Keeping Gavin - Jenny Wood Page 0,2

was required for such a promotion. He could have placated her, suggesting she get either of those things before agreeing to revisit the topic at a later date. Instead, he told her that he didn’t hire women to do a man’s job.

He then shoved the misogynistic dagger into his own ass when he told her that she should stick to what she was good at, which was the grunt work that no one else seemed to want to do. Outraged and embarrassed, Ms. Manning quit and immediately hired representation to defend her against such blatant discrimination, as she should have. Mr. Fairfield, however, wanted me to find a loophole to prevent her from getting any compensation, and so that this wouldn’t happen again. This is what I get paid to do.

I could admit that it didn’t always use to be this way. I used to be so eager to help people with their passion projects and make sure everything was legitimate from a legal standpoint so they could worry about their dream. I love working with small businesses, family-owned and respected businesses that were the very foundation of a community. I love seeing the little guy succeed, always have.

While my business partner and best friend, Nolan, is the legal defense attorney of the East Coast, I enjoy the quietness of corporate litigation. I enjoy the wordplay and the challenge that it gives me, like a giant puzzle that I need to put together to help build a dream. I rarely have to see the inside of a courtroom, and thankfully so, as I’m not a fan of confrontation. Arguing just isn’t something I’m good at, not like Nolan. He could effortlessly practice law and win cases in his sleep.

Nolan and I had partnered together straight out of law school, though that felt like centuries ago now. We’d been so eager to put our stamp on the city, defend the defenseless and do our part to make a difference in the world. We’d started with nothing, no reputation at all, and no one to give us a hand-up and get started. Nolan was fearless and diligent, and he made a name for himself early on. I preferred to stay in the background, though the higher Nolan climbed, the higher I was expected to.

We’d been through a lot together, he and I, and where Donald had once been my very best friend, Nolan proudly took that place now. He wasn’t around as much over the last month or so, but he’d found his person in Tanner. They’re inseparable now and I had zero doubt that when Nolan proposes over Christmas break, that Tanner will say yes.

Gathering the folder with Mr. Fairfield's ridiculous demands, I take a deep breath before heading to the lobby. The snow is coming down pretty steadily now, but the temps aren’t set to drop until late tonight, so I doubt it’ll start sticking until then. Especially with the hustle of foot traffic and packed streets of the city. If anything does stick to the ground, it will be brown mush by the end of the day.

Where I had once loved the fast-pace of the city, I yearned for a slower and quieter way of life now. I’m sick of representing assholes with God complexes, I want to represent little mom and pop shops and new start-up businesses. I want to see deserving people succeed. I’m only torturing myself with people like Mr. Fairfield, who get away with things like being a sexist pig. He’ll get away with this disgusting display of misogyny by throwing a decent amount of money at Ms. Manning, and then nothing will have changed. I so desperately need things to change.

“Mr. Fairfield, you want to come on back?” I call out, earning a jovial chortle from the elderly man currently flirting with an overly polite Ashlynn.

“I was just telling this young woman that if she’d like to make a couple more bucks, she could come and be my check-in girl and get paid for looking pretty,” the man smiles, no doubt thinking he just paid Ashlynn a compliment. Ashlynn forces a smile but I can see the steady calculation working behind her eyes. She’s wondering if it would make her a terrible person if she walked up and pushed the old man right over.

Shooting her an apologetic smile, I wink when she rolls her eyes and answers her now ringing phone. Mr. Fairfield shuffles into my office, slowly but surely, and I offer him