Page 29 of Back to You

“Oh, you actually got home at a decent hour?”

“Yeah, Cartwright got sick. Anyway, I was talking to Brandon last night and he mentioned that our niece and nephew miss me, and his sister, and I was just thinking how much I miss them. And before you say anything, I know it’s my own fault.”

“Well, at least you acknowledge it.”

“And this morning I dropped into the cafe just to give Brandon a kiss, and I realized how much I miss that too.”

“You might be catching a clue, here, I’m not sure.”

“Nia, how can I speed up the process to become a senior associate?”

“Never mind, that clue flew away. Bye-bye, clue!”

“What?”

“Ethan. Baby. Precious.”

“Uh-oh.”

“You are a brilliant legal mind. A hard worker. A real asset to the firm,” Nia said.

“Thank you?”

“But you’re a dumbass.”

“And there it is.”

“Why am I calling you a dumbass, you might ask? Because only a dumbass would ignore the obvious solution, which is stop working such long hours, in favor of ‘how do I work more in hopes that maybe I might achieve my goal faster?’ That is what a dumbass does. Now look me in the eye, Ethan, and tell me the truth. Do you want to be a dumbass?”

“Nia —”

“I asked you a question.”

“I mean, no, of course not, but —”

“Thank you, I knew you were too intelligent to actually want to be a dumbass. So stop asking me such dumbass questions, huh?”

Ethan stared as Nia nonchalantly went back to eating her lunch. “Have you ever met Brandon’s sister?”

“No.”

“Good, let’s keep it that way.” Ethan poked at his salad restlessly. “I mean, say I did pick up some more work. Wouldn’t that make me look better to the partners?”

“Maybe. Or maybe they’ll just realize you’re a glutton for punishment and pile even more work on you so that, even if you make senior associate, you’ll be too dead to appreciate it.”

“How did you do it?”

“Baby, I did my best work, but I made sure they understood my boundaries. My private time is a boundary I won’t cross. And they respected that. I think they were impressed I was willing to stand my ground. At the end of the day, you have to put yourself first. Because these people sure as hell aren’t going to do it.”

He contemplated that for while.

“Ethan, you have to understand that it’s not quantity of work, it’s quality. You do excellent work. You’ve shown them that. You can afford to start cutting back on your workload. You know you work harder than any of the other junior associates? I know that seems like it would put you above the pack, but it also gets you noticed in a bad way. You’re ripe for the picking for partners like Cartwright who see work as their life. And they expect you to see it that way, too. Once you get a reputation for being always here and ready to work, they start to expect that of you. Junior associate, senior associate, partner, it doesn’t matter what your title is when you’re too busy to enjoy your life.”

She shut the lid on her empty lunch container and packed it back into her bag. “Think about what I said, Ethan. You’re at a crossroads right now. Don’t let yourself take the wrong path.”

***

Ethan was at his desk plugging away when he heard terrible coughing coming down the hall. He looked up just as Cartwright appeared in his doorway, coughing madly. He could see over Cartwright’s shoulder that Molly across the hall was quickly shutting her door and spraying Lysol.

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