I smile proudly. “Yeah, I do. How could you not? You’re overqualified. Everyone enjoys working with you. You’re wicked smart. Wallace would be a fool to pick me. I meant what I said in the hallway, Emma. I want you to you to be the one who gets it.”

The smile she gives me is sad. Her eyes are dim. Muted. Tired. So exhausted from putting up with the same shit again and again.

“As nice as it is to hear the flattery, it doesn’t change what Brad said. There’s truth in his words. As long as men like him exist and continue to think archaically, being a partner will never be enough. Nothing will ever be good enough. It won’t stop the inappropriate jokes. It won’t stop people from wondering if I got the job because I slept with someone.”

“I hate that you’re subjected to such crap,” I grumble, shoving my hands in my pockets to prevent myself from doing something stupid, like reaching out and giving her a hug or pressing a comforting kiss to her forehead—things I’ve never wanted to do before. “Maybe one day there will be a firm full of progressive, diverse lawyers who will change the world, like you’re doing here. Everyone else can fuck right off.”

Emma laughs, and it’s the most beautiful, heart-warming sound I’ve ever heard. Her giggles are cute, but they don’t hold a candle to hearing the sound of her pure, unfiltered happiness. Out here, in the open, the noise is so freeing. We’re two ordinary people enjoying a conversation, the ties that have tethered us together for so long have snapped, allowing us to start anew. There’s no history. No past. No future. Just… us.

“We should make that elegant saying into a t-shirt. Come on. We have a meeting to get to.”

“Do we have to?” I groan.

“We do. We’ll suffer through it and be fine.”

“Together,” I add. “We’re in this together. Your fight is my fight. And even though they’ll crown one of us a winner in a few short weeks, we face this challenge together. Deal?”

Emma contemplates the offering, searching my face.

I let her.

I let her see my honesty, meaning every syllable.

I let her see that I’ll punch a guy in the face for being disrespectful toward her.

I let her see how angry I am, determined to help find a solution to all these goddamn problems.

Satisfied with what she finds, she nods, looking away. I swear her eyes glisten with tears.

“Together,” she agrees firmly, marching back into the building, head held high.

A goddamn superhero. That’s what Emma is. That’s what all women are. I’ll kill anyone who says otherwise. Especially to someone like Emma or RB, two of the most dynamic women in my life.