Page 36 of One Little Favor

“I was.”

“But you just said that you were trying to protecther.” I click to the next photo as Mitzi’s cheeks grow more red. This one is another screenshot of a text Mitzi sent Avery, telling her that I had complained that she wasn’t efficient enough at her job.

“Untrue,” I say, “and combined, these are starting to feel a lot like a hostile work environment. In fact, I’d be surprised if Avery wasn’t preparing a harassment lawsuit right now. She’d certainly be within her rights to do so.”

“It wasn’t like that. I was trying to help her.”

“Were you? Or were you trying to make sure that I couldn’t have anyone else after I turned you down?”

She swallows, then tilts her chin up again. “I was trying to make sure she didn’t make the same mistake I did.”

I forward to the photo of the text exchange with Avery where she told her my other assistants all left after having affairs with me. “This is blatantly untrue, and you know it. Janet left because her boyfriend got a job in Miami and they moved. Lori couldn’t handle the number of hours required for the job and took a less stressful position elsewhere. And Tammy stayed for almost six months and then her husband, who was in the Coast Guard, got transferred. Jen, well, she was just incompetent at her job. But I never had an unprofessional relationship with any of those women, and you damn well know it. Which makes this”—I point at the TV screen—“libel.”

“You violated company policy on a number of issues,” Jack Callahan, the oldest among us and founder of the firm, says finally. “You’ve also lied and put those lies into writing. Tom would be well within his rights to sue you on that account.”

“So now you are possibly facing two different lawsuits,” I tell her. “One for workplace harassment, and one for libel.”

“Or you can walk away,” Jack says. “There will be no severance or reference, but Tom has agreed not to pursue any type of settlement against you if you resign. We can’t make the same promise on behalf of Avery, especially since you’ve ensured she’s no longer employed here.”

That’s something I plan to rectify immediately.

Mitzi’s spine stiffens. “I’ve been here fortwelve years.”

“Kind of makes me wonder what else you’ve done in those twelve years,” Marissa says. “What other lies have you gotten involved in? Maybe we need to look into that?”

Mitzi’s eyes widen. “This was just about Tom. I’ve never done anything like this before.You”—she spits out the word as she looks at me—“shouldn’t be sleeping around with your admin anyway. I was trying to protect the company.”

“As a firm, we have no policy against employees having a personal relationship with each other,” I clarify. “And don’t you dare insinuate that I’m sleeping around with Avery. I’m going to marry that girl one day, and I’m going to laugh thinking about how you tried to ruin that. Good luck getting another job in this city. Leo will walk you to your office so you can pack your things.”

I slam my laptop screen closed and watch in satisfaction as she gets up and storms from the room.

“Don’t let her out of your sight, Leo,” I say as he rises to follow her out the door.

“I’m going to go call security right now,” Jack says and heads out the door on Leo’s heels.

At the conference table, Marissa rests her chin on her fist and stares at me. “You’re going to marry her? Does she know this?”

“Not yet.”

“Does shewantto marry you?” Marissa’s voice is teasing. We went to law school together, and she’s the one who recruited me over here from my last firm. She knows me well enough to know that I’ve never felt this way about anyone but Avery.

“If she doesn’t already,” I say confidently, “she will, eventually.”

“And you’re willing to wait?”

“I’m willing to do whatever it takes.”

“You going to get her to come back here and work for you?”

“She makes me better at my job, so yeah. Unless that’s a problem?”

“I don’t see a problem with it,” she says, and neither Leo nor Jack seemed to think it was a problem either when I talked to them separately on the phone last night. “Just keep the personal stuff outside of the office.” She stands and adds, “Enjoy your weekend. Good luck getting her back.”

CHAPTER13

AVERY

There are three minutes left in the game when someone wearing a New York jacket sits down on the step next to my aisle seat. I glance over at him, and he gives me a friendly smile. He’s young, or maybe he just looks young under the flat brim of the NY hat he’s wearing. Either way, it makes me feel old sitting here with my parents and the empty seat that would have been Tom’s if he weren’t such a douche.

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