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“It isn’t. Work doesn’t need to be challenging. I have roller derby, if I need a challenge.”
“Ugh,” Kensley said with a shiver, shaking her head. “How you skate around a track body checking people is beyond me. But I see how it’s more challenging than Cavendish. Really, though, why do you stay there?”
Nita sighed, then thought about the question.
“I think I feel obligated to stay and help the new owners out. They know shit about running a business, and if it hadn’t gotten so dangerous lately, it’d be fun to watch them stumble around. But for me, I guess I stay because I believe in the club’s values,” Nita explained.
“Values?” Kensley scoffed, rolling her eyes. “The value of rich people paying for kinky sexual fantasies?”
Nita tutted at Kensley.
“Wow, I’m hearing some sex shaming in your words,” she murmured. “That’s surprising, coming from an OG Cavendish founder.”
“No shame intended. Sex of any kind is great. I’m shaming rich people who could be using their money for loftier purposes,” Kensley said. “Like when I sold my share and opened this family law firm. Which you could be a partner in if you’d ever take the bar exam.”
“I couldn’t buy into a partnership with you even if I wanted to,” Nita said.
“You wouldn’t have to—”
“Look, I have my pride. I don’t take handouts, and you making me a partner without a buy-in would be exactly that,” Nita said, flipping the pages of the test back over and folding the bundle small enough to fit into her tiny clutch purse.
“You think you’re not taking a handout at Cavendish? That they didn’t offer you a lot of money for a cushy job so you could help them get them out of a bind?” Kensley challenged, standing up.
Her baby bump came into full view and it made Nita stand up and walk to the door.
The whole idea of motherhood made her anxious. Kensley’s relationship with Ellis made her nervous, too, but as long as she didn’t look directly at them, she could stomach it.
Imagining the two of them with a baby, watching their interest in their law practices take back seat to their new family, went against practically everything Nita believed in.
More like what I stopped believing in a long time ago,she corrected herself. The family unit, whole, complete and fulfilling. It was bullshit.
“I’m not under any delusion about why they asked me back,” Nita said, shifting all images of happy families out of her mind. “They offered me a good-paying job, and I took it.”
“But how long will it pay? I’ve heard rumors—” Kensley said, but Nita cut her off.
“They’re struggling to get regular clients back, yes. But we have a new client and her engagement is in a couple of weeks. And speaking of that, I have to get going,” she said, and pulled open the glass door.
“Do you want me to keep you posted on the wrong egg case? I think you’ll find it interesting,” Kensley tempted, following her to the door.
“Sure. Maybe we can meet for coffee next week and talk about it,” Nita said, but continued down the hallway to the elevator.
“Think about scheduling your exam,” Kensley called after her. “I’m pretty sure you’ll ace it.”
Nita didn’t answer, just gave a finger wave behind her as the elevator doors slid open.
Once down in the lobby, she pulled out her phone, firing off a text.
Any free time today?she texted, stepping outside but standing under the overhang. It was a small office building, but had been modernized to fit in with the newer buildings in Seattle’s downtown South Lake Union neighborhood. It wasn’t exactly her style, but it inspired fear in the deadbeat dads that came to meet with Kensley’s clients.
A gust of wind swept a sheet of rain under the overhang, making her pull out her 1950s rain bonnet. She shook it out and tied it under her chin. A young woman in Uggs striding past gave a double-take before scurrying down the block.
“It’s vintage, you trend-following, plastic-proliferating, world destroyer,” Nita muttered to herself.
When a reply to her text didn’t appear right away, she walked up the block. She felt unsettled. It wasn’t the insulting look from the Gen Z’er, it was the idea of working with Kensley.
She’d sworn her allegiance to Kensley years ago after Kensley recruited in New York from her legal assistant course. When Kensley left Cavendish, Nita had gone with her. Despite feeling good about the women they helped, she’d missed the sexy, secretive surroundings of the Cavendish Club. Hobnobbing with mega-millionaires and being included in the most advanced technology nobody knew about made her dizzy. It was boring work, but it was safe work. Nobody, not clients or consultants, would sue an illegal sex club because a clause in a contract was mis-worded.
But the idea of working in Kensley’s practice where a single misplaced word could have major consequences? It scared the shit out of her, no matter how many practice bar exams she passed.
