by R. S. Elliot
“The space is yours to use as you see fit, but I don’t expect you’ll be getting a lot of use out of it.”
“Oh?” I asked, confused.
Sonia wound a finger through one of her impossibly tight ringlet curls. They framed her face in a thick bob, dark chestnut shot through with a honey highlight that set off her golden skin.
“You’ll probably be on your feet most of the time, running memos back and forth, running errands, taking dictation, making coffee, that sort of thing. The classic New York intern experience. Mr. Thorpe keeps us all busy here, and the new hires are no exception.”
There was that name again. Like most people with a working television, I heard it before. I heard it more than I wanted to living with two straight women and one bisexual man who liked to complain he was single and that none of them had a shot with a guy like Thorpe. Luke Thorpe was the darling of the tech world, a wunderkind who had launched SkyBlue out of his college dorm room on a shoestring budget and somehow propelled it to a market value in the billions. Supposedly Thorpe himself was worth a billion, shocking for anyone, but particularly someone who was only thirty-two. I had heard the swooning spiel before from my roommate Joannah. I just never thought I would be this close to the subject of her fantasies.
“I‘ve heard he’s pretty demanding,” I ventured carefully. Demanding didn’t even begin to cover what the press had to say about him. They said he was a single-minded machine who pushed his employees to the point of exhaustion in the pursuit of excellence. No one had brought action against him for negligence, and SkyBlue employees were lavished with absurd pay and benefits, but people knew that anyone who worked in the gleaming glass building had to be performing optimally at all times to meet Thorpe’s standards. Peter, Joanna’s boyfriend, ribbed me about it that morning while we were brushing our teeth in the cramped single bathroom the four of us shared, insisting that I was going to drop from exhaustion on the subway ride home after my first day. But I could see concern underneath his bravado, and it made me concerned too.
Sonia smiled. A little, tightly I thought.
“We have a pretty uptight company culture sometimes, it’s true, but we know how to let off steam as well. I’ll make sure you get invited to one of the after-work happy hours. It’s when we get together and have vodka lemonades and unwind from the workweek.”
“That sounds nice. I guess I should be on my best behavior at all times then, huh?”
It was an attempt at a joke, one that I hoped didn’t sound spoiled or lazy, but Sonia seemed to sense my real question.
“This isn’t a Devil Wears Prada situation, Emily, and Thorpe’s no Meryl Streep. You’ll work your ass off here, I won’t lie about that, but you’ll be treated like an adult and your off hours will be respected. If anyone gives you any trouble, you send them to me. Don’t worry about Thorpe. I know how to handle him.
“Will I be working with him at all?” I couldn’t decide if I was excited by the prospect or terrified. Sonia waved my question away with a laugh.
“Almost certainly not. The only one who can get an audience with the guy, much less get through to him, is Olivia. You’ll meet her. She’s his secretary, but so much more than that, she keeps us all sane, I think. No, interns pretty much never interact with the CEO directly.
“Ah,” I said, trying not to sound disappointed. While I wasn’t excited by the idea of throwing myself at Thorpe’s feet and begging for his approval, I knew a recommendation letter penned by him would mean a lot more than one written by well-meaning Sonia. She didn’t need to know that right then, however. I didn’t think it looked good to admit that you had only taken a job for the resume experience on your first day.
“I’ll leave you to get settled in,” Sonia said, standing and breezing past me. I caught the scent of her resinous, heady perfume, thick with plums and iris and other notes too elevated for my Bath & Body Works nose to pick up. “I’ll be back around in twenty to give you a tour of the office. Congrats again, Emily. We’re happy to have you.”
I smiled as she drifted away, and only then realized I had my fingernails pressed into the palms of my hands, so they hard were leaving half-moon imprints. When had I ever been this nervous? It was going to take all the nerves I had left to get through the day. But I would get through it. And the next day and the next day, if I wanted to bring home my share of the rent and keep any hope of Paris alive. I had to.
Prequel
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Chapter Three
Luke
I took a deep sip from my cappuccino, rifling through the folders Olivia laid out neatly on my desk that morning. It was all information relating to a new partnership SkyBlue was forging with a sizeable domestic car company, one that could make our technology more accessible to the average consumer without sacrificing quality. It was the kind of collaborative sponsorship deal I had dreamed of since I was twenty, doodling fast cars in the margins of my chemistry notebook. I had been angling for it hard in the past year, doing everything I could to beat out our Swedish competitor. Getting the contract had been like securing a sought-after heiress in marriage, and I should be feeling happier about it now. But at the moment, all I could think of was the flurry of press conferences I would be expected to attend and the headache of paperwork that would be following me for months. And, of course, the pointed expectation from our manufacturing partner that the inclusion of top-of-the-line SkyBlue tech in their luxury sedans would boost profit margins to an ungodly number. I had made big promises in pursuing this deal, and now I had to keep them.
The first time my phone rang, I ignored it, opting instead to glance back at the prototype specs of the sedan that would be shown at a high-end automotive event next week. The second time, I snapped it up to my face and sighed,
“I’m working, Sarah.”
“Surprise, surprise,” my sister said. “Although I guess I can’t nag you about it too much since it is a weekday. Do you have a minute?”
“Not really.”
“Just a minute, Luke, I promise. Ryan is here too! He wants to say hello to his uncle. Ryan, can you say hello to Uncle Luke?”
Ryan trumpeted out his greeting from somewhere in the room behind her, singsonging over my name with a child’s unashamed exuberance. A smile tugged at the corners of my mouth before I smothered it. Sarah knew how to get to me. And she wouldn’t be calling at this hour unless she wanted something.
“What is it?” I asked, trying to sound genuinely interested and not testy.
“Actually, dad’s here! He’d like to talk to you for a second.”
“Sarah,” I began warningly, but before I could protest, I had been passed from my sister to my father. I very rarely took calls from him even when I was free. I wouldn’t put it past the sly old dog to ask my sister to dial on his behalf. He didn’t respect the healthy boundaries I set between us very well. It wasn’t that I hated him, or that we were constantly at odds. We just had very different perspectives, and I had never managed to regain the respect I lost for him when he had turned to drinking in those first few years after my mother’s death. College was a relief; it gave me time to establish myself as my own man, and he took the time to pull himself together.
“Luke,” My father began in his gravelly voice. “How are things?”
“Just fine dad. What’s going on?”
“Well, we were just sitting around here talking about how long it’s been since we were all together.”
I bristled. “Who’s ‘all?’”
“Just the family. Sarah and Ryan and Eric.”
Anger came up in my throat, metallic tasting, and I couldn’t help the sneer that twisted my mouth.
“Sarah didn’t mention Venom was there.”
“Luke,” My father chided, so harshly it came out almost as a bark. It sounded like his face was well on its way to deep red
with fury, a shade I often saw when I was around him. The man had a shorter fuse than a grenade, and we always seemed to rub each other the wrong way.
“Sorry, I meant Vernon. A slip of the tongue.”
“I’ve about had it up to here with your bad attitude. You never call anymore, never come out to eat with us, and then you act like this as soon as I get you on the phone?”
I sighed deeply, dredging up an apology, or at least an attempt at one, from deep within me. But before I could get a word in edgewise, my father continued with his barrage.
“What about forgiveness, Luke? It’s been damn near five years. Everyone else is over it, we’ve all moved on, as a family. Are you a part of this family, or aren’t you?”
I could hear a low, worried murmur in the background. It sounded like Sarah exchanging words with Eric. Anger bubbled up inside me all over again at the thought of them whispering about me. Eric always had some inane opinion that Sarah would softly try to dissuade him from. I don’t know why he even bothered pretending to like me in the first place since it was obvious there was no love lost between us now.
“Of course I’m part of the family,” I said smoothly. “I was just with Sarah and everyone a few days ago.”
“I heard about that,” my father said, settling somewhat. I could almost hear his blood pressure going down, slowly but surely. “Sarah said it was good to get you out of that office.”
“It wasn’t terrible, I’ll admit. It was nice to spend time with Ryan and the family.”
“See? You’ve just gotta put yourself out there more.”
“Maybe.”
“Listen, we’d like you to come out to dinner with us.”
“When?”
“Tonight!”
“Tonight? Dad, I’m working tonight.”
“You’re always working nights.”
“Yes, well, that’s what needs to be done. And I went out just the other night, I’ve seen Sarah and Ryan and even Eric, alright? You know our time together is valuable to me, but I’ve got a company to run here. We’ve got this sponsorship deal and this huge launch in a few months and I can’t—”
“I’m so tired of hearing about this launch! There are always going to be launches, Luke. But we’re your family, and we might not always be here! Ryan won’t be seven forever.”
“Don’t bring Ryan into this,” I said, my voice dropping to a low, steely pitch. If my father was trying to arouse my ire and land himself in my black books, he was well on his way. “Don’t use him as leverage, alright? I’ll think about it. But don’t get your hopes up.”
“Luke—” My father began. I hung up before he could do anything else to infuriate me. There was a light knock at my door.
“What?” I snapped, then immediately regretted it. It was my secretary, Oliva, one of the best things that ever happened to my company or me. In addition to being an essential component of my work life, she was also a dear friend and was one of the few people I would take the time to get an after-work cocktail with from time to time. Granted, we usually ended up talking about work, but she could often make me laugh in the process, and I appreciated that.
“Who pissed in your coffee?” She asked dryly. She was wearing a crimson dress that set off her tawny skin and her jet black hair hung in loose in waves.
“My father,” I said, kneading my brow.
“Oh! How is Marty?”
“Still a bastard.”
“Got it. Well.” She shifted the notebooks she was carrying on her hip, then crossed over to the desk and set them down in front of me. Then she flipped through a few pages on a clipboard. “Ready for the week’s rundown?”
“It’s Monday, isn’t it?”
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
Olivia launched into the week’s events in her crisp, professional tones. I had them all marked down already, in online calendars and memos and email reminders, but I liked to hear her lay it all out for me at the start of the week. It was one of my little secrets to success that Forbes columnists were always hounding me to share. Arianna Huffington had her bubble baths. I had my weekly check-ins.
“As you can tell, it’s going to be a doozy of a week,” Olivia finished. “But I’ve spaced everything with as much breathing room as I could find to give you, which is to say: not much.”
“What about the press?”
“What about them?”
“They’ll want statements, photo-ops, that kind of thing.”
Olivia pursed her bright red lips at me, pulling her brows together in confusion.
“Luke, you’re completely booked. Slammed, even. There’s no way…”
“Call a press conference for Thursday. Just a small one, I’m sure we can find the time.”
“And the prototype presentations on Thursday?”
“I’ll go to those too. Come to think of it; I want an advance showing before we get all the investors in here. Just to make sure everything is ready to go. Maybe Tuesday? Hell, I’ll do it today if the manufacturers are ready.”
Olivia sighed heavily. She didn’t argue with me about pacing myself or delegating to others; she knew me too well for that. Instead, she asked, “When will you sleep?”
I threw back the rest of my cappuccino, already flipping through the mountains of material Oliva had brought in for my perusal and approval.
“Sleep is overrated.”
Chapter Four
Emily
After a week of working six hours days at SkyBlue that somehow felt more like twelve, I still felt like I was drowning in new information, but I was getting a better hold on processing it. The job description hadn’t been lying when it said “other duties as needs arise.” I nearly ran holes in my shoes scurrying up and down the hallways of SkyBlue, dropping off folders, answering phones, picking up steaming trays of coffee, and hurriedly scribbling notes in meetings. Even though my shorter day as an intern left me with plenty of time in the evening to socialize with my roommates, I got into the habit of making an early dinner and unwinding with an hour of Netflix in my room before falling asleep. Morning and the long train ride into Midtown came all too soon every day, but I stuck at it, and slowly but surely, I started to get a handle on things. I began to intuit the rhythm of an average work day and match names to faces.
In particular, Sonia and Olivia were becoming something like friends to me, and they would often smile at me and open up their tight conversation to welcome me in as a third while we brewed coffee in the tiny staff kitchen. This was the perfect time, of course, to swap gossip, and I found myself more up to date on company tabloid rumors than most other interns.
Luke Thorpe was, of course, an evergreen topic. Olivia used her frequent coffee refill trips to complain about how meticulous he was, and how he was working himself into the ground. They seemed to be on a first name basis, and she certainly bad-mouthed him more than most assistants did their bosses, but it seemed to come from a place of love. To me, it seemed almost sisterly, the bristling irritation mixed with genuine care. Sonia was always happy to listen, and usually had an opinion or two to interject about Luke’s jam-packed schedule or his appearance in the glossy pages of magazines. I had never met Luke, so I hadn’t formed an opinion of him yet. I wondered if I ever would.
“It’s not that he’s doing poorly,” Olivia said one day, stirring a generous helping of sweet creamer into her coffee. “Hell, he’s doing better than most people I know. The man gets up at five, exercises five days a week, and outpaces everyone at work. But there’s more to life than business achievements. I’m just worried about his work-life balance.”
Sonia snorted into her cup of decaf.
“That man doesn’t know the meaning of work-life balance.”
“Is he always like that?” I asked. Generally, at our little lunch hour rendezvous, I just smiled and listened, but I had started feeling bold enough to ask a few questions. “Or is it just because of the launch?”
Olivia rolled her eyes.
“If it w
eren’t the product launch, it would be something else. He’s always got an excuse for working late. I don’t think he’d know what to do with any time off in that big empty condo of his. The man hasn’t taken a vacation in five years. Five!”
Sonia whistled lowly, then said with a smirk,
“Well, whatever he’s doing, overworking seems to agree with him. I swear every time I see him, he gets hotter. Did you see the suit he was wearing today, that matte black number? Made me swoon. He looks like a bad-tempered James Bond.”
“Oh, keep it to yourself, Sonia.”
“What, am I supposed to pretend to be blind? Listen, if Luke Thorpe were willing to look up from his work and pay attention to a woman for five seconds, I would be making a fool of myself trying to get his attention. Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed. You’re always alone in that office with him.”
“I’ve known Luke since we were eighteen; he brought me into the company in its infancy. We trust each other. We’re friends.”
“So, you have noticed.”
Olivia sighed heavily, but it looked like she was trying to cover up a girlish smile when she brought her coffee cup to her lips.
“Alright, I’ve noticed. There’s nothing saying I can’t admire fine craftsmanship if I see it. But I don’t want Luke. Not the way you’re thinking.”
“Well I’m not afraid to say I do,” Sonia said breezily. “Do you think he likes brunettes?”
I must have made a little scoffing sound into my mug of tea because Sonia’s eyes flickered over to me.
“Full of opinions today?” She asked breezily. As far as I could tell she wasn’t really angry, maybe just a little riled, but still friendly, which was a good thing considering she was my immediate supervisor. But she hadn’t exactly been conducting herself in a particularly professional way during this conversation, so I didn’t feel bad about my attitude.