We ordered rigatoni alla vodka, balsamic brussels sprouts, and two glasses of Sangiovese.
“Do you think you guys will spend New Year’s together?”
I shrugged. “It’s my first New Year’s Eve in the city. He’s been here for a few years, so he probably doesn’t want to beinthe city for New Year’s.”
“Ah, yes. The right to have disdain for Manhattan on New Year’s Eve must be earned.”
“What about you? Are you going back to Iowa?”
She nodded morosely. “Sadly, yes. But not because I want to. I have to be there to console my sister.”
“What happened?”
“She’s still depressed about losing the city council election last month.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that. Was it close?”
“It was, until someone hacked her emails and found out she donated to Planned Parenthood.”
“That was the nail in the coffin?”
“She was running as a Republican.”
“Ah.”
Caroline chuckled. “The ironic thing is that she didn’t actually donate to Planned Parenthood. She signed up for this app that challenges you to competitions with yourself—work out five days a week, drink less than three nights a week, whatever—and for every goal you miss, it donates to a cause you hate.”
“Your sister hates Planned Parenthood?”
“I come from a very different world than the one we’re living in.”
“Clearly. So her emails got hacked, and she lost the election because she didn’t make all her workouts?”
“Basically. Her whole voting base turned on her.”
“Wow. I hate to sound insensitive, but ... karma?”
“Something like that.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
I woke up at 3 a.m. from a dream where I relived the entire night with Ben at Union Square Cafe and the morning after, only it was Charlie, not Ben.
I didn’t need a Freudian scholar to psychoanalyze what it meant.
I was so unsettled I couldn’t fall back asleep. We were never going to go back to the version of Sam and Charlie from last week. Everything had changed, and there was only one possible outcome.It was either going to work or it wasn’t.
The next morning, Charlie texted he wasn’t feeling well and felt it was safer to work from Brooklyn (don’t worry, NOT contagious). After the dream and now Charlie’s absence, I was starting to spiral.
The second day Charlie stayed home, I got a call from the firm’s managing partner, Andre Adepo, telling me I was one of two first-year associates chosen to work on a high-profile matter involving a conservative senator with very public aspirations for a presidential run. Overnight, the scandal was on every news outlet, regardless of political affiliation, and it was throwing the Republican Party into turmoil.
Andre and the senator had gone to Harvard together. Now, decades later, the firm was hired to conduct an internal investigation to prove the story didn’t have legs. We would have one month to interview everyone on the senator’s staff, then turn around a comprehensive report thatwould be picked apart by every newspaper and cable news channel in America—and likely determine the fate of his political career.
It took one day to realize I was heading into every first-year associate’s nightmare. In the typical hierarchy of most Big Law cases, junior associates report to senior associates, who report directly to partners. There was a glaring hole in my law firm experience, and it was about to be filled by Elinor Baker.
“Stock up on your supplements, ladies, becausethisconference room is home now.” She made an exaggerated circling gesture around the conference table. “I know you’re barely lawyers, but I assume you’re aware of the highly confidential nature of this investigation. Everything stays inside this room, and that includes each one of you unless you’re sleeping. You are not to speak to anyone about the work we’re doing. Journalists will be camping outside the building. Do not utter a word to them. IT is bringing in screen protectors. Do not ever open your laptop outside this room without one.”
Elinor’s jet-black hair was pulled into the tightest bun I’d ever seen. Her makeup was flawless in a way that made me think of the permanent eyeliner I’d read about onThe Cut. She was minimally accessorized with pearl studs, a pearl necklace, and a massive emerald-cut diamond on her left hand. She smelled like Chanel No5 and parsley from the green smoothie she drank every morning.
