I have not written any stories before and this is my first attempt. I know this story needs polish but I like the idea behind the story.
*****
The town of Somerville was an oddity. It was a mixture of rural and suburbia. It was home of some the wealthiest people in the state and also some of the poorest areas. The area outside of Somerville was dominated by farms and ranches complete with full crew of sharecroppers and ranch hands. The actual town was on the coast and as a result was home to a resort and plethora of boats, boathouses and beaches. The city houses resembled suburbs and was pretty affluent as far as towns go. Before the Pamela Wells came in with her resorts and her armada of fishing boats the town was one of the most conservative cities in the state. However, as the suburban housing developments started popping up the direction of the town started to change. Pamela Wells and her coven, as the old school elites were fond of calling the female career women in Somerville were intent on installing a local government more aligned to their views. If Pamela Wells was the queen, then Ellen Prince was her champion, the woman headed every single women's organization in Somerville, and she was Pamela Wells's strategist. Ellen was the one that Pamela would call upon when they had problems with anyone in town and most of the time she took care of business most men would steer clear all accept one.
Ron Hawkins was a happily married man whose luck in life has been special to be sure. Ron met his wife, Ellen, just out of law school and he considered himself the luckiest man in the world. Even at thirty-two she was a knockout. She was 5'4" perfectly curved and possessed long curly blonde hair and had legs to die for. Everybody he met agreed that she was way out of his league which lucky for him his wife did not agree.
A woman like Ellen inspired plenty of haters, there was none worse that Peter Daniels. Peter had been after Ellen since they were in law school together. He was a typical alpha male impressed with himself as well enamored with Ron's wife. She never gave him the time of day. Which to Peter just made him want her even more. Peter was an impressive person who had it all, if you ask most women, he was wealthy, successful, fit, and he was smart as well. The man was a very successful attorney. He and Ellen had a couple of epic legal battles that went both ways. To make matters worse they both worked for rival law firms. We live in the simple town of Somerville. So chances are when problems arose, you went to one law firm or the other. Peter Daniels was well known to all of the more conservative groups, while Ellen was head of every women's rights group you could name. Peter was an old fashioned man and he let Ellen know it. He would always try to get under her skin by making remarks about how she should be at home so she can clean, that her being a lawyer made her husband look like a wimp. She would always come home furious on those days. Ron tried to tell his wife that it was just a ploy. She never listened though and would go off on rants about how can there be men still like him in the world and that she was glad she married a liberated man. Funny Ron did not feel liberated. Although truth be told he sometimes he would wish he had a more traditional type of marriage, not that he minded sharing the chores, but he sometimes thought it would be nice to come home and have dinner on the table and the cleaning done.
What was more troubling to Ron was the fact the ploy was seemingly starting to work the last couple of years. In fact the last four cases were not even close, and the more his comments got under Ellen's skin the more Peter would say them and the worse her performance in the courtroom became.
Ellen had it with his superior attitude. What made matters worse was that after the last loss, the owner of his firm decided it was time for him to retire and handed the reins over to Peter. He was now the one running the law firm under the new moniker of Daniels & Associates.
Ellen looked over the briefs on her current case. One of the most prominent donors to Ellen organizations and wealthiest members of their small town, Pamela Wells, was being sued for fraud, coercion and tortious interference with contract. They were charging that Pamela coerced suppliers into not selling to her competitors. The case had the potential to ruin her. The only reason their simple town was not a conservative stronghold like every other county surrounding their town was because of Pamela Wells. All of the women's organization in Somerville would lose all support and become insignificant without Pamela Wells. Pamela was a close friend of Ellen, and when the shit hit the fan she was the first person she contacted. Of course all the conservatives of the state wanted to nail her to the wall and they hired Peter to make sure that happen.
Ellen gulped as she saw the name on the opposing side. She told herself she was not going to let him get under his skin, too much was riding on this case. It was time to show these back wood hillbillies what strong educated women could do. Ellen was an elitist in the truest sense of the word, in her mind most people of Somerville were beneath her, not because she believed in privileged, but because she just had the view that if people did not think like her it then they were not smart, or they were ignorant wretches.
The phone rang and Ellen picked up and answered, "Fitzpatrick and Associates this Ellen speaking, how can I help you?" Ellen said while perusing the file.
"Ah I see you found your true calling, receptionist." Peter said unable to stifle a small chucled.
"If I was, I could hang up on you, what do you want, call me to say you want to drop the civil suit against my client?"
"Why I just wanted to tell you I am sending you some new files for discovery, we have some nice e-mails sent from your benefactor Pamela Wells. It seems she has a penchant for losing her cool." Peter said while suppressing a chuckle.
What an ass, Ellen thought. She was trying as hard as she could to not lose her cool.
"We will see if you are still singing the same tune once we get to depositions." Ellen cooed back in a seductive voice.
"Ooo I wonder what are you ladies will do once your cash machine gets gutted dry for what she has done. I am sure my benefactors will allow you ladies out of the kitchen for bake sales, or hold spots on the PTA." Peter said chuckling. He loved goading Ellen, now he had the upper hand.
"Oh you just see, when I get her off, we will see if you and you gun club right wing nut balls will be acting so cocky when you fail and we file our own suit."
"Oh man you are delusional, just remember that we offered your client to settle for one quarter of what she is going to lose in this law suit, but I must say it is about time we got a Republican mayor. Pamela Wells wife, I mean husband, has been in that job for entirely too long." Peter said.
Ellen face turned red as her knuckles turned white from holding the phone so hard, "Frank, (Pamela's husband) is ten times the man than you will ever be, you Neanderthal." Ellen said through gritted teeth.
"I seriously doubt that Princess, if you ever seen what kind of man I am you would not go back to those wimpy men you and your client call husbands." He said with a tone of complete arrogance.
"We will see if you are still grinning by the time this is over, and Peter, by the time we are done with you, well let's just say you and your friends might want to move to the next county over, because you and your Neanderthal friends days are going to be limited here in Somerville." Ellen said as she hung up the phone.
Peter smirked as he hit the hang up button on his phone and said to himself,"We shall see about that princess." On Peter's desk was a picture from Ellen taken during her law school days. He smirked as he looked at the files at his desk.