Page 101 of Return Billionaire to Sender

Unfortunately, Soren picks this moment to steer the conversation back to me. “What’s next?” he asks. “Once you graduate from the court-ordered coaching clients.”

My heart races. What would a real coach say? What other kinds of coaching are there? I have no idea. Would he accept “non-court-ordered” as an answer? Probably not. “Umm, I like where I am,” I say.

Soren furrows his brow and frowns hugely, becoming the very picture of a man balking. If there was an Irish balking jig, he would get up and do it—that’s how intensively he is balking right now. “Court-ordered soft skills coaching? Come on. Nobody voluntarily stays in court-ordered soft skills. Where do you see yourself in five years?”

I’m a deer in headlights. “I’m happy where I am.” I stuff the bruschetta into my mouth.

“But if you’re as passionate about the profession as Malcolm claims…” He frowns. “Where are you trying to go ultimately?”

I chew, trying to think what to say. “Court-ordered is my thing,” I say.

He smiles. “Now give me the real answer.” I can feel Malcolm tense up beside me. True, Soren is being kind of high-handed.

“It’s my thing,” I say.

“How can you say that?” he challenges. “You’re working with students who don’t want to learn…you’re joking, right?”

“No?” I say.

“Court-ordered diversity training, court-ordered sexual harassment training, yes, that’s a leveraged place to make a difference. There is understanding lacking in those instances. But come on. Court-ordered emotional intelligence training? Are you kidding me?” Soren’s acting almost insulted that I said it, and he’s being a bit insulting as well. “Nobody says that.”

“Clearly,Ellesays it,” Malcolm cuts in, giving Soren his hard-sparkle smile minus the smile. “So in fact, it seems that somebody does say it.”

“I like to take things one day at a time,” I try, diplomatically. “Oh my god, have you guys ever seen that show? ‘One Day at a Time’? My mom used to love that show when she was a kid. She made me watch a million episodes of it. File underbo-ring!”

Soren turns to Malcolm. “I’m just saying that the fact that she chooses the area of court-ordered emotional intelligence shows that she is really just not serious. Which is fine. Certainly no harm in that. My point is that it’s like saying, ‘I’m really passionate about filmmaking, and I want to rip tickets apart at the movie theater.’”

“Soren,” Verlaina scolds. “Maybe she enjoys it.”

“Fine, but you don’t call yourself a serious filmmaker if you want to stay in the role of ticket ripper. It’s adjacent to the business, yes.”

Everybody at the table bristles—especially Malcolm, who fixes him with a fierce look that I feel down to my toes. “I can assure you that she’s very serious about executive coaching,” Malcolm says. “Frankly, I think you could learn a thing or two from her.”

“I doubt that.” Soren drains his martini and signals for another.

“I doubt it, too,” I say quickly. “I really, really doubt it.”

“Didn’t the woman from‘One Day At a Time’marry Eddy Van Halen?” Verlaina asks, desperately trying to change the subject. We are partners now in desperately trying to change the subject.

“Is that so?” I muse enthusiastically, even though I have no idea what she is talking about. “From the band?”

Malcolm says, “Not only am I learning soft skills from Stella, specifically skills of empathy, but she is responsible for a major negotiation breakthrough.”

“She’s giving you negotiation tips,” Soren says disbelievingly. “You’re getting negotiation tips and learning empathy from a first-year court-ordered executive coach.You.”

“Yes, that’s right,” Malcolm says.

“That’s wonderful,” Verlaina tries, lifting her glass. “To each her own.”

“Though it’s a bit hard to believe, I have to say,” Soren says without even looking at me, like the conversation doesn’t involve me.

“And I didn’t even want to do it,” Malcolm says. “I offered to pay Elle a great deal of money to let me do a self-directed curriculum, if you know what I mean.” He looks over at me. “She’d do no such thing. She hung in there. Making a difference is more important to her than hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

“Really,” Soren says.

“Really,” Malcolm says. “She’s down in the trenches. Doing the actual work.”

Actual work?

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