reception, she spotted the cover on the secretary’s desk.
Shit. Okay, don’t panic yet. It was just a single copy. She’d ask to see it and add it to the others heading for destruction. “Hi, Megan. Beautiful morning.”
The young paralegal secretary held up the magazine. “Obviously you haven’t read this.”
Lie or fess up? Tough call. “I saw it this morning. It’s completely ridiculous,” she said, hoping her attempt at sounding nonchalant was working.
Megan skimmed the article. “So you didn’t say ‘Men deserve the harsh settlements they receive when they can’t keep their dot dot dot in their pants?’”
Okay, now that quote had been changed completely. What she’d actually said was men deserved the harsh settlements they received if they couldn’t keep their dot dot dot in their pants. If... The if made a big difference. “Of course not...not exactly, anyway.” She paused. “Do you know if anyone else has seen this?”
Megan nodded. “Everyone has a copy. A courier delivered them from the magazine’s office this morning and the new intern, Laura, made sure to distribute them right away.”
Damn those new, eager-to-please interns.
She needed to get those magazines back. Starting with the most important copy. “Is Marvin here yet?”
“Mr. Marshall arrived about three minutes before you.”
Six-inch, not-yet-broken-in Manolos, a slightly too tight pencil skirt and adult asthma made her half sprint nearly impossible, but this was one of those career-pivotal moments, worth a broken ankle or asthma attack. He couldn’t have read it yet... Oh, please, God, don’t let him have read it yet.
Drawing a ragged breath a moment later, she stopped short in her boss’s open doorway.
He was reading it.
She could come back later...or not.
“Come in, Hayley,” he said as she turned to escape.
She leaned around the door frame while staying in the safety of the hallway. “Oh, good morning, Marvin. You looked busy, so I didn’t want to...”
“Please tell me all of this was taken out of context, misquoted... Anything that we can use to sue for defamation of character.”
Hayley took a deep breath and tucked a stray strand of blond hair behind her ear as she entered his office. “I’m sure some of it was.”
“How much of it?” He extended the magazine toward her.
She wanted to decline and say no, thanks, I’ve already read it. But the joke stuck in her throat. Taking the magazine, she scanned the article for anything that looked like an error. “Um...” There had to be a misprint somewhere. Of course there was the if-versus-when wording mix-up...but probably not useful to point out that one.
“Hayley...”
“Just give me a second.” She flipped the page. “Aha, this, right here. The part about prenuptial agreements being an early admission to failure in the marriage—that was totally off the record.” Even though it was true. Hayley didn’t believe in everlasting love, but if she could twist her mind around the fact that other people found themselves utterly and completely head over heels for someone else—enough to vow a lifetime together—why would the idea of a prenup even enter their minds? “So, we’re good, then?” she asked, forcing a smile.
Marvin stood and closed his office door.
Damn. “Marvin... Mr. Marshall...”
“Shh.”
She clamped her lips tightly together.
“Was the interview recorded?” He leaned his palms on the top of his oak desk and studied her, his hopeful expression fading by the second as she stalled.
“No?” Her shoulders sagged. “Yes, it was. Look, I’m really sorry. I did say some of those...”
He raised an eyebrow.
“Okay, all of those things. Maybe it’s not necessarily a bad thing.”
“Do explain.” Marvin sat in his plush leather chair and waited.
“Well, the fact of the matter is, we are divorce attorneys. Clients want us to be ruthless...man haters—” she said the word carefully “—to a degree. At least the women clients.”
He closed his eyes, then, opening them, he spoke slowly. “Hayley, when you first came back from New York, I had my apprehensions about hiring you—despite your success record in court and your Harvard education. Do you remember why that was?”
She did. “You thought I had an edge.” It had been the first time she’d ever interviewed at a law firm where her perceived edge was a strike against her.
“Exactly. And what did you promise me?”
“That I could tone it down a notch.”
“I believe we’d agreed on a whole lot of notches.”
She nodded. “I’m sorry, Mr. Marshall. I promise this will not happen again. Next time I’m interviewed, I will avoid the tough questions and stick to the standard answers in our press kits.”
He folded his arms across his chest. “How about just staying away from the media altogether?”
She pointed at her boss. “Even better idea.” She wasn’t exactly in a hurry to humiliate herself further with a repeat of articles like this one anyway.
“In the meantime, I think we need to do some damage control.”
“I can release a statement or something. Maybe talk about my charity and pro bono cases...”
His face was stone cold. “What did I just say?”
“Staying away from the media—got it.” She sat on her hands and willed herself not to speak in the long silence that followed. She shifted in the seat and crossed one leg over the other. Sitting back, she switched legs.
Finally he spoke. “You have a boyfriend? Fiancé...right?”
No. Why was she nodding?
“Great. Make sure you bring your fiancé to the corporate retreat in Maui next week. We’ll show everyone that you are not a ‘man hater,’ that you have a solid relationship...”
She heard nothing after that. She just kept nodding. Bring her fiancé—oh, the man she’d broken up with at the first sign of commitment? No problem at all. She’d just call James and tell him she’d made a mistake and she really did want to get married. She shuddered at the thought.
“This company prides itself on strong family values. Just because we are divorce lawyers doesn’t mean we are anticommitment...” Her boss’s voice drifted into her already panicked thoughts.
She was. But if she wanted to keep her job she’d better pretend
