Legal Tender

Wingate sulked in the window seat as Eve sat down, fiddling with her charm bracelet: a gold locket, a silver key, a tiny heart. I wondered if Mark had given her the bracelet; he’d never given me anything so expensive.

“I thought that went very well, didn’t you?” Mark said, returning like the conquering hero. “Eve?”

“Fine,” she said, smiling. “It went great.”

“What went great?” asked Grady Wells, drifting into the library, dressed in a gray suit and Liberty tie. Above his broad shoulders was a pair of gold wire-rimmed glasses, an easy smile, and thatch of curly blond hair no amount of water could civilize. It was the only unruly thing about Grady, a tall North Carolinian with Southern manners and an accent that fooled opposing counsel into thinking he was slow-witted. Nothing could be further from the truth.

“We’re talking about the Wellroth trial,” Wingate said. “Eve did two witnesses. Meantime, what are you dressed as, Wells?”

Grady looked down at his suit. “A lawyer, I think.”

“But isn’t this your Ultimate Frisbee night? The last night of the season? The big party?”

“I have to miss it. I’m meeting a client.”

Wingate snorted. “Maybe there is no ultimate night of Ultimate Frisbee. Maybe every night is the ultimate. You’re the golden boy, Wells. You tell me.”

“Renee!” Mark said, beaming as Renee Butler arrived, wearing a loose smock of Kente cloth. “Come in and celebrate. Wellroth is sending us some very significant new business, including an antitrust case. I want you and Wells to work on it. It’ll be a monster.”

“If you need me,” Renee said.

Mark turned to Grady. “Wells, how about you?”

“No thanks,” he said, with a confidence afforded by his credentials. A Duke grad, he’d clerked for the Supremes and before that had been an editor of theHarvard Law Review. It was a coup R amp; B got him; he chose us because he had a girlfriend in Philly at the time.

“You don’t want even a piece of it?” Mark asked, but Grady shook his head.

“Antitrust is drying up, anyway,” Wingate mumbled. “It’s been dead since the eighties.”

“Hey, everybody!” called Jennifer Rowland, from the door. A petite Villanova grad, Rowland effervesced constantly, like a Dixie cup of 7-Up.

“Come in, Jen,” I said, and moved over to let her squeeze in with our two remaining associates, Amy Fletcher and Jeff Jacobs. The library was so small that at the end of most workdays it looked like the stateroom in a Marx Brothers movie, but I didn’t mind it. I enjoyed hearing about the day’s legal problems, and the associates enjoyed airing them. Well, now we had a real problem. I decided to deal with it. “You know, gang, I’m glad you’re all here, because there’s something we should discuss. I’ve been hearing some rumors.”

Mark’s head snapped around. “Rumors? What about?”

“About Wells?” Wingate said. “Is he really a Republican?”

Mark cut him off with a hand chop. “Wingate, if you were funny it would be different. But you’re not, so shut up.”

Wingate flushed red, and I cleared my throat. “Rumor has it that some of you are circulating resumes.”

“Resumes? You’re kidding,” Mark said, looking as surprised as I was. He was undoubtedly pissed I hadn’t spoken to him privately, but I wasn’t about to wait. Suddenly his dark eyes began scrutinizing the faces around the table. “Who’s looking for a new job?” he asked. “Who?”

“Mark, that’s not the point. It doesn’t matter who’s looking. I didn’t bring it up because I expected somebody to tell us.”

“You mean you’re not trying to out anybody,” Wingate said tensely.

“No, I’m not. But I wanted to tell you, and I speak for Mark, too, that we would hate to lose any one of you. You’ve all been working very hard and that takes a toll. So if you’re unhappy about your hours or about anything else, just come to us privately and tell us why. Maybe we can fix it, and nobody has to leave R amp; B. Now, that’s all I’ll say about it, unless you have questions.”

Jennifer Rowland raised her hand shyly. “Bennie? I was wondering about something.”

“Of course. Anything.”

“We’ve been hearing some rumors that you and Mark… you know.” She looked awkwardly from Mark to me, and since it was my role to be graceful in defeat, I spoke.

“Well, Jenny, it’s true that Daddy and I did, in fact, break up. But it wasn’t your fault and we love you the way we always did.” The associates laughed and so did I, though it killed me. Mark reddened and glanced at Eve.

But Jenny was waving her hand, trying to silence everybody. “No, actually, I knew that you and Mark broke up. What I heard was that the firm was breaking up. That you and Mark were dissolving the firm.”

Mark went white, and so did I. “Jenny, of course that’s not true,” I said, but Mark was already on his feet.

“People, I think this has been enough of a therapy session for one night. Everybody out of the pool.” He clapped his hands together to get the associates moving. “Come on, everybody out.”

“Wait a minute, Mark,” I said. “They have a right to ask, a right to know what’s going on. It’s their jobs.”

“Bennie, stop.” He held up his hand. “I know what I’m doing.”

The associates were already leaving. Amy Fletcher and Jeff Jacobs left together, with Jennifer. Wingate popped off the window seat and hustled to the door behind Eve and Renee Butler. Grady was the last to go and glanced back at me, his large gray eyes full of intelligence, and something else. A trace of sympathy. There, then gone.

I shut the library door and faced Mark.

6

It’s over, Bennie,” Mark said.

“I know, I noticed we weren’t sleeping together.”

“Not us. R amp; B. The firm. It’s true.”

“What?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. My face felt red, my throat, thick. A fist of pain and anger formed in my chest. “What are you talking about?”

“I want to go out on my own.”

I told myself to stay calm and control my tone. I didn’t want us to start screaming at each other. It hadn’t gotten us anywhere but apart. “You’re already out on your own.”

“I want to start over, make a new firm. I need a fresh start.” He shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his suit pants. “It’s too hard, with you and Eve in the same firm.”

“Slow up a minute. This is my business you’re talking about, my livelihood. The stuff with Eve is personal. I know the difference.”

“Then what happened today, with the water pitcher? Eve thinks you did it because you’re jealous of her. She doesn’t see how she can stay, with you here.”

I gritted my teeth. “Then let her go, it’s my firm. You know and I know today was about business.”

He folded his arms as he stood on the opposite side of the conference table. “She should be up for partner in a couple of years. Will you make her one?”

“I’ll decide that then, but I doubt it. I don’t think she’s qualified, not after what I saw today.”

He laughed abruptly. “Bennie, who stands on principle. Always.”

“Absolutely, and why not?” I said, fighting to check my temper. “Eve’s a fine corporate lawyer, but she can’t try a case to save her life. She’s not as good a trial lawyer as anybody in her graduating class-Butler, Wells, or Wingate.”

“Wingate? He’s a slacker. He doesn’t have the brains, even if he did have the energy! I can’t introduce him to a corporate client-”

“Lower your voice,” I told him, in case the associates could hear.

“Eve’s smart, Bennie. That idea for the joint venture, it was hers. You saw the memo.”

“So? We’ve turned down lots of smart kids for partnership.”

“I’m telling you, she’s good.”