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“What do you think we need for staffing?” Gerald asked. He had no idea what the junior associate workload was and relied on his senior associates.
“At least two juniors, maybe a third year and a first year?” Andrew spoke first. “Margo, what do you think? Anyone you would suggest?”
I kept my face neutral. Andrew never included me like this. “I agree. I’d like to staff Brad again. He did a good job on Langford until his staffing was reshuffled.” There. A white flag of peace. Even though I was demanding that we staff my junior associate, I was pretending Andrew hadn’t stolen Brad from me for the worst week of the year. The side of Andrew’s mouth kicked up.
Gerald frowned. “Didn’t he mess something up last time he held the pen on a basic purchase agreement? Do we really want to be giving him that level of responsibility?” I had no idea what Gerald was talking about but Andrew seemed to.
He was already shaking his head. “No, that wasn’t his fault. The client caused all sorts of problems there. Margo is right. Brad can handle it.”
My eyes went wide in surprise at his words and I quickly covered it. Andrew was being unusually accommodating today. Was he playing some sort of game?
Gerald gave a short nod and made a note on his paper. “This is going to be an incredibly complex deal and I don’t want any mistakes. So Brad can take the first draft of the skeleton purchase agreement and then you two will split the remainder of the drafting.” He phrased it like a question but it was actually an order. I met Andrew’s eyes. He raised a brow.Can we handle this? My lips twisted.I don’t think we have a choice.Splitting the drafting was unusual and required us to work closely together for a few weeks. My heart beat faster at the thought of late nights, our heads bent together over the document. I dug my fingers into my thigh.
“We’re on it.” Luckily, Andrew responded, his voice confident and smooth.
Gerald moved on. “Opposing counsel on this deal is Melanie Goldstein. Margo, I think you were across from her on Langford. Any issues with her?” He leveled a look at me.
“Nope. She’s tough but not unreasonable. Perhaps a tad overzealous in their markups, but the negotiations in person were fine.”
“Great.” He checked his watch and levered his bulk out of the chair. “I expect you two can handle it from here?”
“Absolutely,” I said. Gerald looked unconvinced.
“We’ve got it,” Andrew added quickly.
Gerald hmphed and left us alone.
“Not bad for former enemies, eh?” Andrew’s eyes danced.
“Not bad at all,” I agreed. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.
19
Margo
With every day we worked on the deal, memories from our early days together flooded me. While I preferred to stress snack and change into my leggings as soon as the clock struck 8 pm, Andrew had always been buttoned up unless the deal got really stressful. Today was no different. For most of the day he’d been pacing around the office in a fine wool suit, while I snuck glances whenever his back was turned. And while he had learned to tame his unruly hair just a few weeks into our second year, today it was escaping from the confines of the gel he used and curling over his ears. Probably from the number of times he had grabbed a hank of it in frustration.
And it appeared his other habits hadn’t changed much either. In the past, he had hung his jacket on the same hook and permitted himself to roll up his sleeves, but only after it was sufficiently late, or if he really were starting to lose it. And judging by today’s rolled up sleeves and my heart rate, we were both losing it. When Gerald had said biggest deal of the year, what he must have meant was world’s most frustrating client. Their general counsel, Spencer, was an asshole. We were on a conference call with him right now, running through the checklist and timeline. Normally, Brad would lead a call like this, as the mid-level associate, but Spencer had demanded senior lawyer attention on everything.
“It’s going to take two weeks to get a draft of the purchase agreement? That seems a tad slow, don’t you think? I’m just surprised two senior associates such as yourselves can’t work faster,” Spencer said, voice grating. I ground my teeth in frustration. Spencer was one of those people who used a mild tone with harsh words, so no one could accuse him of being a dick. Andrew’s green eyes were wide and made a hand motion that saidthis fucking guy. I shrugged, even though I wanted to shout that all the senior attention on basic conference calls delayed the documents. We had no choice but to put up with it.
I jumped in. “We’re pushing as hard as we can. There’s a lot of material to get through.” Clients loved to hear that you were pushing hard on something.
“Hmm. Well, see that you do. And I want senior attention on everything. I don’t want junior associates emailing me,” Spencer replied.
Andrew gave me a look that said this fellow must have been a real joy to deal with as a junior associate. I muted myself before laughing into my hand.
“Yep. Noted.” Andrew’s voice was hard. He had perfected the tone of being accommodating but knowing his worth. Clients typically respected it. “Anything else?”
His jaw was tight and his tone said he was cutting this call off before it could get worse. Why was it so hot that he was willing to push back? Spencer hemmed and hawed and Andrew made strangling motions at his phone before we finally hung up.
He sprang up as soon as the call was done and started pacing. “I want senior attention on everything,” he mocked. “You’ll get your senior attention, asshole,” he muttered and I grinned.
“Spencer better watch out or you’ll attend him right into an early grave.”
“I wish.” Andrew speared a hand through his hair, mussing the dark strands and giving him a just-fucked look. “Nice job playing good cop. We’re not a bad team, you and I.”
“Don’t sound so surprised,” I grumbled.
