“Hi,Max,how have your first couple of days been?”
Max swallowed the bite of the sandwich he’d been eating in the break room when Penny breezed in.She was the other trainee solicitor alongside Noah.He’d met her a few times before starting here.She rummaged in the fridge,found a pasta salad in a plastic tub,and sat at the table with him.
“It’s fine,”he said.“Busy!”
“You’re doing the work of two people,”she said.“Trust the partners not to want to spend the money to replace both Claire and Asha.”
“I knew it,”he said.“I said to Noah I’ll be doing the work of two people.”He shrugged.“Ah,well,I’ve done the work of two people at other jobs.Though some have suggested the two people in question were Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.”He grinned at her,and she chuckled.“Will Noah be joining us?”
“He was at the magistrates’court with Owen this morning.They’ll probably have lunch out.The senior partners went out at about eleven-thirty,of course.”
“Of course.A five spot says they won’t be back until two.”
“No bet.That’s every damn day.They’re old school.”
The two senior partners,Mr Pringle and Mr Bell,were of the three martini lunch types,mingling with other legal types in a nearby hotel bar.They loved that they could call it networking these days.They were always Mister.Owen had quickly invited Max to use his first name and called him Max.Pringle and Bell called him“Sagan.”Old school,all right.Max didn’t have good memories of school.Only having Noah around had made it bearable.
“I can’t believe they still get away with that kind of thing these days,”Max said.
“Hey,it’s the way it’s been done for a hundred years.Why change now?”She grimaced.“It’s the least of what they still get away with.”
“What does that mean?”
hand on her once too often and her fiancécame round with her to…discuss matters.I happen to know that,after they’d all been in the office ta
off not to take the
why Owen took on a man instead of a wom
.“Do they b
’t think they’d do any more.My dad happens to be partner with a firm ten times a
th your dad’s firm?I thought th
so much.Women already have to convince everyone they’re not getting ahead by shagging anybody
that apply
firm,it’s just the way things are done a
,rig
y for a job there.But I wanted to train elsewhere.And at least trai
oped so.He’d had a vibe from Owen.A look here and there.He pinged the ga
entleman the
ny.“Yes,but mainly,you
it wasn’t wishful thinking.“Really?”he said,att
thing Max had taken him roundly to task for when they w
d friends.But Noah can be a t
around the same time Max was figuring it out,too.
hopes about Owen,fo
l.“I suppose he
here.As far as I know,he’s still single.But you were right to call him a gentleman.Or maybe a professional
ith Max’s employment record,it probably wouldn’t