Page 108 of Partner Pursuit
Audrey stared unseeing at the congratulatory bouquet of flowers from Max on her coffee table. Betty had just offered her a job as the Popflicks Associate General Counsel, reporting to Betty. She could hire her own team (a lawyer and a paralegal). That was why Sebastian had joined the meeting—to meet her and give his approval as to whether Betty could hire her. They’d been waiting until she made partner.
She’d been so surprised, she hoped she hadn’t given a bad impression. She’d told Betty that she would love to work for her, but she had to think about it because she’d just made partner. Betty had been understanding and told her to take some time to thinkthisover.
She sat on the couch, pulling her hair back into a ponytail. She had been aiming to be a partner at the firm for years now. That was the career ladder at Howard, Parker & Smith: you started as an associate and then a select few were tapped to be a partner. She’d intended to be one of those few, especially after Kevin had said that she couldn’t make it. She’d always been at the top of her class. Eventually she’d planned to goin-housebut envisioned that as years in the future.But whatdo Iwant?
This was a really good job offer, but she hadn’t even had a chance to be a partner at the firm. She couldn’t give that up. She considered calling her mom to talk it over, but she wanted to think it through first. This was her decision, her life. She was afraid that her mom would see it as akin to her giving up tenure. Being a lawyer for a corporation was risky compared to being a partner. A lawyer in a corporation could get laid off in corporate downsizings.
She looked around her living room, bare of any Christmas decorations except for a small Christmas tree. Despite her mom’s suggestion, she had decided not to go away for the weekend and instead planned to spend today decorating her apartment for Christmas (that had all fallen to the wayside with the Jakebreak-upand the final sprint to making partner). But now she walked over to the small desk in the corner of her living room to procure some paper.
She sat down to list the pros and cons of the two career paths. As she bit her nail, thinking about pros/cons, her attention was caught by ato-dolist tacked up on her bulletin board. It was eight years old—ato-dolist created when she had first started working at the law firm: sign up for MoMA Junior Associates; hold dinner parties once a month; volunteer; keep daily diary; get a kitten? None of those items had been crossed out, which was why it was still there. She usually didn’t even notice it. She had created it before she’d broken up with Kevin and before she’d become so obsessed with making partner. She smelled the scent of pine needles and remembered those happy family holidays, the hiking trips with her family, biking with Jake. Maybe she needed to think bigger about this question: about her life and what made her happy. If thework-lifebalance was as Betty described, choosing this job was a chance to get herlifeback.
Tim kissed her on the cheek when he met her at the restaurant. The décor wascutting-edgemodern, but given the season, they passed a Christmas tree (decorated only in white lights and white angels) and a silver menorah on the way to the bar to wait for their table. Modern polished chrome chandeliers provided a soft, glowing light. As Tim went to the bar to order drinks, she covertly checked out the scene.Well-dressedmen and women mingled over crisply starched tablecloths. Diamond rings flashed in the candlelight. She breathed in the soothing clean smell of orchids. Next to her, a group of men were analyzing a stock deal. On her other side, two women were commiserating over the renovation of their summer houses in the Hamptons. One wore a perfume that reminded her of visiting the first floor of Saks Fifth Avenue.
It was the opposite of the places that she and Jake frequented. And it was seductive. This was the life she’d imagined before Jake. A large minimalist modern apartment on Park Avenue or Central Park West, white couches, modern art, she and her husband heading off to work on Wall Street in the morning with their briefcases, kissing goodbye at the door. She’d not thought much further than that in her daydreaming. But now she wanted the more informal,laid-backfun life envisaged byJake.
She felt someone next to her look at her and look again. She turned around.Penny. With auburnhair.
“Audrey,” Penny said. Her eyes narrowed. “You broke Jake’s heart. He looks like shit. How could youdothat?”
“I—I didn’t want to break up,” Audreysaid.
Tim reappeared. “Here’s your drink,” hesaid.
Penny stared at Tim, her eyebrows raised.
This looks bad. This looks like adate.
“Penny, this is my work colleague Tim,” Audrey said quickly.
“I hope I’m your friend as well,” Tim said, smiling at Penny. “Delighted to meet you.” He held outhishand.
“Nice to meet you as well,” Penny shook it reluctantly, but said in an aside to Audrey, “I’m still not talking toyou.”
“Why aren’t you talking to Audrey?”Tim asked.
“Penny is one of Jake’s best friends,” Audreysaid.
“Then I’m not talking to you,” Tim said. He folded his arms and frowned at Penny. “Jake broke up with Audrey. She just made partner. She should be glowing. Instead, she’s like a pale shell of her formerself.”
Penny crossed her arms. “That’s what happens if work is yourlife.”
Audrey’s shoulders slumped.
The maître d’ tapped Tim on the shoulder. “Your tableis ready.”
“This was just one time, and it was necessary to make partner,”Timsaid.
“Was it just one time? I’d be willing to bet I’ve seen Jake more in the past month than Audrey has,” Pennysaid.
“What if you were about to go on vacation and a theatre called you and offered you the role of a lifetime?” Audrey asked.
“Okay.”’ Penny nodded, her gaze meeting Audrey’s. “I can see why you’re a good lawyer.”
Chapter Sixty
As Audrey walked into the office on Monday morning, Gertrude met her with a stack of pink telephone slips (“all congratulations,” she said) and handed her another bouquet of flowers. Her office looked like a flowershop.
She was really going to do it. She was going to accept the Popflicks offer and resign from Howard, Parker & Smith. After seven years of striving so hard for this? To give it up? She took a deep breath. Maybe she should spend another night thinking about it.No.She’d learned a lesson: pick her partner and her employer carefully. If she’d been on trial the week the British had called, the firm would’ve never pulled her off her trial to fly to London. They would’ve substituted another associate. But the firm didn’t consider her vacation time to be as important as a client’s needs. She wanted a workplace that respected life outside work. That belief underlaid the informal, inspiring atmosphere of Popflicks. And she wanted a boss like Betty, who believed in her and challenged her—for example, insisting that she do thecross-examination. She’d be part of senior management at Popflicks as opposed to a junior partner here. On the negative side, she might be the uncool workaholic.
