Page 106 of Partner Pursuit
No.As she’d told Eve, she had established her record. If they didn’t make her a partner,so be it.
Malaburn said, “I’ll talk to the assignment coordinator.”
“That’s exactly whom you should talk to,”shesaid.
He hung up.
She rubbed her temples to ease the pressure in her head.That was probably a mistake. But she didn’t regret it. She finished packing and turned off her office lights.
As she was walking out, she bumped into Colette.
“You look like shit,” Colettesaid.
“Yeah, I’m still recovering from bronchitis.”
Colette backed up. “I thought you’d be floating. Your trial was the talk of the firm. It’s a pity you had to leave that week and not enjoythebuzz.”
“I wouldn’t have been here anyway. I was supposed to go on vacation that week with my boyfriend.”
“That’s rough. Maybe at Christmas you cangetaway?”
“We broke up. Because I had to work and cancel ourvacation.”
“That’s just wrong. You know that. You’re lucky to find out now. And better that it was so blatant, rather than some insidious behavior where they act like they support you but then make you feel guilty when you’re working. I make it a principle to cancel one date early in the relationship to testthat.”
“You do?”
“Yes.”
I am not surprised.Audrey nodded. “Well, in the past month, I canceled on some dinners and barely saw him because I was working so much. So, he would’ve passed that test initially. His father is a lawyer who’s canceled lots of family vacations, so this triggered that constant disappointment. I should’ve known not to schedule our vacation right after the trial.”
“You’re making excuses for him.” Colette held open the door. “I used to hate it when my mom made excuses for mydad.”
Audrey wasn’t sure how to respond. It wasn’t fair to compare Jake to a deadbeat cheating dad. She suddenly had a memory of her mom crying after her dad died. “I hated it when my mom cried after my dad died. I feel bad now that she felt she had to hide her crying because it scared me.”
Colette looked surprised.As she should be. I can’t believe I just shared that with Colette.
“I guess what I’m saying is that there’s a lot of emotion and past history in relationships, and sometimes that needs to be expressed or at least addressed,” Audreysaid.
“Like the way you tried to figure out another reason for why Pierre was suing?”
“Yes,” Audrey said, glad to get on less emotionally fraughtterritory.
“Did you ever find outanything?”
“Mrs. Rothman called me today because she tracked down Pierre’s wife in France. His wife suspects he filed the lawsuit as revenge for her request for divorce, to alienate her friends. That’s all confidential still.”
“Wow, I hadn’t expected that, as you know,” Colette said and she laughed, shrugging. “I really need to tap into my French roots in my nextcase.”
Times like these, she really liked Colette. Audrey smiled. She wasn’t sure she and Colette would ever be close friends, but these were baby steps.
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Tonight was the night. The partners were voting. Her stomach was churning and thoughts kept circling round and round: what if she didn’t make it? After losing Jake? After all these years of hard work? She’d gone home because if she didn’t make it, she didn’t want to do a walk of shame through the hallways of the firm. Tim and Colette were also waiting for the decision at home. Tim said he would text her when he heard, if it wasgoodnews.
Eve and Winnie had offered to hang out with her, but she was too nervous to be with people.
What was she going to say if Hunter called to say she hadn’t made it? Maybe she should write something so she was prepared. No, she couldn’t do that now; she’d just have to wing it and get off the phone as quickly aspossible.
