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ELIZABETH
Ireclined the front seat of my car, munching on hours-old French fries and a burnt grilled cheese sandwich.
Nothing, and I do meannothing, had happened over the past three hours while I sat outside this “important” building.
To salvage my sanity, I snapped pictures of its brick exterior, stepped out to stretch, and plucked a few weeds from the overgrown bushes.
The only person who entered and left during my stakeout was a pest-control guy.
On the one hand, this was hands-down the easiest work I’d ever gotten paid for. On the other hand, the more I languished outside the office, the less time I had to slip away and use the firm’s resources to work on a case that was dear to my heart.
The case that made me give up my theater dreams in the first place.
An elderly man with a cane suddenly walked past my car, and he headed up the condo’s steps.
How riveting.I snapped a picture.
While I was saving his description to my notes, Mr. Carter sent me a text.
Mr. Carter
You can return to the firm now. We have work to do.
It’s three in the morning and I’m wearing pajamas.
I thought I was going home after this.
Mr. Carter
Thank you for confirming you know how to tell time. You have twenty minutes to get back.
You thought wrong.
“Fuckkkkk thisssss shitttt!” The pent-up scream I’d been holding in for far too many nights finally escaped my throat.
I tossed my phone to the backseat and pulled onto the street.
I’m using every second of this time to get back.
“Law school makesyou very good at memorizing things, Miss Tanner.” Mr. Carter didn’t look up at me when I walked into his office. “But now you have to learn how toapplythem.”
“Hello to you, too, Mr. Carter.”
“It’s one thing to be book smart, but this is the real world, and there are no grades out here.” He pushed a stack of briefs across his desk. “Onlyconsequences. You need to rewrite thesefirst five before the hearings, and if you’re going to continue to be my partner—”
“I’m no longer interested in being your partner,” I said. “Until you give me the respect and the apology I deserve.”
“Come again?” He finally looked at me.
“I didn’t take my issues to Human Resources for shits and giggles.”
“It wasn’t for free wine and flowers?”
“I received an invitation to work here because I graduated at the top of my class,” I said. “And you made me an offer because I was the best.”
“There was another reason as well,” he muttered.
“Either way,” I said, “I’ve put up with enough disrespect from my ex-boyfriend, my foster parents, and plenty of other people who will never deserve mentions. I refuse to take it day in and day out from you.”
