He laughs like that’s the last thing in the world he would have expected. “Is this a test?”
“Yes.”
“You’re no-bullshit. I like that.”
I’m out of my mind right now, is what I am.
He rests his chin on his fist, imitatingThe Thinker.“Ralph,” he decides after some consideration.
I press my lips together, the corners of my mouth turned down in a “not bad” face. “I’ll allow it.”
“What else’ve you got?” He crosses his legs, boba cup hanging lazily between his fingers.
“If you could have dinner with anyone, living or dead, who would you pick?”
“Jack Welch,” he says without hesitation.
The old GE CEO? I think Mom had a copy of his book. I still remember the cover: a balding man in a white shirt and yellow tie,WINNINGprinted across the front.
Mark Winterson seems to take my silence as disapproval. “Don’t get me wrong, he doesn’t sound like a nice guy, but he was an icon. And you can’t argue with his results—the way GE’s stock price went through the roof.”
“Areyoua nice guy?” I ask.
He considers this for a long moment, and his gaze flits back to the grass. “That’s for you to decide.”
Morgan comes walking by, heading to the salad place on the other side of the campus, and Mark Winterson raises his drink at her.
Great,I think, waving at Morgan,now the entire office is going to hear about this.
“Anything else?” He’s still giving me that amused, indulgent look, waiting for my next question. He’s so attractive, it makes me nauseous. That tightness between my shoulder blades is really fighting my new resolve to stand up straight.
In some ways this is a terrible idea. The power imbalance is certainly not ideal. But my lizard brain takes in his beautiful face and thinks,Maybe maybe maybe.The way his eyebrows slope upward toward the center, making him look good-natured and kind of sleepy. The way his expression seems to get fuzzed out and unfocused when he’s staring at me like that.
“So what did you mean when you said you’re working on streamlining operations?”
“TKCORP is stuck in the past.” He gestures with his non-boba-holding hand, fingers splayed out, a ring on his index finger catching the light. “Frozen in amber. Like it’s still in Fordism or something. A bygone form of capitalism.”
I nod like I know what that means.
“I’m looking for ways to bring us into the twenty-first century, big and small. Rethink how we do things.”
I take a long drink and consider that, bobbing my head. “Are you telling me you’re adisruptor?”
He leans his elbows on his knees and glances sideways at me. “Figured you’d roast me if I said it like that, but…”
I can barely tamp down my smile. “Damn, one step ahead of me.”
“I’m looking for some low-hanging fruit to start. Small wins.” He waves his cup for emphasis. “What do you think about moving to Microsoft Teams?”
I inhale so violently, a clump of boba gets sucked into my windpipe and I start coughing.
What is going to happen to Mom, then?
“Whoa, whoa!” He thumps my back unhelpfully.
And oh shit, this thing is really stuck in there! I’m flailing, struggling to breathe.What an undignified way to die this wouldbe!
Mark Winterson hands me a napkin, and I hack the boba cluster out into it.
