Page 82 of Pipe Dreams
Grumbling, he jogged down the stairs. He caught Lauren’s hand on the second floor landing and stepped through Elsa’s now open doorway. “What’s the matter?”
She spun around in her desk chair. And when she saw Lauren standing there too, her eyes narrowed. “What is a polynomial?”
“Well...” Mike chuckled. “Uh... ‘Poly’ meansmany.”
Lauren improved on his definition. “A polynomial is an expression containing different powers of the same variable. For example—3 plus 2x plus x squared.”
Mike pointed at Lauren. “Yeah. What she said.” But Elsa didn’t even smile. “Any more questions?”
Slowly, his daughter shook her head.
“Want to get some dinner with us?”
Another head shake.
“Okay then. I’ll be back in an hour. My phone is on.”
She gave him a thumbs-up, which somehow managed to drip with sarcasm.
“Let’s go!” he said to Lauren in a voice filled with false cheer. “Italian or Thai. You can pick.”
•••
They ordered homemade gnocchi and prosciutto at a little bistro on Henry Street, and when the conversation began flowing, it was almost like old times.
Almost.
He asked Lauren what it was like working for Nate.
“Well, I love the guy. But there are days when I feel like listing him on eBay.”
“Why?” he asked, chuckling. “Because he’s arrogant?”
“No.” She shook her pretty head. “He isn’t arrogant at all. It’s like... he already knows he’s smarter than everyone else, and the disparity isn’t worth dwelling upon. But hegoes off on these mad scientist tangents where he’ll hole up in his office with a couple of engineers and shut out the rest of the world. They’re in there reinventing the telecommunications industry, and meanwhile I have to explain to five or six heads of industry why Nate is suddenly unavailable for the conference call he asked me to schedule a week ago.”
“That’s pretty rude.”
“Yes and no. His shareholders and his business associates depend on his acts of genius to stay ahead of the competition. So he can’t always be tugged in a dozen directions. My job is to keep the rest of the world at bay when he needs me to. But there are days when I feel like a lion tamer, fighting off his distractions with a chair and a whip.”
“Mm.” Her knee brushed his under the table, so he relocated his feet in order to increase their contact. Not in a sleazy way—he just wanted to touch her. “So...” He didn’t quite know how to word his next question. “I need to break our taboo topic for a second, because I’m curious. Are you going to keep working for him if you have a baby?”
“Of course,” she said quickly. “I have to work. And Nate has onsite childcare. There are only a handful of companies in the city that offer it. I won’t be able to travel, though. But someone else on my team can take over that part of my job.”
“Your team?”
“There are four of us running the C-suite.”
“And you’re the boss lady?”
“Of course.” She gave him a sudden smile. “Can’t believe you even had to ask.”
He laughed. “Sorry. I thought maybe world domination took a little longer than two years.” Lauren was a dynamo, though. He should have known.
“World dominationdoestake longer. I’ve only asserted control ofoneFortune 500 company.”
“The place would grind to a halt without you, I’ll bet.”
“Not immediately, because I’ve trained my underlings well.” She set down her fork. “Nate has been chatting meup about taking a new job, though. We haven’t gotten to the part where he lays out the specifics.”
