfully, and then she shutsthe door.
A little while later, after I’ve finished thepaperwork, Reyna comes back to tell me my uncle is ready to seeme.
I follow her out of the room and down thelong hallway that seems to be the main hub of the firm. We walkthrough two more double doors where several huge offices aresituated. This is definitely where the big guns work. She motionsto an entrance on the right and I see my uncle through the glass,he’s sitting at a huge cherry wood desk with a view of Manhattanbehind him that punches you right in the face. I walk in and whenhe looks up, a wide smile lights up his face.
“Alana.” He stands and comes around the deskto hug me, “I’m so excited you’re here.”
“Me too,” I say nervously. I don’t know why.This is my uncle, I shouldn’t be nervous, but the grandeur of hisfirm feels like it’s crushing me.
“Reyna showed you around?”
“Yes, a little, she’s very nice.”