Page 77 of Pick Me
“What?”
“No, no, don’t be modest. Beneath that impressively believable douchewad facade beats the heart of an eternal optimist. You’re the guy who came up with all those damn ‘Live, Laugh, Love’ signs in everyone’s kitchen, aren’t you? You’re the reason my stepmother has ‘Too Blessed to Be Stressed’ sweatshirts in every color of the rainbow. But don’t worry. You’re secret’s safe with me.” I traced an X over my heart.
The guy looked like he couldn’t decide whether he was more confused or angry.
See that, Knox? I’m getting along just fine with the other toddlers.
I tried to ignore his attitude, but when he got called away for his own interview a minute later, his words were still echoing in my head, and I found it hard to sit still.
Finally, a woman with a pixie cut and a genuine smile came to collect me. “I’m Hannah,” she said. “Jason’s assistant. Sorry we’re running a little late this morning. The division head is coming to town tomorrow, and everyone’s scrambling.”
She led me past the elevator to a different hallway, where the marble floor became carpet and the sleek formality became a little less constrained. She knocked on a door, and when a voice yelled, “Yeah!” she winked and pushed it open to reveal a large office with a desk and a seating area by the window.
“Gage! Good to see you again, man.” Jason came out from behind his desk to shake my hand, grinning hugely. His blond hair was just as ruthlessly styled as it had been the first time I’d met him, and his suit probably cost more than my first car, but with his jacket off and his shirtsleeves rolled up, he was the most casually dressed person I’d seen that day. “How’s it going?”
“Good! I can’t believe how busy it is out there.” I hooked a thumb down the hall toward the waiting area.
“God, I know.” He rolled his eyes and gestured me to one side of the lime green sofa. “I should have mentioned when we spoke that our interview weeks are a bit of a circus. You’d think it would be easier to space the new hires out, but apparently the powers that be have decided this is what’s best.” He shrugged and sat in one of the leather chairs facing me. “One interviewing frenzy in the spring and another in the fall, but at least that means I only have to wear my fancy suit to the office a couple weeks a year. The company’s growing exponentially, which is always a good thing.” His smile turned crafty. “That’s why we’d love to get you on board now, so you can be part of that growth.”
I returned his smile, but I couldn’t help wondering, “Isit a good thing, though? Isn’t it possible to betoobig or diversified?”
He shrugged easily and stretched out his legs. “I can’t lie, long-term corporate strategy is not my wheelhouse, Gage. I trust much smarter folks than me to make those decisions. But I will tell you that the strength of the company relies on our ability to innovate new products all the time, which is why they need people like you and me. Professional visionaries.”
I imagined telling Knox to refer to me asGage Goodman, Professional Visionaryand had to fight an inappropriate giggle before I mentally slapped myself.
What the hell was I doing? This was my dream job.
I sobered quickly. “I’m really excited to hear about this position. From everything Knox said, it sounds right up my alley. I’m eager to take a project from concept to finished product, you know? I wanna learn a little of everything. And working at Rubicon would be a dream.”
Jason nodded. “We’re a cutting-edge company. Right at this minute, we have a team working on an app that connects to a registry for medical implants and durable medical goods so that consumers will know when there are recalls or when multiple people have reported an adverse reaction. In the future, we’re hoping to have a way to monitor implants and other devices electronically to find out why and how they fail.”
A little thrill shot up my spine, making me straighten in my chair. “That’sincredible.”
“It really is.” He beamed. “I remember the woman who came up with the idea, too—we started at Rubicon around the same time—and I like to think she’d be proud of what we’ve done with it.”
“Oh, my God.” I blinked. “Did she… did she die?” I whispered.
“What? No.” Jason hesitated. “At least I don’t think? I haven’t talked to her in a couple years, but last I heard, she’d moved to Montana and writes thrillers.”
“Oh.” I thought this through. “So, wait, when did she come up with the idea?”
“Oh, I wanna say six or seven years back, maybe? Took nearly a year to get the project through the selection process the first time, but she was tenacious. Then we went through a couple rounds of restructuring, and it had to be approvedagain. We assembled doctors to do test groups to check the functionality. We refined it. Then more focus groups. You know the drill.”
I didn’t, though. It made sense that doing things on a larger scale took longer, but… years? That was a little sobering.
“Knox mentioned you guys were restructuring,” I found myself saying. “That’s gotta be scary.”
Jason seesawed his hand. “Eh. I guess? But it’s the nature of the beast, or so I’m told. Gotta keep things fresh.” He winked. “Never good to get complacent. Good news for you is, this means you’ll move into the New York job that much faster.”
“Move into it,” I repeated. “So I wouldn’t be starting there.”
Douchebro from the waiting area had been right.
“Well, you would. On paper. And you’d go down for meetings and whatnot. But for the first little while, you’d spend a good part of your time up here in Boston doing some onboarding: learning about our corporate culture and our clients, learning how to analyze project costs and feasibility. All that good stuff.” He winked again. “Then once you’re up to speed, assuming all goes well, we’ll pay to relocate you.”
Assuming all went well.
“So it’s a little like a probation period.”
