She couldn’t believe he was giving her an assignment right before the partnership decision meeting. Should she take that as a good sign—that he expected her to still be here on Monday morning after the decision? Or maybe she couldn’t read anything into it. They could offer a counsel position and not a partnership position and expect her to be here on Monday. Most people seemed to accept that, hoping that they could make partner in another year. She didn’t want to be continually trying for partner, though. And she’d be embarrassed that she’d been passed over. But she wasn’t going to do another case with Malaburn.

“No,” Audrey said.

“Excuse me?”

“I said no. I’m not free to work on another case with you.”

“You just finished your trial.”

“Yes, but I’m on another case already. And it’s very busy and needs my full attention. Plus, I have the Global Capital litigation.”

“The partnership decision is tomorrow.”

“So it is,” Audrey said, her voice clipped. I could say yes and then say no after the partnership meeting.

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,” she said.

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,” Colette said.

“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 enjoy the buzz.”

“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 can get away?”

“We broke up. Because I had to work and cancel our vacation.”

“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 test that.”

“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.”