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“We are alone in this elevator so I don’t need to pretend to like you.” I looked over at him, leaning back on the wall, one loafer-clad foot propped up like he owned the place.
“What do you mean?” He looked slightly hurt, his green eyes all too serious and sad. I sighed inwardly. Why couldn’t he be pleasant and toothless instead of rabid? He was stunningly handsome. His arms were crossed over his chest, and I could see his biceps straining the sleeves of his expensive coat. The upturned collar set off his strong jaw. With the soulful look he was giving me, he looked like the hero of an epic love story.
“I mean, Andrew, that I am not going to suddenly become your friend, just because I’ve been commanded to tolerate you.” I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Is that so?” He pushed off the wall and turned to me, all too close in the stuffy car. His height forced me to look up at him, which I hated. “So you would consider thistoleratingme, MC?” His voice was velvet-soft.
“What do you mean?” I hated the uncertainty in my voice. What was he playing at?
“I think you feel it too,” he responded quietly.
I raised my chin. I would not be intimidated by this man. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Animosity is all I feel around you.”
He leaned down to me and I froze, my heart stuttering. He brought his lips right up to my ear, and I swore I felt the tiniest caress. Softly, he said, “Then why do you want me so badly?”
The elevator dinged and with a jaunty wave, he left me standing there, seething with anger and wondering why I wanted more.
* * *
“I have news.”Cynthia’s voice came from my doorway. Her eyes were wide.
“Come in. I could use a break anyways.” I had been deep in changes to the Langford purchase agreement, which was due to go back to opposing counsel tomorrow morning.
“Okay, so.” Cynthia settled in to my guest chair and leaned forward. “Ann is getting divorced.”
“Are you kidding me? Didn’t she marry her second husband five years ago or something?”
“Yup.” Cynthia nodded. “I heard her on the phone with someone and she mentioned it.”
“That’s really…sad.” I wanted to be gleeful, since Ann had been nothing but awful to both of us for years, but my heart went out to her.
“I know.” Cynthia sighed. “More proof this partner game isn’t for me. Her life is not enviable. I mean, other than the four houses she owns and the fact that she works exclusively from her cell phone for the month of August.”
Cynthia was right. Ann’s life was drab and grey. Two ex-husbands, kids from her first marriage that she rarely saw. I cringed. “Proof you can’t have it all I guess.”
“I mean,youcan. It will be different for you.” Cynthia said it with utmost confidence. She reached over and squeezed my shoulder.
“What if it’s not, though? What if I’m alone and surrounded by piles and piles of money? That’s no way to live.” My heart sank.
“It’s hard to have it all. I mean, very few female partners have happy marriages and loving families. But you’re going to change that.” Cynthia gave me a half smile. “I believe in you.”
“Thanks, girl.” I forced a smile back. I’d seen this situation play out countless times. Women who got pregnant only to find out they wouldn’t be making partner. Women who got married and the firm assumed they would be having kids soon, so they got “mommy tracked.” Women who made partner and ended up alone. “At this point, it’s not like I have anyone banging down the door to marry me anyways.”
“And whose fault is that?”
“Ugh. Mine. I know. Takes one to know one, though.”
“That it does,” Cynthia responded happily. She was content with her choices, always looking ahead, grinding now so she could follow her dreams later. For me, making partner was my north star. I didn’t have any other dreams. She’d badgered me to start dating more, even though she herself didn’t really date. Not dating was safe, though. If I didn’t have a relationship, there was nothing to lose. If I didn’t get married, no one at the firm could second guess my ambition.
“So what the hell happened yesterday?” She looked down at her phone and read my texts from yesterday afternoon.
“Andrew and I are in deep shit. Might be getting fired. Will tell you tomorrow.” She glared at me. “And then you left me hanging.”
“Sorry. I needed some time to process.” Normally I told Cynthia everything, but the secret shame of this had been too much to bear yesterday. The email mistake wasmy faultand it was very likely going to impact my chance to make partner, assuming I could tolerate Andrew long enough to get that far. “He’s about to be my office mate.” I said simply, the horrible truth of it hanging in the air.
“Come again?” Cynthia’s brows went up.
“Believe it. I was just as shocked.” I took a fortifying sip of my coffee. “The worst part of it all is that I think we are actually in trouble.” I told Cynthia about the doomsday conversation we’d been treated to yesterday and she fell silent as I spoke. “It’s mostly my fault. We might actually getfired.” I whispered the last word, as if it had talismanic power to make the eventuality come to pass.
