Cole:I'd love to see youtry.
Cole:As if I haven't buried everything traceable beneath thousands of redirectionlayers.
Cole:It would take any in-house team months to peel it all back and even then, it's not like I'm on public Wi-Fi.
Neera:Verywell.
Neera:Do you have an idea as to when you'll be returning toCalifornia?
Cole:Has my presence beenrequested?
Neera:Your presence is alwaysappreciated.
Cole:That is not accurate, and you knowit.
Neera:I'd beg todiffer.
Cole:Wait. Does the new boss expect me to show up for morninghuddles?
Cole:Because fuck thatshit.
Cole:I haven't seen a job description for the Chief Innovations Officer but I'm pretty sure I can't innovate if I'm wasting away in huddles and structured conversations with rigidagendas.
Cole:If you so much as mumble the words "dilemma protocol" or "wagon-wheel consultancy" I will burst into flame rightnow.
Neera:That sounds like a lot of effort. Save the flame for anotherday.
Neera:You know the team enjoys when you spend time oncampus.
Cole:The team is a little over 57,000 people and the campus is roughly the size of a Hawaiianisland.
Neera:Perhaps the smaller one,yes.
Cole:They don't all enjoyme.
Neera:So, you're still dissatisfied with the organizational shifts.Understandable.
Cole:Dissatisfied isn't the word that comes tomind.
Neera:Understood.
Cole:I'll keep you posted. Allright?
Neera:Yes. Pleasedo.
I blewout a breath and powered down my phone. My belly was rumbling, and I figured it was time to show my face. I wandered down the seaside home's hallway in search of my host. It was a long, narrow expanse of knotty pine and stone that reeked of family with its wide old hearth and country kitchen. The window over the sink was adorned with little white curtains. Tiny anchors dotted the edges, and though the embroidery's color was long since faded, they hung straight and proud, as if carefully ironed just the otherday.
That was the way of this home: old, lived-in,loved.
I expected to find a rosy-cheeked woman rolling out dough for biscuits or some hazel-eyed children, perhaps a Newfoundland pup eager for a belly-scratching.
But I found none ofit.
Discovering that I was alone, I helped myself to a banana. It was late in the day—I'd slept long past breakfast and lunch—and I hadn't eaten since earlyyesterday.
"I see you'realive."
I turned, my mouth stuffed with a chunk of banana, and saw him. A sun-bleached Red Sox cap shielded most of his face. Owen of the gravelly voice and ripped-to-fuckbody.
