16
December Ten Months Earlier
Atlanta was a bustle with tourists throughout the holiday season. Traffic clustered the interstates, the malls were packed with Christmas shoppers, and everywhere Lexi went, the city was full of Christmas cheer. It was unseasonably cold for the South. These low temperatures didn’t normally hit until the end of January or early February, and they lasted only a few weeks at most. She was surprised to be constantly clad in her New York attire of sweaters, knee-high boots, and pea-coats. She loved the layers, but she was already missing the summer.
The law firm had given her two weeks off around Christmas, and she had no idea what to do with herself. Last Christmas, she’d had three days off. She figured the extra time off came from paying her dues…or maybe the
