chapter 18

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In Claire’s office, moments later…
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“What a d*ck! Is that like, allowed?? Like, can he really say that to you??” Janet huffed and puffed after Kimmie had relayed to her what had just happened.

“It’s a free country, he can say whatever he wants in there.” Claire mumbled, while she gobbled down a piece of her emergency chocolate that she kept in the bottom drawer of her desk.

“Maybe you should just take their offer. It would cover our client’s medical expenses, right?” Kimmie wondered not thinking that a guy like Harvey could be reasoned with.

“It would, but our clients deserve to have more than just their medical expenses paid for. You know how much it sucks to gain weight.” Claire vented, as her stomach growled. All this shame and stress she felt inside her was making her crave more comfort food.

“Yeah…” Kimmie sighed, as she looked down at her plump body and frowned.

“Gaining weight’s fun.” Janet piped up, as she rested her massive 400-pound blob of a body against Claire’s desk.

Thinking back to her conversation with Chloe, Claire did her best to make the point, “If gaining weight is a choice, sure, maybe it… can be fun. Who am I to judge? But our clients didn’t make that choice. They gained weight through no fault of their own. It was forced upon them.”

For once, it didn’t seem like Janet had anything snarky to say. Taking in the silence, Claire let out a deep breath and tried to recompose herself. She needed more chocolate. Bending over and reaching into her bottom desk drawer, Claire picked out another chocolate bar and began unwrapping it. Just as Claire managed to get the soothing chocolate taste to grace her lips, the door to her office barged opened and Kate barged in.

“How can you eat at a time like this?” Kate questioned looking annoyed with Claire’s poor coping mechanism.

“I’m hungry.” Claire mumbled with her mouthful. She was in no mood to deal with Kate right now.

“Claire only had a salad at lunch.” Kimmie innocently informed Kate in an effort to defend her boss.

Claire couldn’t take it anymore. She’d lied so much today that now Kimmie was unknowingly lying for her. Venting her insecurities, Claire emotionally admitted, “No Kimmie, I didn’t just have a salad at lunch today. Remember the phone call I had to make? I didn’t call anyone. My greedy butt just couldn’t resist going back to KFC and ordering a bowl of that fried chicken all for myself, and you know what? I ate the whole d*mn thing! Harvey’s right about me, I can’t put down the fork! I’m not a saint Kimmie, I don’t have good self-control. I wouldn’t be this fat if I did! I just sneak food when nobody’s looking because I’m ashamed of myself! The only person I’m not ashamed to eat in front of is my husband and it’s his fault more than anyone else that I got this fat in the first place!”

“Don’t feel bad Claire…” Kimmie hummed in an embarrassed tone, “I sneak food too…”

“At least you’ve got a good man who’ll stand by you no matter what.” Janet added seeing the need to help Claire feel better. She’d never seen Claire break down like this.

“Claire,” Kate began, as everyone turned to the only woman in the room that wasn’t clinically obese with dread that she’d somehow make the situation worse. Continuing, Kate struck a conciliatory tone, “How much you eat is your business, nobody else’s. Certainly not Harvey’s. Now I need you to stop stuffing your face for a second and come look at this. This just came in from the P.I.”

“What is it?” Claire huffed, as she grabbed the small folder of documents Kate handed to her and looked them over. She hadn’t seen these before. Grunting in surprise, Claire exclaimed, “These can’t be right. This page looks like an internal record of sales figures and… this one is about a clinical trial for the drug. One with a female sample... How did the P.I. get these?”

“How should I know? Will they help our case?” Kate wondered, as she rested her hand on her hip.

“I’d say so. It looks like Harvey and his team have been bending the truth to help their case.” Claire sighed trying to compose herself. She needed to think clearly, her insecurities were clouding her judgment on this. Remembering the confidence she’d seen from Chloe earlier, Claire decided to embrace her feelings. She’d let herself go, but so what? She was a great lawyer and being fat didn’t change that! Regaining her focus, Claire got her emotions under control, “Okay, game plan. Kate, go back to the meeting and stall for time. Janet, get these documents copied into our system and print out copies. Kimmie, go with Janet once she has the copies ready, bring them back to the meeting room. Let’s show these pr*cks who’s boss!”