Big Law Read Online Free PDF Page B

boyfriend, Quinn, was different. For starters he actually had a source of income, something none of her previous boyfriends had. I’d initially been suspicious of the dubious occupation of “bar owner,” so I’d run a title search confirming that (a) the bar “Cordova” did in fact exist and (b) Quinn did in fact own it. Yes, I did due diligence on my friend’s boyfriend. I may have inherited Mom’s tendency to worry.
    “You don’t need to have a back-up when you’ve found the perfect guy for you.”
    “Mac, don’t jinx it!”
    It was true, though. If I had to design a guy specifically for Kim, Quinn would be it. He was attractive, but not intimidatingly so. Hisnose was just a tad too big, but his endearingly wide smile compensated for that. He was effortlessly cool in the “hipster without even trying” way. He was funny, but never made jokes at her expense. On their second date he cooked her lasagna because it was her favorite, and later confided to me that he’d watched a YouTube instructional video eleven times to learn how to make it. Most importantly, unlike her other beaux, he hadn’t run in the opposite direction when she referred to him as her boyfriend.
    “How are things going with Quinn anyway?” I asked.
    Just hearing his name, Kim’s face brightened. “Welllll … He wants me to meet his family .” She drummed the table in delight.
    “What?” I squealed.
    Kim nodded enthusiastically.
    “That’s huge!”
    “I know, right?” She picked up her wineglass and took a long, wistful gulp. “Remember that guy I dated in college who I thought wanted me to meet his family and it turned out he just wanted me to babysit his kids?”
    “Yeah, you’ve come a long way from dating that gem.”
    “Who’da thunk it?”
    Our waiter suddenly materialized, balancing the plates on his arms. “Just put them all in the middle,” Kim instructed. He set down the caprese salad, brown butter gnocchi, and beef ravioli in the center of the table and an empty plate in front of each of us.
    I speared a piece of gnocchi with my fork, grateful for Kim’s indiscriminate ordering. It melted in my mouth in a ball of yummy, buttery goodness. Nights like tonight made me feel beyond lucky that the paths Kim and I had taken had led us both to New York.
    “So, if you and Quinn get married and have babies, do you realize how cute they’d be?” I pointed my fork at her. “You two owe it the world to procreate.”
    She snorted. Never one to look too far into the future, she quickly changed gears. “Hey, do you think you’ll be free tomorrow night? Every Friday is 90’s movies trivia night at Quinn’s bar—winner gets a $100 tab.”
    “Oh, we could so win that!” I raced through my mental checklist of work to-dos. With Stay Puft’s deal now done, I planned on laying low for a while and enjoying a social life again. Lately it felt like I was taking up residence at F&D, but now I could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.
    “I’m in.” I grinned.
    Kim clapped excitedly.
    But I must have had one too many glasses of wine because I had momentarily forgotten the one truth, the biggest truth I’d learned: In Biglaw, the light at the end of the tunnel is always—always—an oncoming train.

3
    “M ACKENZIE ,” R ITA’S VOICE BURST out of my speaker phone. “Ben Girardi needs to see you in his aw-fice.”
    “Did he say what it was relating to?” I asked, silently praying it wasn’t a new deal. I didn’t want to be smoked out of my hole a mere twenty-four hours after the merger was announced.
    “No, but it bett-ah be about givin’ you a raise for all the haw-d work you’ve been puttin’ in lately.”
    Sadir let out a laugh from the other side of the partition. “Not likely,” he scoffed.
    It used to bother me that Sadir was privy to nearly everything that happened in my life on a daily basis. He could hear one side of every personal conversation, knew that I sometimes snored in my sleep, and