“Just come on the double date,” Ellen said, tone thawing. “We can order appetizers without worrying about paying.”
Unwillingly, Rae felt her ears perk up. “And dessert?”
“Desserts. Plural.”
“Fine,” Rae said, because she wanted things back to normal with Ellen and because she knew where her mind would drift if she were alone on the couch all night. She’d be replaying the double date-ish, berating herself for her thoughtlessness in pushing Dustin into a corner like that just when he’d been getting comfortable with more affection. “But no making out with Aaron at the table,” she qualified to Ellen.
“We won’t,” Ellen said.
“Orunderthe table.”
“Damn. Okay.”
“Or leaving me stranded while you hook up in the bathroom.”
“Someone’s been negotiating too many legal agreements.”
“These are the conditions. Deal?”
“Deal,” Ellen said, clapping the bathroom door shut in lieu of a handshake.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
(ALMOST) EXITINGTHE POSITION
Got final round interview in San Francisco,Rae texted Dustin, then the Scramblettes, from the Starbucks bathroom next door to her office building.
More private than the bathroom at work, but not too far away that she couldn’t hustle back at the drop of an email, this Starbucks stall had become her phone booth for calls with recruiters the past few months.
She’d received so many letdowns in this toilet cubicle—companies stringing her along and breaking her heart—that she was unprepared for the encouraging call she’d just received.
Here it was, the long-awaited exit, within reach. A corporate strategy job with an up-and-coming Silicon Valley fintech company that had built a proprietary, highly differentiated market-leading digital platform to help institutional investors better monitor their portfolio risk profile in real time. Those were the buzzwords, at least.
She wasn’t riveted by the product, butstrategyseemed more creative than banking, and she’d gotten a good, human-ish feeling fromeveryone she’d spoken with, including the woman cofounder. The hours should be better too.
The Scramblettes replied immediately, all-caps strings ofCONGRATS!!!andDON’T LEAVE US!!!!
Ellen had just run into a new job at a start-up that sold chickpea milk in Europe and needed help expanding into the North American market. She’d shown up at the wrong address for an interview at another consulting firm, and by the time she’d walked out, she’d had an offer in hand. Rae had been quietly covetous but now felt a rush of procrastinated pride, trailed by fear at starting from scratch on the West Coast without Ellen squished beside her.
Rae left the stall and ordered a coffee to take back up to justify her absence. She got two extras for the COTWSM members. They’d been getting on her nerves, but now she preemptively missed them.
She texted Dustin a follow-up before he’d gotten back to her on her first message.Should I fly out there and take the interview?
He replied while she was in the crowded elevator up to the forty-second floor.What does your gut say?
More light-headed than lighthearted, Rae delivered the cappuccinos to GQ and TB and sat back down at her desk. A wannabe boss hovered over her shoulder, and Rae braced herself for a scolding for being out of sight for too long.
“Nice job on the cash flow analysis,” he told her. “Didn’t expect that level of granularity.”
Rae waited for the catch, but he just gave a nod and walked away. The COTWSM chat lit up on her computer.
GQ:What was that, EE?? Did the tin man finally get a heart??
TB:I’ve never gotten that kind of praise in all my years here …
Rae replied,They’re probably just fattening me up for an all-nighter …
But she wondered if perhaps she’d finally passed through the trough of investment banking hell. Her hours had been marginallybetter since the last deal closed. She hadn’t even worked the last two Sundays, and there were rumors of hiring a junior analyst to help with the grunt work.
