Chapter 15
Hey Andre,
Hope things are great in Italy! I’ve been wanting to call you, but I figured I’d email first to gauge interest. We’ve reconfigured some of the C-suite now that old man Mortimer retired, and it has turned out to be a major restructure. Long story short, Mortimer Jr is out as CFO because he had a little problem with board members (I can get into detail if we speak live). They want to go out of house for candidates tbh, but your name came up as an option. I didn’t know how to answer questions about what you’re up to with the political career, but I said I would reach out. There are a lot of reasons why this is an epic position, but again, I can’t go into detail over email. Let me know if/when you can talk.
Ciao,
Jason
Andrea read the email at least three times before clicking reply, but then sat watching the cursor blink at the top of a white rectangular window. Jason was chief information officer at his previous job and the only Black man in the C-suite. A cybersecurity wunderkind turned head of all technology, Jason was among his closest friends in the city once upon a time. He was one of the good guys, as likely to be found working through the night alongside his team to solve a storage problem as holed up in the custom-designed gaming lair in his apartment until dawn. Reading Jason’s email felt like looking down into a wormhole at another life he might still be having somewhere else. Even though he wasn’t spelling it out, Andrea could pretty much fill in the blanks on what was happening. He also knew that there would likely be a massive salary, use of a vacation house in someplace like Nantucket, a membership to some social club, and on and on. It was exactly the right thing for someone with a résumé like his, no family, and forty looming only three years away. He should have felt good knowing that somewhere down that wormhole, someone thought that he was capable and wanted to reach up to pull him back in. He held his hands over the keyboard and tried to decide whether to use a friendly tone or conjure up his best corporate English. He decided to split the difference.
Ciao Jason,
Great to hear from you. Hope things are going well. Thanks for thinking of me. Let’s chat live whenyou’re able. As a reminder, I’m six hours ahead of EST, so maybe your morning would be best.
Be well,
Andre
He read it through and decided it didn’t sound American enough, so he added an exclamation point after the first sentence before pressing send. It couldn’t hurt to hear Jason out. Who knew what could come of this conversation? Something could change here in Italy, and he might have to explore other options. An amazing candidate could show up to take his place. Maybe he’d lose the election. He could simply change his mind. Maybe Lora would decide to do a postdoc in New York instead of Zurich and—wait, what?
“Are you going to remind her about residency?” Franca stood in the doorway to his office, a fresh frown gracing her face. Andrea almost jumped out of his seat. Franca’s diligence with work was only rivaled by her ability to appear when he least expected it, hovering like a stealth bomber. “By law, she must declare her residency within seventy-two hours.”
Maybe she could hear his thoughts too. He wouldn’t be surprised if she’d developed some kind of administrative ESP—after working for every mayor since 1989—and was now able to hear his thoughts as they pertained to town inhabitants.
“Yes, I plan to take her to Luca tomorrow morning to help her fill everything out, first thing.”
“She should learn Italian,” she sniffed, turned on her heel, and walked out.
Andrea:
Good morning
How was your first night sleeping at the house?
Lora:
Buongiorno
Not great
Maybe up too late with G and V
Andrea:
Can you meet 9am at polizia?
For residency papers
Lora:
Coffee
Andrea:
Does coffee mean Sì?
Lora:
