Hell. She was better off. He’d been saying since the beginning that Michael was the exact type he envisioned for Kate. And he’d been stupid to think for a minute that she might have felt him something more than a friend, a cohort in this plan they’d come up with. But nothing more.
He took the check, holding in his fingers for a long minute, and ripped it in half. Then he took the two halves stuck them back on the fridge with the magnet.
…
It was nearly eleven thirty. Half an hour before the formal announcement went out that she and one other associate had been promoted to junior partner. But instead of celebrating, Kate sat at her desk, her chair turned to look out over the Salt Lake Valley. Thinking about her lunch meeting yesterday with Jessica Lund.
There was a lot to consider.
In confidence, she’d shared with Jessica the impending an
nouncement of her junior partner position. But Jessica must have seen some of the doubt on Kate’s face as they sat across from each other, because instead of congratulations, Jessica had renewed her offer to find a place for Kate at her firm.
And this time, Kate actually listened as Jessica laid out everything that the small, employee-focused firm could provide Kate.
Fewer, less intrusive billable hours.
A decent health care plan.
The perk of only taking on the cases she wanted to take on. Cases like Daisy’s.
Never before had the offer been so tantalizing. Having the discretion of declining a case if the facts—and the client—weren’t scintillating or bearable sounded like heaven. God knew she’d have dropped the McKenna case long ago had she had the ability to say no—and the promotion riding on its success.
Flexibility was what it offered. Freedom.
Her work hours at Strauss had never really bothered Kate before. She’d kept her nose to the grindstone, not really looking around to see where she was and how she’d gotten there, determined to reach that long-awaited goal of partner.
And now that it was hers…now what? Continue at her frenzied pace until in ten or twenty more years she might have that judgeship and the respect that might or might not come with it?
But what else would she have? Someone to share with and rejoice in her accomplishments? To rejoice in all the milestones? Or would she likely be alone?
Kind of how this past week had gone. Without Dominic.
She was only grateful that Michael had been in California the past week closing some real estate deal, so she’d been able to put off having to deal with that mess. But this partnership couldn’t wait. It was time to make a decision. Set the course for the rest of her life.
A course she could live with.
Enough. She needed to speak with Tim, and before she could change her mind, she grabbed the DVD one more time and marched out to find him.
He sat in his office sipping a seltzer water, reading some journal. She took a breath and knocked on the door.
“Kate? Can I help you with something? We didn’t have an appointment, did we?” He glanced at his watch.
“No. We didn’t. But there is something we need to discuss, and I can’t put it off any longer.”
He waved her in. “All right. Have a seat.”
She was surprised at the calm sureness that came over her as she walked across the rug and took a seat. Folding her hands over the package, she started. “I don’t know if you remember my mentioning that I had contacted the Radisson about getting a copy of the surveillance video from the time Mark McKenna and Ava Herrera went on that business trip.”
Tim nodded, his face devoid of any telling emotion.
She continued. “Funny thing is, we received a bill last week for some security footage they recovered and sent on to us. But I never received it. Did you happen to get it by mistake?”
For the briefest moment, Tim hesitated and his eyes flew from her to the door. When he returned his gaze to her, steady again, she knew the truth.
“I never saw it,” he lied. “But it could be floating around the office, I suppose. Might be sitting in someone’s mailbox by mistake. I wouldn’t worry about it. Just put the invoice on the firm’s bill.”
“Of course. I’ll make sure to do that. Only…when I got the bill, I called the Radisson and asked if they could send me another copy. Which I’ve since received.”