Page 77 of Pipe Dreams
The next night Lauren was still in the office at tenP.M.
Earlier she’d turned in her full report on iBits to Nate. Then she’d taken a break to go to the gym and pick up some dinner for herself and her boss. The two of them had tuned in to watch the Bruisers defeat Detroit in the first game of the Conference Finals series.
Now they were sitting on opposite sofas in his office, empty Diet Coke cans strewn about. They’d spent two very long days getting their heads around iBits and its offer. This morning, Nate’s friend Alex had called with her own offer, too.
“Alex won’t pay as much,” he grunted now, his hands behind his head. “But her offer doesn’t require a ten-year contract.”
“...Which you wouldn’t mind giving Alex anyway because you already know her company,” Lauren pointed out.
“Right.” Nate laughed. “I don’t know which offer I’m going to end up taking. Thanks for all your help this week.”
“My pleasure.”
He turned to look at her. “We need to talk about the future.”
Lauren felt herself fading. “It’s ten o’clock, Nate. It’s already the future.”
He grinned. “You know what I mean. Your graduation is next month. You’re going to get job offers. If you haven’t already.”
She made a noncommittal noise. She’d been approached by recruiters for several companies. But leaving Kattenberger Technologies wasn’t on Lauren’s to-do list. If she was going to become a new mother, she wanted to do that while employed by someone who would make certain accommodations to keep her. A girl couldn’t tell her brand-new employer that she was completely unwilling to travel.
It wasn’t time yet to explain this to Nate, though.
“This company paid a big chunk of my college tuition,” she said instead. “I have a huge incentive to stay here unless I want to pay it back.”
He shrugged as if thirty-thousand dollars was of little consequence. “That’s what signing bonuses are for. I don’t know what they’re offering you, but don’t say yes to anything until you let me counter, okay?”
“Okay.”No problem.
“I know you’ll need a new position,” he went on. “You didn’t just put yourself through college to manage my office forever. I have a few ideas for you.”
“You do?” It hadn’t occurred to her that Nate would brainstorm her career path for her.
“Sure. This whole scramble with iBits makes me realize how badly I need an ear to the ground in Silicon Valley. New York has its benefits, but I need someone who can gather intel in California.”
Lauren sat up straighter on the sofa. “How would that work, exactly?”
“I have an office there already, but it’s only techies.” He took off his reading glasses and stowed them in a shirt pocket. “I’d just expand it a little. You’d be my California manager, and you’d meet with whoever we were thinking ofdoing business with. I know the idea is a little... loose at the moment. But this is only going to become more important now that the venture capital market has picked up.”
“I see,” Lauren said slowly, her mind whirling. California? She really wasn’t looking to move out of state.
“You’d need a title. Maybe vice president of special projects.”
Vice president. She could be a VP in Nate’s company? Really?
Nate rubbed his eyes. “You’re right—it’s late. Can we pick up this discussion later this week?”
“Sure.” But she’d be picturing the wordsvice presidenton her business card until then.
“Just keep me in the loop. Don’t let any of those recruiters bat their eyelashes at you.”
Laughing, she gathered her papers together. “Good night, Nate.”
“Night.”
TWENTY-THREE
Mike:Hi there.
