Behind Closed Doors

by Anna Stone

  She was a pretty, blonde woman with a name that sounded like it belonged on a perfume bottle. People had a hard time taking someone who looked like her seriously. Especially the men in her profession, half of whom seemed to be stuck in the 1950s regardless of how old they were. It had the benefit of making people underestimate her, which she’d used to her advantage. But after over a decade of practicing law at AG&W, every lawyer in the city knew her. And they knew better than to underestimate Lillian White.

  Lillian grabbed her hairbrush from the counter, ran it through her hair, and put it back into a bun, looser this time. She left the bathroom and made her way to the meeting room.

  When she arrived, Michael Avery, the “A” in AG&W, was already inside. Avery, as he preferred to be called, and Thomas Gordon Sr. were the founding partners. After Gordon retired, Avery became the managing partner, giving him the bulk of the responsibility when it came to the firm.

  Lillian had always been certain that Avery was the reason she’d made partner at the exceptionally young age of twenty-eight. He had been her mentor from the day she started working at the firm as an intern, and had taken her under his wing and taught her everything she knew. He was one of the few people who saw past her looks to her potential.

  It had been six years since Lillian became partner, and as she’d evolved from Avery’s protege to his peer, she learned that he, too, was more than he appeared. On the surface, he was friendly and charismatic, and the complete opposite of Lillian. One flash of his confident smile and clients would trust him with their lives. But he didn’t become one of the most powerful attorneys in the city because of his good nature and trustworthiness. He was a wolf disguised as a Labrador.

  Lillian watched him for a moment through the door. He was examining some documents, his brows knitted and his eyes narrowed. Recently, his black hair and beard had started to show flecks of gray, and the lines in his face had deepened. With his solemn expression and his dark suit, Lillian was struck with the impression that he was at a funeral.

  “Good morning, Lillian,” Avery said when she entered the room. “How was your weekend?”

  Lillian didn’t know why he still bothered to ask her about her weekend. She hadn’t had a weekend off in months, and neither had he. “You want to know how my weekend was, Avery? I spent most of it working on that antitrust case. Junior was supposed to analyze the discovery documents, but he did such a sloppy job that I had to do it myself.”

  “You know how much he hates being called Junior.”

  “And I don’t like being called the Ice Queen, but that doesn’t stop him from spreading that childish nickname to the interns.”

  Before Avery could respond, Thomas Gordon Jr. walked through the doorway, his hands in the pockets of his designer suit. His light brown hair was parted carefully to the side. Lillian had never met a man as vain as him. If only he put as much effort into his work as he did his appearance.

  Thomas was the perfect example of nepotism in action. His father, Thomas Gordon Sr., was the original “Gordon” in AG&W and part of the reason the firm was in such bad shape. About a year ago, Gordon had been accused of sexual harassment by one of their employees who claimed that he had coerced her into becoming his mistress. Gordon hadn’t denied the relationship but claimed that everything was consensual. Considering his long history of sleazy behavior in the office, Lillian had no doubt that he was guilty.

  The ensuing lawsuit had made national news. In the end, it had been settled out of court and cost the firm millions. Gordon had agreed to retire early; however, his “voluntary” resignation had come with the caveat that his son replaced him as partner. Lillian and Avery had no choice but to agree to his terms. To top it off, Lillian and Avery later discovered that Gordon had been mismanaging the firm’s finances.

  “Good morning, Thomas,” Avery said. “Take a seat.”

  Thomas sat down a couple of seats away from Lillian and stretched out lazily in his chair. He turned to address her. “I met your new assistant out there. Emma, wasn’t it? She’s pretty easy on the eyes. I hope you keep this one.”

  Lillian didn’t respond. Ever since Thomas found out that Lillian was a lesbian, he’d taken to voicing his crude opinions about women’s appearances. She didn’t know what he hoped to accomplish.

  “Thomas,” Avery said. “We’ve spoken about this. You need to stop behaving inappropriately when it comes to our female employees. Even if there’s nothing serious going on, it’s not a good look for the firm. The entire office has seen you flirting with the receptionist, for God’s sake.”

  “We’re just messing around. It’s some harmless fun, that’s all.”

  “That’s exactly what your father said about all the women he sexually harassed,” Lillian said.

  Thomas’s expression darkened. Before he could respond, Avery cut him off.

  “Look.” Avery shot Lillian a stern glance. “The last thing we need right now is another scandal. All of us need to keep our noses clean.” He opened the folder in front of him. “Let’s move on to business.”

  The meeting didn’t get any better from there. Avery informed them that the firm would no longer be paying for unnecessary travel expenses. No more business-class flights or five-star hotel rooms. Lillian didn’t mind. She could afford to pay for those kinds of things out of her own pocket. And she was relieved that Avery didn’t suggest “downsizing.” It meant that the firm wasn’t in dire straits yet.

  The conversation moved on to other matters. When Avery was done with the last item on his list, Thomas stood up and put his hands in his pockets.

  “Are we done here?” he asked.

  “Yes,” Avery said. “Unless you have anything to add, Lillian?”

  “No,” Lillian replied. “Don’t let us keep you, Thomas.”

  “Lillian, a moment.” Avery waited as Thomas left the room. “You need to stop antagonizing Thomas. That comment about his father was out of line.”

  “Do you expect me to sit back and listen to his sexist drivel?” Avery was the only person Lillian let admonish her like that.

  “I expect you to behave professionally and treat Thomas with respect.”

  “I’ll respect him when he respects the women of the office. And when he starts doing his goddamn job.”

  “Lillian. Thomas is a partner now,” Avery said. “I know you don’t like it. But we have to make the best of this. AG&W is hanging by a thread. I worked too hard to build this firm to have it fall apart because the two of you are at each other’s throats. All our careers are on the line here, including yours.”

  “Fine.” Lillian held her hands up in defeat. “I’ll play nice. But don’t expect the two of us to be friends.”

  “That’s good enough for me. I’m going to go talk to Thomas.” Avery left the room.

  Lillian doubted Avery’s conversation with Thomas would go well. Thomas seemed to despise Lillian even more than Lillian disliked him.

  Lillian stood up. She had plenty of work to do. Hopefully, this new assistant of hers wouldn’t be entirely useless.

  3

  Emma

  Emma shook the last few drops of coffee out of the cup and into her mouth, then threw it into the bin next to her desk. She had somehow made it through her first day. Lillian had given her basic tasks, seemingly convinced that Emma was unable to handle anything difficult. She did have to ask for Bridget’s help a few times, but she was slowly learning the ropes. At the end of the day, Lillian had sent her home, instructing her to study legal terminology and abbreviations. That had to be a good sign.

  It was her second day working for Lillian, and Emma had come into the office early before Lillian arrived to do said studying on her work computer. A mix-up with the cable company meant that the internet at her apartment wasn’t connected yet, so she hadn’t had a chance to look anything up last night.

  Over the top of her monitor, Emma saw Lillian walking toward her. God, she was stunning. She wore a pantsuit today, one that looked like it
was tailored to fit every one of her curves, and matte-black heels that clicked on the smooth, white floor with every footstep. And the way Lillian walked… It was like she owned the room and everything and everyone in it. Emma supposed she did, in a way.

  Lillian stopped in front of Emma’s desk. “What are you doing here so early?”

  “My apartment doesn’t have an internet connection yet. I wanted to do some research on legal terms. Is that okay?”

  “I don’t see why not,” Lillian said. “Come see me at 8 a.m.”

  “Yes, Ms. White,” Emma replied. But Lillian was already halfway to her office.

  Emma looked at the clock on her screen. She had just enough time to grab another coffee from the place down the street. The coffee in the breakroom left a lot to be desired.

  She made her way out of the building and down the few blocks to the coffee shop. It was packed full of corporate types from the surrounding offices. It seemed like everyone around here ran on coffee, Lillian included.

  Emma reached the head of the line and ordered herself a latte. As she pulled out her wallet to pay, she decided to add a large black coffee to her order. Lillian was constantly drinking coffee. It couldn’t hurt to get on her good side. It could be the difference between keeping this job or not.

  As she waited for her order, Bridget, the receptionist sidled up beside her, looking just as stylish and photo-perfect as yesterday.

  Bridget smiled. “Good to see that you came back.”

  “Why wouldn’t I?” Emma asked.

  “Well, it’s no secret that Ms. White isn’t the easiest person to work for. If you quit, you wouldn’t be the first.”

  “How many assistants has Lillian had?” Surely she wasn’t that bad.

  “That depends. Do the ones that only lasted a couple of days count?”

  The barista called out Emma’s name, then Bridget’s shortly after. Coffee in hand, they left the coffee shop, joining the stream of pedestrians heading in the direction of the office.

  “So, what happened to Ms. White’s old assistants?” Emma asked.

  “Let’s see. She fired a few of them, mostly for stupid mistakes like sending out a letter with a typo in it. The others quit in the first couple of weeks. Couldn’t take the heat.” Bridget must have noticed the nervous expression on Emma’s face. “But I’m sure you’ll be able to handle it.”

  Emma got a feeling that the other Emma who was supposed to be here was far more experienced than her. But she didn’t say anything.

  They entered the lobby and rode the elevator up to the AG&W offices. By the time Emma got back to her desk, it was 8 a.m. exactly. With Lillian’s coffee in her hand, Emma went to knock on Lillian’s door. Lillian always kept her door closed to prevent unnecessary interruptions.

  “Come in,” Lillian said.

  Emma approached Lillian’s desk and placed the cup of coffee on it. “I brought you coffee. I know you drink it black, but I wasn’t sure if you take sugar.”

  “You’re not my personal assistant,” Lillian said, not looking up from the papers she was working on. “I don’t want you wasting time running errands for me.”

  “It was in my own time.” Emma crossed her arms. Here she was, trying to do something nice, and Lillian basically took it as an insult. “I was getting coffee for myself, and I thought you might want one.”

  Lillian put down her pen and gave Emma a frosty stare.

  Whoops. Although Lillian never said anything, Emma got the impression that she expected her assistant to keep her mouth shut unless spoken to, like an old-fashioned schoolmistress. Emma hoped her mouth wouldn’t get her in trouble. “It’s much better than the breakroom coffee,” she added sheepishly.

  After a moment, Lillian picked up the coffee and took a sip. “Thank you.”

  Emma hid a smile. Lillian’s thanks had sounded stilted, but it was something. And maybe Emma’s reasons for wanting to impress Lillian weren’t entirely job-related. Emma felt a compulsion to please her for reasons that she didn’t quite understand.

  Emma didn’t get to bask in Lillian’s gratitude for long.

  “I have a lot of work for you today,” Lillian said. “You’re going to need to write this down.”

  Emma whipped out a pen and notepad. She had come prepared. Lillian listed off a number of tasks, from simple things like more photocopying to more complicated things like transcribing Lillian’s notes.

  “I don’t care how long it takes you,” Lillian said. “Just make sure your transcription is accurate and error-free. Look up the abbreviations if you need to. Start on that first.”

  “Yes, Ms. White.”

  Emma got to work. As soon as she started, she was glad that Lillian had told her to take her time. The handwritten notes were full of abbreviations and shorthand, and she ended up spending half her time looking them up. After working for two hours straight, Emma had memorized the common ones. And once she began to understand what she was transcribing, she started to enjoy herself. The cases within were actually interesting.

  Around lunchtime, she delivered the transcribed notes to Lillian, who responded with nothing more than a murmur of acknowledgment. Emma still had a lot to do, all while handling Lillian’s phone calls.

  Around midafternoon, Emma returned to her desk after a bathroom break. As soon as she sat down, her phone rang. It was Lillian, summoning Emma into her office.

  “Yes, Ms. White?” Emma said.

  “Where have you been?” Lillian asked. “I’ve been calling your desk for ten minutes.”

  “I was in the bathroom,” Emma said. “Most of the stalls are out of order, so there was a line.” Bridget said they had been out of order for weeks. But there were only a few women in the office, most of whom held secretarial roles, so their requests to get it fixed fell on deaf ears.

  Lillian frowned. “I’ll get that taken care of. For now, I want you to use my bathroom. I’m the only female partner so I’m the only other person who uses it. I can’t have you disappearing all the time.”

  “Yes, Ms. White.”

  “That’s not why I called you in here.” Lillian’s voice had a sterner than usual edge to it.

  Emma’s stomach sank. Had she made a mistake?

  Lillian pushed a file toward her. “What is this?”

  Emma opened the folder. “These are the notes I transcribed this morning.”

  “Turn to page four. Third line. What does it say?”

  Emma flipped to the page and located the sentence. “The employer agreed to receive a fifty-thousand-dollar settlement…” Emma frowned. That wasn’t right.

  “EE stands for employee. ER is short for employer. That’s not the only sentence where you mixed up those two abbreviations.”

  “I’m sorry, Ms. White,” Emma said. Was this it? Was she fired?

  “Just go fix it.”

  Emma looked up in surprise. “You’re not going to fire me?”

  “No, I’m not.” Lillian sat back in her chair and folded her hands in her lap. “Why do you think I would fire you over something like this?”

  “No reason,” Emma said quickly.

  “You’ve been listening to rumors, Emma,” Lillian said, the slightest hint of amusement in her voice. “Don’t believe everything you hear.”

  Emma nodded.

  “For the record, if I were going to fire you, I wouldn’t bother telling you what you did wrong. You’d be out the door already. I’m telling you because I want you to learn from it. Be more careful next time.”

  “Yes, Ms. White.” Emma lingered by the desk. “Is there anything else?”

  “No. That’s all.”

  Emma returned to her desk, her pulse racing. Was it because she thought she was going to be fired? Or was it something else? Something about Lillian?

  Whatever the reason, Emma had never felt anything like the way she did right now.

  4

  Emma

  On Friday morning, Emma dragged herself into the office. Like every other da
y that week, she’d stayed past 5 p.m. the day before until Lillian had told her to leave. She had so much work to do. Lillian had Emma transcribe both her handwritten notes and her dictation. Lillian dictated everything because it was more efficient. She was all about efficiency. Luckily, that was the one skill Emma possessed from working at the doctor’s office that Lillian seemed pleased about.

  On top of all of this, Emma was still studying up on legal procedure in her own time. She was determined not to make a mistake like the last one. So far, she hadn’t made any major errors. But Lillian was a perfectionist. Emma lost track of the number of times Lillian had sent her back to her desk to fix a document. This should be justified. This should be in italics, not underlined. These names should be written out in full. And Emma would just nod, and say “Yes, Ms. White,” and then fix whatever minor imperfection Lillian had found without complaint.

  Lillian seemed impossible to satisfy. It made it difficult for Emma to tell whether she was doing a good job or not. And she only had one day left to prove herself.

  Emma wasn’t at all surprised when Lillian called her back into her office just half an hour after their 8 a.m. coffee and brief.

  “Emma,” Lillian said. “Take a look at this and tell me what’s wrong with it.”

  Emma took the document from Lillian. It was a contract that Emma had drafted from Lillian’s dictation. She had made sure to follow Lillian’s detailed instructions on the layout and formatting.

  Emma scanned the page. “I’m not sure what the problem is.”

  “Second paragraph, third sentence.”

  Emma located the sentence in question. “Uh…” Emma still couldn’t see what was wrong with it.

  “What did I tell you about commas?” Lillian asked.