Chapter 7
What Did You Do?
They meet for a drink after work on Monday. Arriving a little late - her phone wouldn't stop ringing at work today - Ellen catches sight of Patty sitting at the bar. Patty doesn't see her yet, so Ellen takes a few extra seconds in which to admire the bemused smile that is softening the lady's features as she gazes into , feeling daring, Ellen touches Patty's arm and kisses her hello. The kiss is brief and chaste, but still exciting because it's so new.
"Would you like to have dinner with Catherine and me tomorrow tonight?" Patty says as Ellen sits.
"I would love that."
"Good. She wants to see you."
"How is she?" Ellen asks.
"Her grades have improved, but she doesn't like her teacher."
"Sixth grade?"
"Yes."
"What do you think of her teacher?"
"Catherine has good taste," Patty says drily.
After a pause Ellen ventures, "Did you tell Catherine about the serenade?"
Ellen is watching closely for a reaction, so she sees the upward twitch at the corners of Patty's mouth that would be invisible to anyone else.
"I told her. She's sorry she missed it."
"So am I," Ellen says.
Patty clears her throat and looks stern.
"About that little stunt…"
Ellen rolls her eyes. "You liked it."
Patty smiles for real now.
"I liked it," she concedes. "But."
"But what?"
"You don't have to try to one-up me." Patty says.
Ellen is thrown.
"I wasn't –" she starts.
But she stops because she absolutely was. The rules have changed, but it's still a game.
Patty spoke humorously, and Ellen knows she should reply in kind. She opens her mouth to say, I couldn't possibly top the kiss you gave me. But the words die on her lips.
She feels cold. She is remembering what she once said to Tom: If I had to deal with Patty every day, I'd lose myself. She has always felt like she's struggling not to be subsumed by Patty. It's this struggle that has prompted her to press every advantage she has ever had – from her discovery of Phil's affair to her influence with Alex Benjamin to her knowledge of Jill's pregnancy.
"I think I do have to," she says slowly. "I have to keep up with you, Patty. I can't just… let you trap me in your web."
She smiles to take the sting out of her words, but Patty flinches and Ellen realizes she just called her a spider. Shit. That was smooth.
She tries again, "What I mean is, I don't like feeling like you're just, I don't know, reeling me in. I want to meet you halfway."
"You can dispense with the metaphors," Patty says and she isn't smiling. Her voice is brittle. "So your idea of meeting me halfway is to accost me with a pack of scrawny choir nerds?" She laughs unpleasantly.
Ellen blinks. "Ethan's my cousin. Do you have to be so nasty?" she says.
"Me?" Patty says. "You're the one who's insulting me and making me out to be some kind of predator."
"I didn't mean it as an insult. You're magnificent. You really are. You're – a titan."
Another miscalculation. Patty responded well to being called intimidating just three days ago, but now she seethes.
"I see," Patty says. "Like most of the men I've dated, you can't handle a powerful woman." She looks past Ellen at the wall behind her head. "Why did I think it would be different?" she muses. Then she starts to gather her belongings over her arm. "I have to go."
"Is dinner still on?" Ellen says.
Patty smiles cruelly. "I think it would be a waste of time, don't you?"
She pushes through the door and vanishes up the street. Ellen has a lump in her throat. But she doesn't cry.
Once home, Ellen is able to shut everything out and work for a while. She is preparing to pitch a case to her partners, and she wants them to be excited about it.
But eventually she shuts her laptop and sits back to think.
During the High Star case, Ellen thought she and Patty had achieved a sort of symbiosis. Ellen had gotten a high from successfully manipulating her former boss. She had exploited Patty's predilection for giving advice, her protective instincts and even her childcare needs. She had been using Patty as much as Patty was using her, if not more, and she had liked it that way.
And look how well that turned out, she laughs bitterly to herself. See what happens when you try to get the best of Patty? Parsons, you're an idiot.
At nine thirty, Ellen gets a text message. She squints. Whose number is that?
"She's drunk," it reads. "What did you do?"
"Who is this?" Ellen responds, even though she has already guessed.
"C."
