Page 89 of The Austen Escape
“Excuse—”
“Please. I’ll come see you later. I need a moment with Mary. Alone.”
She slammed the door behind her. She actually had to pull it to make the noise she needed.
I held my hands out without a clue as to what I was offering. “I am so sorry. I just... I kept talking.”
Craig wasn’t listening. He dropped his head onto his desk. It bounced off his laptop and lay there. “What have I done?”
I blinked.
He raised his head and stared at me. “The brain that starts a company, that has that first supernova idea, isn’t always the one who can run it. I thought I needed a COO, really a seasoned CEO. Investors wanted it and I, like you, love the creative work. It was the next step... Rodriguez gave his two-week notice this morning. At least he did it in person.”
“Oh...”
“Exactly. Two-thirds of our designers, the backbone of this place, as you call it. Nathan would have a field day with your fireworks display.”
“Nathan?”
“He’s been pushing me to fire Karen for six months. Two days after I hired her, almost a month before she stepped foot in the office. That’s not true, he fought the hire too. And every reorg discussion with him starts there. Cut our losses with her and move on. He said this morning that WATT is hemorrhaging people and resources...”
“This morning?”
Again Craig was not listening to me. “He’s right. I finally agreed on Friday, but...” He waved his hand at the door. “Do you know how much I laid out for her? The money? The options?” He dropped his head again. “Do you have any idea how much this is going to hurt us?” His words were muffled by the laptop. He popped up again. “Stay, Mary. You’re right about every aspect of this company and you can’t leave. What will it take?”
“I’m not sure I understand. You’re firing Karen? Did Nathan know this?”
“He’s been working for it. It’s been our one point of contention and he was right. Other investors raised concerns too, but, like I said, I paid so much.” Craig blew out a long breath. “We had a good-bye party for Nathan Friday, then I hired him again to see us through this. No one knows that, by the way.”
I plopped into the chair I’d just vacated. Benson’s laptop was in my hands. There was a sticker of E=MC2 on the cover.
“You know what I want, Mary. It’ll be leaner for a while, but we’ll get to do what we do best, even if it’s by the seat of our pants. But what do you want to do?” Craig picked up the pen he normally rolled through his fingers and started a helicopter whirl.
“I want to stay.”
He stared at me. He deserved more.
“Craig, that was a pretty bad e-mail I sent, and I’m sorry. The five years alone deserved more respect. But the one place I felt good suddenly wasn’t mine anymore. At least it didn’t feel that way... I love my job and I think I do it well. May I stay?”
“Thank you.” He closed his eyes as if cycling through a change in plans. “I feel like we’re beginning again. Can you feel it?”
I laughed. “Maybe we are. You need to get Rodriguez back too.”
“On it right now.” He reached for his phone, then flicked it toward the door. “Get out of here and make sure everyone knows you’re staying. I’m tired of all the grim faces. And if he’s still in Conference Room A, grab Nathan and send him in here.”
Nathan? Here?
As I left the room, I heard Craig chuckle. “It’s a whole new ball game now.”
I leaned against the wall outside Craig’s office and took in the entire company before me. Working at WATT hadn’t started with a proactive decision; it had started in an elevator with Craig pursuing me. And I perpetuated that fallacy—I didn’t choose the job, it chose me—for five years. It was false because I’d chosen WATT too—I’d made it mine each and every day as I woke up and brought my best to work. It wasn’t just a job. It wasmyjob. And these were my people. My home.
I looked toward the office’s far corner. Karen’s cubicle. She always had an arched reading lamp on when she was there. It was off. I looked across the cubicle walls and didn’t see her blond-gray bob and green-rimmed glasses. I didn’t see Nathan either. The door to Conference Room A was open; the room was empty.
I walked back toward my own cubicle to find Moira.
“There you are.” Moira rounded the corner and met me. “I brought this for you. It’s almost gone, and you need a piece of your own good-bye cake.”
“Gone?”
