Page 24 of Ideal Life

“What?” Talia asked.

“Nothing… I mean, it’s not my place to—”

“I want you to be bold and speak up, Erin. I know that’s in your core personality, because you demonstrated it in spades when you applied for this internship. So don’t be afraid to talk here. There’s a balance to strike, of course, but it’s not good to be hyperaware of hierarchy.”

Erin laughed self-consciously. “Yeah, I guess I don’t normally have trouble speaking up. But this is personal, so… Okay, well, I was going to say that Sam is so great and obviously you two care about each other a lot, and I’m rooting for you.”

Talia shook her head. “Not you, too. I just came from breakfast with my parents, where my mom wouldn’t stop gushing about Sam. She’s been not so subtly trying to get us together for, gosh, seventeen years now? It hasn’t happened yet, though, so it’s not going to.”

“But why not?”

Talia shrugged. “I can’t point to any specific reason why Sam and I stayed only friends or why we didn’t become more. It probably could’ve gone either way, but sometimes life simply does what it’s going to do. And we’re really great as we are, so I’m happy.”

Erin let it go. But a wave of sadness hit Talia as she remembered again that she had no real friends except Sam. There was something a little awful—and lonely—about the fact that it was a summer intern who asked Talia about Sam, rather than one of her old friends from college or grad school.

But Talia couldn’t dwell on this because Lena Tahir, the director of marketing, came into the conference room then, followed by the two others on her team, George Jackson and Henry Carter. All three of them looked a little hungover from the celebration last night. Staying out late was rough in your thirties.

“Morning,” Talia said, putting on her CEO mantle again. “Sorry for calling a meeting first thing.”

Lena waved it off. “Totally my fault for having three too many cups of sake. It was so good, though.”

Talia laughed. She could understand lack of restraint like that. After all, she’d just come from multiple breakfasts. “Well, I wanted to get the conversation started about what marketing is going to look like over the next few months. There’s going to be a lot more attention on us now that Omni has signed the acquisition papers, and I was wondering if we have plans to ramp things up.”

“We’ve been brainstorming.” George tapped on his tablet and woke up the projector. A short presentation appeared on the large screen on the conference room wall.

“It’s a new wave of our millennial ad campaign,” Henry said.

“Okay…” Talia chewed on her lip.

“Millennials are our biggest demographic.” Lena started explaining their plan as George flipped through the slides. “We’ve got some designs for new digital ads in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and other big media sites whose audiences have disposable income and are tech-savvy.”

“That’s the same as we’ve been doing, right?” Talia asked.

“Yes,” Lena said. “But it’s foundational and I think it’s worked, so I don’t want to give up on it if it can continue to give good results. Still, we’re continuing to innovate. Tech podcasts are big, and Henry is doing research on ones where we could get you on as a guest. We can also look into sponsorships on some of them.”

On the other side of the table, Erin touched her Omni 3Ds. A message must’ve popped up on them. Then her eyes met Talia’s.

Talia nodded in support.

Erin sat straighter in her chair. “So, um, I was thinking, how about social media creator campaigns?”

George made a “meh” noise. “We haven’t had much luck with influencers recently.”

Erin winced, and Talia suspected it was because the term “influencers” was passé. Libby and Jacob used the word “creators” because it was more respectful of the time and work they put into creating content.

“Although…” Talia looked from George and Henry to Lena. “It’s possible we’re a little out of touch because of our age.”

Henry groaned but agreed. “Being in tech in your thirties is like being an NFL player in your thirties. The Silicon Valley chapter of AARP is already sending me mail, and it’s snail mail.”

Everyone laughed. What Henry said was only partly true, because the Valley did value experience. But the younger generation was coming in fast on their heels.

“I’m sure you chose great creators last time,” Erin said, “but I’d be happy to take another look and see if there are others we could add to the roster.”

Lena smiled at her, then looked at Talia. “I like this one. She’s smart and diplomatic.”

Erin beamed.

“Okay,” Talia said. “That all sounds like a good start. Anything else?”