chapter 11

“Guilty as charged!” Chloe smiled, as she reached for her second donut.

“Oh my god, you’re famous!” Claire exclaimed. She’d never worked with a famous client before!

“I mean, a little famous. At least in the world of plus size modeling and clothing design.” Chloe not so modestly said, while she patted herself on the back and took a bite of her donut at the same time.

“You’re too modest! Plus size is basically the average size of women in America.” Claire truthfully argued, as she returned to her seat and gave her feet a rest.

“Yeah, I have noticed that.” Chloe admitted, while she looked over the large office woman in front of her, “It’s kinda comforting.”

“Ehh, I hate it. It’s so hard to eat healthy.” Claire complained. She was still geeking out that she was getting to meet a real clothing designer. No wonder the dress she was wearing was so awesome, it was designed by a girl bigger than she was! Chloe knew the struggles of being an overweight woman because she was one!

“Hey, don’t change the topic! I was serious when I said you could be a model. I could call my agent and get you a shoot right now.” Chloe almost threatened.

“You’re serious?” Claire tilted her head in disbelief.

“100%.” Chloe nodded, as she polished off the last of her second donut and added, “Word of warning, my agent swings both ways so she’d probably ask you out on a date too.”

Blushing and breaking eye contact, Claire’s hands traced her meaty form down her sides until they reached her chunky lower belly. That’s when Claire insecurely hummed, “I don’t think I want people seeing me like this.”

“Like what?” Chloe asked, as she gazed at the size of Claire’s doughy gut.

“I’ve really gotten fat. Look at my graduation pictures on the wall, that’s what I used to look like.” Claire pointed, while she was unable to bring herself to look.

“Wow, you were so skinny.” Chloe muttered unable to control herself, “Is that your husband?”

“Yes, that’s Paul.” Claire hummed once again unable to bring herself to look at the picture hanging on the wall. However, the picture was ingrained into her memory. With her insecurities taking over again, Claire added in a huff, “He’s not fat anymore. Marriage made him get into the best shape of his life and it made me humongous.”

Trying to make Claire feel better about her body, Chloe asked, “You wanna see what I looked like before I moved in with my husband?”

“Sure.” Claire hummed, as she did her best to compose herself. She was hardly acting professional right now, but she couldn’t help it.

“Look.” Chloe urged, while she handed Claire her phone.

Accepting the phone delicately, Claire almost did a double take. The woman in the photo looked 200 pounds lighter than the fat model sitting in front of her. Unable to utter anything else, Claire gasped, “Oh my god…”

“I know, but you know what? Who cares? My husband loves the extra weight and so do I.” Chloe resolutely proclaimed in an inspirational tone, “You’re lovely as is, and in my professional opinion, you look even better with the extra weight.”

“My sister said that today too…” Claire muttered, while her brain struggled to process what Chloe had just told her.

“Maybe because it’s the truth!” Chloe laughed, as she pointed to one of the many paintings handing around Claire’s office, “By the way, I’ve been getting into art collecting recently, who painted all this stuff you’ve got hanging up in here?”

“Oh, my husband did all of them.” Claire responded. She was having trouble keeping up with Chloe’s energetic train of thought.

“Are they for sale?” Chloe wondered.

“No, I can’t sell them anymore. It was originally my way of helping my husband’s business, but my boss told me to knock it off. If you wanna buy anything you have to come to my husband’s studio.” Claire explained, as she pictured her husband’s ‘studio’ and had to add, “He wants me to call it that, but really it’s just our garage. I don’t want to paint the wrong picture.”

“Hahaha, I’ll take you up on that for sure!” Chloe laughed not realizing that Claire’s pun was accidental.

Clearing her throat, Claire tried to get the meeting back on task, “Would you mind if we got back to the matter at hand? We only have half an hour left for your appointment.”

“Oh of course.” Chloe straightened up, crossed her legs, and reached over to grab the last donut, “Remind me what did we discussed already? Sorry, my head’s all over the place right now.”

“No need to apologize. I was just talking about the expenses that the criminal case would need to reimburse you for. There are your husband’s medical expenses, pain and suffering, any lost wages if his injures cause him to miss work, the damage to your rental car… by the way, did you guys buy rental insurance.” Claire sought to clarify, while her tummy growled at the sight of Chloe taking a bite of the last donut.

“We did. I thought it was a rip off, but my husband convinced me otherwise.” Chloe sighed, while a wry smile escaped from her face.

“Thank god for husbands.” Claire sarcastically added.

However, it didn’t seem like Chloe picked up on the sarcasm, “Seriously. So, are we going to have to pay for anything out of pocket?”

“Short answer, no. The police have a really strong case and here in Ohio drunk driving is a crime where restitution is mandatory so if you win the case, the defendant will cover all expenses you and your husband have incurred from the incident.” Claire succinctly explained much to Chloe’s delight.

“Ha! I’m chuffed to bits!” Chloe enthused, “But can I sue the bloody bastard for all he’s worth?”

“Umm, unlikely. Foreign nationals CAN sue a citizen of the United States, but we’d have to file a separate civil suit to get damages. And the civil suit will take into account the money you get as restitution in the criminal trial. So, you probably wouldn’t be getting all he’s worth, just enough to restore you financially to where you and your husband were before the accident.” Claire explained in her usual intelligent tone.

Swallowing the last of her donut, Chloe let out a belch and a profanity, “*Buuurrp!* D*mn.”

“That being said, I would recommend filing a civil suit too. At least until the offender is convicted or pleads out. We could always drop the civil suit once you get your restitution. If your restitution is not satisfactory to you, then we could follow through with the civil suit.” Claire added as consolation.

“Why?” Chloe wondered.

“I just want to cover all your bases. I bet that the offender will take a plea bargain within the week, but just in case he doesn’t… Luck favors the prepared. And I don’t want you and your husband to pay a cent for what happened.” Claire firmly punctuated by closing the case folder with enthusiasm.

“Kimmie was right about you.” Chloe smiled, “My mind is made up. You’re hired. How much will it cost me?”

“Since you are family of an employee, we’ll only charge you once we bring your civil case to a satisfying conclusion. And the fee won’t be too bad.” Claire warmly answered.

“Wow, what’s the catch?” Chloe questioned.

“You’re family. There is no catch. That’s the policy here at Marshall & Waller.” Claire returned Chloe’s smile.

Looking at the time, Chloe shrugged, “I thought this would take longer.”

“Me too.” Claire laughed.

Without a second of hesitation, Chloe rose to her feet and asked, “Wanna get lunch with Kimmie and I? She was going to take me somewhere close by. I’d love to chat some more.”

“Umm, sure. I’d love to.” Claire nodded. How could she say no? Laura would kill her if she passed up the opportunity to get lunch with an honest to god legend in the plus size clothing industry.