She giggled. “I know, it’s Daniel. He’s a bad influence.”
“I don’t want to know. Anyway. There’s definitely something up. I’ll rephrase that beforeyou twist my words. Something is going on. Everyone’s jittery, there’s a bunch of activity in reception, and the partners look like they’ve been throwing up all night. It’s freaking me out.”
“I’ll see if anyone here knows anything and I’ll text you.”
Leah worked at another law firm and gossip among firms spread like wildfire. She was as likely to know something about my firm as I was.
“Okay, good. Shall we meet for a drink tonight?” I suggested.
“Yeah. That would be great.” Leah sounded shocked, I’d not been out much recently.
The partners filed out of their huddle and a murmur passed across the office. People were exchanging glances. What had happened? My secretary caught my blank expression and whispered for me to check my email.
All the associates were summoned to a firm meeting at 10 a.m. It was official. We were going under.
I tried to concentrate on work but found myself surfing job websites. Was Leah right? Would I find something easily? Well, I wasn’t going to find anything between now and 10 a.m.
Ethan
Since landing in London, the pull toward Anna had become stronger. She was becoming bigger in my thoughts and she wasn’t going away. I was going to have to track her down. I knew that now. The obvious way was through her friend’s boyfriend—Daniel Armitage. I could call him or maybe one of the other partners knew him – they probably ran in the same circles. Yes, Armitage would be the way in.
I picked up an unknown number calling my cell.
“Scott,” I answered.
“Hey, Ethan. It’s Phoebe.”
Phoebe was one of the few women I’d fucked more than once. She lived in Boston and came to New York for work regularly. I didn’t have her number. She called me if she was in town and wanted to get laid. Until now I’d been happy to help her out.
“So I’m in town and wondered if you were free tonight, say around ten?”
“Actually,” I said closing the door to my temporary office, “I’m in London, for work, and . . .”
“Okay, so I’ll call you next time.”
“Er, Phoebe . . .”
“Yes?”
“You know that I’ve never bullshitted you about our . . . relationship.” This was harder than I expected.
“Yes, Ethan, I’m not in love with you, don’t worry that handsome face of yours.”
I laughed, trying to sound casual. “Yeah, I know you would never be that crazy. It’s just . . . well, I don’t think we should catch up anymore when you’re in town.”
“Oh. Okay. Did you go gay?” She laughed again, in a little less assured way this time.
“Sorry, I just, well I met someone.”
“Oh wow. First George Clooney, and now you? Well, I’m happy for you, I really am. Look, I’ve gotta go. Take care now.” The phone went dead.
Relief pooled in my stomach and I collapsed back in my chair. It was only a half-lie. I had met someone and even though we weren’t together, our week together made my arrangement with Phoebe seem kinda sleazy.
Now I needed to focus. To concentrate. We were about to head into the conference room to make the announcementto the staff. Later today, I’d put a call into Armitage and see if I could find Anna.
“Ethan, just to recap, I’ll speak for about ten minutes and then introduce you,” Frank, the outgoing senior partner addressed me. I nodded, half listening. There was no need to fucking recap. We weren’t conducting brain surgery, this was a staff announcement about a merger.
Would Armitage tell me where she was? Would she be back with her ex?Get your head in the fucking game.
