“I understand.”
I hadn’t seen this one coming. She’s stuck by my side, traveled the world with me. For the past few years, I was the executive producer of a show that required us to relocate every few months, sometimes weeks. I had eight people on my team, but Clara is the last one standing from the original group. People believe an international life is glamorous: the travel, the new people you meet, the new places you see. The truth is much less glamorous: planes to catch, hotels to check in and out of, adjusting to new time zones, food, language.
Traveling is great for a hobby, exhausting for a living. Whenever one of my team members decided to leave, I made sure to find them jobs if they wanted to stay within the network.
“You want to stay with the network?”
Clara nods eagerly. “I already looked at the internal job postings.”
“I’m meeting Horowitz today. I can put in a good word for you.” Horowitz is the head of several divisions of the network and has the ear of big bosses too.
“You’d do that?”
“Of course. I look after my people, Clara. You are one of my people.” I think of her as a younger sister, who is usually very meddling—almost to the point of annoyance.
“Thank you.” She bounces on her feet, clapping her hands together. “By the way, Sarah from editing stopped by earlier. She’s single and seemed interested in having lunch with you. To catch up, of course.”
I cut right to the chase. “Are you trying to set me up?”
“Who? Me? Not at all.” Yeah, this is the Clara I deal with daily, not the shy version from a few seconds ago.
I cock an eyebrow.
“Nate, come on. Last time you went out on a date was in Paris. Two months ago.”
Sometimes I can’t believe the conversations I’m having with my assistant.
“How would you know when I go out on dates?”
“I have access to your calendar, remember?” she asks devilishly. “Your reputation as a lady’s man is going down the drain.”
“How’s that a bad thing?”
It’s fantastic how much bad reputations stick. True, in college and during the early years of my career, I wasn’t a saint, but who is at that age? Later, as my work meant constant travel, I didn’t even bother pursuing a long-term relationship. What was the point? I was going from country to country in a matter of months, sometimes weeks.
“It’s not, but... You can’t just work all the time.”
“I do have a social life. I was at a party on Friday, and I met with old friends on Saturday.”
“Are any of those old friends a sexy lady you’d like to take out for dinner and whisper dirty things in her ear?”
You have no idea. I’d like to do much more. I’d like to take Alice home and do every dirty thing to her I imagined over the years. Out loud I just say, “Mind your own business.”
“But that’s so boring.”
I check the time on my phone, then stand up. “Luckily I have to leave to meet Horowitz. I’m going to put in a good word, even though you can be a pain in my ass.”
She smiles. “Thank you. I’m going to miss you, boss.”
***
“How do you like it?” Horowitz asks, waving an arm toward his office, welcoming me inside. “Was smaller last time you saw it.”
“Was it?” Looks like any executive office to me. Large glass desk with a black leather chair behind it. To the side, a couch and a coffee table.
“Yeah. Since they wouldn’t give me a bigger one, I took matters into my own hands and demolished the wall to the neighboring room.”
“Where did the person working in that room move?”