With a trace of lingering reluctance, Felix cradled the dog; Carmen leaned in curiously. Maria watched as the little dog licked her father’s fingers before yawning with a squeak.
Within minutes, Felix was in love, as was Carmen. Serena stood by watching them, holding Steve’s hand, clearly pleased with herself.
Not that Maria could blame her.
No wonder she’d been short-listed for the scholarship; Serena was sometimes absolutely brilliant.
When Maria returned to work on Monday, the tension in the office was palpable. Everyone was on edge, paralegals whispering to each other over the partitions of their cubicles, growing silent whenever any of the attorneys approached; meanwhile, Maria learned that all the partners had been closeted in the conference room since the very early morning, which could only signify that something major was brewing.
Lynn was absent for the third consecutive workday, and with no idea what she was supposed to do – Barney had neglected to leave her any instructions – Maria poked her head into Jill’s office.
Before she could get a word out, Jill began shaking her head and talking loudly enough to be heard in the hallway.
“Of course we’re still on for lunch,” Jill announced. “I can’t wait to hear about your weekend! It sounds amazing!”
The partners were still behind closed doors when Maria finally took a seat across the table from Jill at a nearby restaurant.
“What in the world is going on today? It’s like some sort of twilight zone back there! And what are the partners talking about? No one seems to know anything.”
Jill expelled a long breath. “It’s all very hush-hush right now… but I’m sure you’ve noticed the absence of your paralegal?”
“Does she have something to do with what’s going on?”
“You could say that,” Jill muttered, trailing off when the waiter approached to take their drink orders. She waited until the waiter had walked away before speaking again. “We’ll get to that,” she said. “And I’ll answer what I can. Mainly, I wanted to have lunch with you because I wanted to run something by you in confidence.”
“Yeah, of course…” Maria said.
“Are you happy working at the firm?”
“I’m doing okay. Why?”
“Because I was wondering if you’d ever consider leaving and coming to work with me at my own firm.”
Maria was too stunned to formulate an answer.
Jill nodded. “I know it’s a big decision, and you don’t need to give me an answer right now. But I want you to think about it. Especially now, given what’s going on.”
“I still don’t know what’s going on. And wait… You’re leaving?”
“We’ve been working on our plans since before you started here.”
“We?”
“I’ll be working with Leslie Shaw. She’s an employment attorney with Scanton, Dilly and Marsden, and we went to law school together. She’s terrific, sharp as a tack, and shrewd when it comes to labor law. I’d like you to meet her if you’re open to the idea of maybe coming to work with us. You’d have to like her, of course… but if you have no desire to leave, then I hope you’ll forget I said anything at all. For now, we’re trying to keep this as quiet as possible.”
“I won’t say anything,” Maria promised, the shock still reverberating. “And of course I’d be willing to meet her, but… why are you thinking about leaving?”
“Because our firm is in trouble. Like, Titanic-hitting-the-iceberg trouble, and the next few months aren’t going to be pretty.”
“What do you mean?”
“Our managing partner, Ken, is about to get sued by Lynn for sexual harassment. And I’m guessing that two, maybe even three other paralegals are also going to sue. That’s what the partners have been meeting about all day. Because it’s going to make the news and it’s going to be ugly. From what I heard, the private mediation didn’t go well last week.”
“What mediation?”
“Last Thursday.”
“Which explains why Lynn, Barney, and Ken were absent… Why haven’t I heard anything about this?”
“Because Lynn hasn’t filed with the EEOC yet.”