Page 23 of Partner Pursuit
“If he realizes…” He raised an eyebrow.
“I feel like I’ve stepped into an episode ofSurvivor.” She bit her nail. And Winnie had told her not to be intimidated by Colette. Tim was making her out to be formidable, as the French would say. She doubted he could be dating her if he really thought this wayabouther.
“I may be wrong. You’re such a hard worker, but you also need to promote yourself. You can’t assume your hard effort will be recognized.” He leaned forward.
“I don’t have time to get all this work done and promote myself.” She hadn’t had the time with two cases, let alone three. Tim had only one. And Colette was volunteering for more work. No wonder they had time to wander around politicking.
“You need to make that time. You need to consider it part of the job.” He straightened inhis chair.
“And how do you go about doingthat?”
“I stop in partners’ offices and I let them know what I’m doing—maybe even in the guise of asking their advice on what I’m thinking about in terms of a legalargument.”
She sighed. “I feel like that conversation is not going to go in my favor. Remember the time in the elevator that Stromen regarded me like I was an alien from another planet because I tried to make conversation by noting that the merger of those two airlines would not be good for people.”
“That airline was one of our biggestclients.”
“I resolved never to make conversation in the elevator again.”
“As I remember, Stromen couldn’t stop asking youabout it.”
“Yes,” she said. “Apparently I represented the view of the ‘commonpeople.’”
“But as I recall, the opposition made some of your arguments, and Stromen was grateful for your input.”
“Yes, but I don’t think his image of me ever improved.” What if Stromen didn’t support her for partner? The knot in her stomach was tightening.
He covered her hand with his. It was comforting, but there was no zip of energy. He said, “You’re a rockstar lawyer. You just need to get out there and do some politicking.”
“Aren’t rockstar and lawyer contradictory?”
“That’s what I mean—noself-deprecatingremarks.” Tim’s phone beeped, and he stood. “I’ve got to go. Think about what I’vesaid.”
He closed the door behind him.Click.How could shenotthink about what he said? She wasn’t good at promoting herself. She knew she should, but she felt pushy and exposed when she tried it. And then Tim’s warning about Colette—what was she supposed to do about that? And saying yes to others was so much easier than saying yes to herself. She’d been brought up to “be nice.” Before she’d found her current cleaning service, she’d hired aone-timecleaning service from the internet, and as she was working on her laptop in her bedroom to supervise, the cleaning guy had said, “I don’t have to clean in here, right?” And she’d agreed, even though she’d paid for the whole apartment to be cleaned, including her bedroom. Then she’d berated herself for being taken advantage of.
Kevin was right. She was too nice. She was going to get steamrolled by Colette.Roadkill.Like that coyote in theRoad Runnercartoons. But coyotes were pretty resourceful animals. They were even moving into Manhattan. People underestimated them. And now she’d been warned, so she should be more prepared to be—what? Less obliging? Less nice? Aggressive back? She sighed. On guard? She pictured herself in a fencing outfit.Stick-thinColette would rock a fencing outfit, whereas she’d resemble the Pillsbury Doughboy. A flattened Pillsbury Doughboy.Great.Better to think of herself as a wily coyote. But not Wile E. Coyote. He was often flattenedtoo.
She had to see what Colette was going to do, if anything, and be prepared to strut her stuff whentheymet.
Chapter Nine
That evening, at home, Audrey turned to Amazon for gift suggestions for Jake. She clicked on various links and giggled. She drafted anote:
DearJake,
Thank you so much for the beautiful flowers—and those riveting legal disclosures.
Knowing of your interest in surfing, I thought you might like thisSurf’s Up Dude. It’s THE adult coloring book featuring surfing and meditation designs. Coloring can relax you like surfing waves.
And this book:Travel, Surf, Cook. It seems to have itall.
Enjoy!
Best,
Audrey
She was still elated she’d received a response to her cookies. Jake’s eyes had crinkled at the corners when he had leaned in to tease her. He even had a dimple when he smiled.Swoon.
