Page 5 of Rewrite the Rules

“Damn, Lewis. Did you take the stairs?” Steve watches me gasp for air in front of Aura’s office entrance.

Steve is not fit. He looks like one more French fry could send him into cardiac arrest, yet here he stands, completely unearthed by this goddamn elevation while I barely cling to life.

“No. This is from walking down the hallway,” I bark through shallow breaths. “How long does the altitude sickness last?”

“Four days, max.” Steve shrugs. Only about thirty more hours of hell.I can do that. I suck in a few quick breaths, trying to gather the necessary oxygen to compose myself. Steve laughs and pats my shoulder. I’m probably fragile enough right now to collapse under the weight of his giant catcher’s mitt.

“Welcome to the Mile High City. Actually, getting high might help with all that.” Steve raises an eyebrow at me.

“I’ll pass.”

“Truthfully, this entire office cuts loose together on occasion. Outside of office hours of course, but they are not shy about lighting up. Does that bother you?”

“Does it botheryou?”

“You have just as much of a say as I do, now.”

“Not really. Keep it legal at the office and then it’s really not my business. I don’t like micromanaging. Based on what you’ve told me, this team knows how to handle themselves. They don’t need a babysitter.”

Steve’s hearty laugh fills the empty space as he leads me down the hallway. “Don’t speak too soon.” He gives me an orientation of the Aura office suite which inevitably will double as my new residence. Newly single, I’m now free to be as much of a workaholic as I please.

Steve opens door after door exposing the team’s individual offices. They are identical, quaint, modern-looking spaces that l will never be able to tell apart outside of the name plaques on the door. Does no one personalize their desks anymore?

“Your senior associates are Brett, Marcus, and Lawrence—but Lawrence is useless. I’m not sure when the last time was that he actually conducted a productive meeting. Your junior associates are Jason and Darnell. HR and Research are outsourced. All their details are in your inbox. And we have no principals, so you’ll be wearing both hats until you promote someone.”

I rehearse the names in my mind.Brett…Marcus…Lawrence (useless, got it), Jason…wait.

“Am I hearing this right? There isn’t even one woman on the team? Isn’t that a little—”

“Sexist?” Steve asks. “I agree, but we haven’t had a lot of women interested in venture capitalism come knocking on our door. But don’t worry. It’s not a total locker room here. By far the most important person who works here is a woman. Haley.”

“Associate?”

Steve snorts. “Hell no. Want to see someone instantly fall asleep? Start talking to Haley about investments and ventures. She’s my executive assistant slash office manager slash lifesaver slash the only reason anyone in this office makes meetings on time or eats. She takes care of us all. Word of advice—you want this place running smoothly? Make sure you keep Haley around. The rest of the team is somewhat expendable.”

“Good to know.”Not good to know.An expendable team doesn’t exactly scream success to me.

“One small problem,” Steve says as he opens the last door at the end of the hallway. “This is your new office.”

My corner office is by far the most spacious room in the business suite. It’s large enough to fit three offices in one. There is an oversized desk at the far end surrounded by three walls of built-in shelving, filled with books. I step through the door and catch a subtle whiff of citrus.

“What is that?” I sniff around, nose in the air hunting for the source of the spa-like scent. Citrus and lavender, I think. Definitely lavender-something.I take a deep breath in and my mood lightens.

“Haley’s candle shit. I don’t know. All I know is this is the only office in the suite that doesn’t smell like a monkey cage. By the way, this is her office. Orwas, now that you’re here.”

“Your assistant has the best office? How did that happen?” I peek around for further evidence that a woman resides here. There are no fresh flowers on the coffee table. No neatly lined colored pens sit on the desk. The sticky notes are not pink or in the shape of cutesy woodland creatures.

Steve winks. “I’m telling you—she’s that good.”

“How pissed off is she going to be if I take over this office?” Tempted as I am to let her just keep it, I’ll need the private meeting space.

Steve shrugs noncommittally. “Please. Haley is agreeable to a fault. You’d have a harder time figuring out a way to actually piss her off. With me taking a step back from the day-to-day, she’ll be your assistant now.”

Great.I can run a venture team with ease, but managing an assistant? It’s uncomfortable. In the past I’ve swung between too lenient and then too strict, unable to get that working dynamic just right. I eventually decided it wasn’t worth the hassle and started managing my own administrative needs. My hours at the office were longer, but at least I didn’t have to fire anybody.

“Saves me from interviews, I guess. When do I meet her?”

Steve glances at the mounted clock on the far wall of the office. “Dammit, I’m late for a meeting. Haley should be here in a couple hours. She requested some PTO this morning.” Steve shuffles out of the office and toward the reception area with me in tow. “By the way, always approve that girl’s time-off requests. She’s banking two hundred-some hours and when she cashes out it will bankrupt Aura.” A nervous chuckle escapes his lips.

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