It’s difficult to pinpoint the best moments in life until after they’re gone. The fondest
memories aren’t always announced. They don’t come with balloons and feasts and circled dates
on the calendar. Instead, they’re a collection of everyday things we only miss when they’re gone
or have irrevocably changed. Unaware how special each minute can be, people rush through
their lives confident that the best is yet to come. Lauren was no exception. Not knowing it then,
as their car sped down the highway, she was leaving the last vestiges of her adolescence behind.
Years later, Lauren would look back to that trip with Nick and feel a bittersweet twinge of regret.
Years later, Lauren would look back to that trip with Nick and feel a bittersweet twinge of regret.
She’d think, If only I’d known then how quickly things would change, I would’ve held on tighter,
remembered more.
The roar of the open windows reduced the music to a loud, wordless melody. Lauren
leaned against the head rest, her dark hair whipping in the wind, and closed her eyes. It was a
day that felt somewhere between spring and summer, a clear blue sky with a warm sun. The
traffic on the highway was light, a pleasant surprise as they drove into the city on a Sunday
afternoon. Nick grabbed her hand and kissed her fingers, pulling his eyes from the road for a
second to grin at her.
“You can’t fall asleep now, we’re almost at your favorite spot,” he said, his blue eyes
sparkling.
“You can’t blame me. You barely let me sleep this entire weekend.”
“It’s not my fault I can’t keep my hands off of you! Stop being so sexy.”
Lauren reached her arms above her head and stretched. Two hours in their cramped rental
car and she just wanted to be done. “It was really nice to get away just for a couple days. I never
noticed how quiet the country is until we moved—or how dark.”
“You know, we could have that all the time,” he said coyly, tiptoeing around a topic he
knew was volatile.
She sighed. “We spent all weekend talking about this. I’d really rather not rehash it. We
made a decision together, remember?”
“I know, I was just thinking aloud, didn’t mean anything by it.” He slipped his sunglasses
down and scowled. Lauren rolled her eyes and stared out the front, hating that he made her feel
like a mother putting her foot down. Her bad mood didn’t last long because just over the next
hill was something she’d been waiting to see for hours.
The New York City skyline slipped into view. Even if it meant going out of the way to
get there, Lauren always made sure to enter the city from the same direction for just a glimpse.
The whole of Manhattan stretched along the horizon. From the Freedom Tower on the right to
the cluster of soaring, iconic buildings in midtown, to the void where she knew Central Park
rested. The awesome sight made her feel significant and insignificant all at once. To be one of
millions living in one of the greatest cities on Earth, struggling to make it, to succeed—the
skyline embodied all that and more.
“There it is,” Nick said casually, as if she liked it for the same reasons everyone else did.
Lauren knew he’d never understand. To her, that urban landscape was like an affirmation. It was
where all her hopes and dreams would come true.
The road dipped and curved, the brief view now obscured. She didn’t know it but that
would be the last time she’d look on that skyline with the hopeful optimism of youth. The next
time her eyes fell on that outline, her life would be one big adult mess.
1.
Never outshine the master
Always make those above you feel comfortably superior. In your desire to
please or impress them, do not go too far in displaying your talents or you might
accomplish the opposite – inspire fear and insecurity. Make your masters appear
more brilliant than they are and you will attain the heights of power. - The 48 Laws
of Power
Parker Jarvis, CEO of StyleSpur, stumbled through his presentation looking more like an
ill-prepared high school senior than a multimillionaire businessman. Lauren Kemp sat with her
legs crossed, appearing engrossed in the presentation but secretly hoping her face didn’t betray the
disdain churning in her stomach. Always the very picture of calm, collected support, Lauren thought.
One of us has.
Positioned in the corner of the meeting room, she was able to chance a quick glance at
the group of businessmen arranged at the table. It was difficult to gauge their responses. Their
starched collars and $2,000 watches were in sharp contrast to the basket of Nerf guns sitting in
the corner and while this was only the second investor meeting they’d held in the StyleSpur
office, she hoped it was the last. Lauren didn’t have to turn around to know the entire team, all
fifteen of them, were nervously watching through the glass windows.
“As you can see here, our projections show that we are on track to continue disrupting
and transforming the online retail business. Consumers are ready for this paradigm shift and
StyleSpur is in position to give it to them.”
Parker, you idiot. It’s like you’re playing MadLibs with business jargon! You think they
can’t see though all that? If you’d just taken the time to look at the presentation beforehand—
She cleared her throat and leaned forward. With all eyes on her, she tried to salvage what she
could.
“Obviously, the key to business is staying ahead of the competition. After our dynamic
breakout, retail companies have been chasing StyleSpur for the last three years.” Lauren keyed
the next slide forward, a sales projection for the following three years. Ignoring the thinly-veiled
irritation on Parker’s face, she continued. “The system we’ve created will revolutionize how the
public interacts with fashion online. Companies will no longer chase us. They’ll join us. We’re
already at the front of the pack and with this boost, we’ll be leading the way for decades to
come.”
“I was just about to say that, thank you Lauren,” Parker said caustically. Same to you,
buddy, she thought as she smiled sweetly.
Henry Adams from Pinnacle Ventures raised his hand to interrupt. It’d occurred to
Lauren if the Urban Dictionary ever needed a photo of a certifiable silver fox, he’d be the man.
With his tanned skin, white hair, and athletic physique, Henry was gorgeous. Gorgeous,
ridiculously wealthy, and kind of a jerk.
“Parker, for the sake of saving a bit of time here, why don’t you just show us what it is
you’ve created?”
“Of course, we’re all busy men here,” Parker grinned.
As he sped through the demonstration, Lauren’s annoyance skyrocketed. He flew
through the features of their new website, brushed past the innovative app Lauren had designed
and developed on her own, and essentially took credit for everything. It’s not that she needed a
pat on the back but a little appreciation or acknowledgment wouldn’t hurt. Hell, there wouldn’t
be anything to present if it weren’t for me, she thought bitterly. Parker set the remote on the table
and leaned forward on his hands.
“Let’s skip over all the buzzwords. We have plans the other guys can’t even comprehend.
We’re on top and plan on staying there. What’s so wrong with making bundles of cash while
we’re at it?” Lauren resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “Of course Lauren here has been
invaluable to the creation of these new features.” Lauren smiled at the investors and, for a brief
moment, thought Parker might redeem himself. “Without her keen feminine insights, I don’t think
we would’ve been able to get this far. Being able to tap into the brain of a woman on a daily
basis—I don’t have to tell you all how tiresome it can be but turns out, surprisingly valuable
too.” The men at the table laughed as color flooded Lauren’s cheeks. She managed a small
chuckle as Parker patted her on the shoulder. “Just kidding, sweetheart,” he muttered under his
breath, just loud enough for her to hear.
“Well Parker, I think we’ve seen everything we need to see,” Henry said as he stood.
“That’s enough shop talk for right now. Let’s go grab some dinner.”
“Only if you let me buy, Henry. I’ll tell you about my trip to the Seychelles.”
Lauren smiled politely as the businessmen filtered out of the meeting room. They
regarded the office and employees as if they were exploring an exhibit at the zoo; programmers
in the wild. After they’d left and she was sure she could move without shouting a string of
obscenities, she returned to the open plan office. A dozen pairs of expectant eyes were on her in
an instant.
“Guys, you’ve got to stop this! We have so much work to do and I can’t have you
worrying about every meeting Parker and I sit on. It’s early stages. You can’t get worked up
every time a suit walks in here.” She settled into her desk in the center of the large room. “You
all have more important things to worry about. For instance, how is it possible I manage to kick
your asses at foosball every day.” They laughed, relaxing and thankful for the reassurance.
your asses at foosball every day.” They laughed, relaxing and thankful for the reassurance.
Lauren wished someone would do the same for her.
2.
“He didn’t even acknowledge I’d written any of it. To every person in that meeting,
thanks to Parker, I was just the token woman.” Lauren knocked back a shot of tequila and shook
her head. “It’s like he wanted me to stand up and say, ‘I have a vagina and I approve this
message’ or something.”
“That guy is such a creep,” Ali grumbled. They were in their favorite booth in their
favorite bar, Pony Up, a dive bar that wasn’t in any travel guide.
“He really is. What’s worse is that he’s really good at what he does.”
“It doesn’t give him an excuse to be an asshole. Plenty of successful businessmen are
nice people. Look at Warren Buffet or the guy that runs Virgin.”
“Richard Branson. Yeah, I know but for every one of them there are a hundred Parkers.
Eh, I don’t need to like him, I just need to work with him, but even that is difficult most of the
time.”
Alana Novak was Lauren’s best friend. She grew up in a tiny Oklahoma town but moved
to New York City as soon as she could afford it. Ali didn’t have an ounce of Midwest left in her
and you’d never guess she’d grown up throwing hay. But if you took one look at her dark hair,
hipster glasses and pegged her as a struggling actress, you’d be right on the money. Lauren and
Ali met at a company bowling night shortly after she’d started dating a salesmen at StyleSpur.
Long after Ali’s relationship fizzled, the girls remained close friends.
“I have an idea,” Ali said. She leaned forward, her blue eyes almost glowing in the dim
light. “We’ll arrange a way for me to meet him. I’ll seduce him, make him fall in love but resist
his sexual advances. Once I know I have him snared, I’ll lure him to a romantic weekend away
in the Hamptons. He’ll pay, of course. One night, after a nice meal of lobster and expensive
champagne, I’ll insist we go for a drive to look at the stars. ‘Oh, it’s so romantic. I miss the stars
living in the big, bad city!’ He’ll eat it up. We’ll spread out a blanket near the water and I’ll strip
him down, promising to deliver untold pleasures. And when his little pecker pops out,” she
paused for dramatic effect, looking left then right before leaning back against the booth. “I’ll just
laugh. Laugh and laugh and then snatch up the keys, steal his car, and leave the little urchin
naked and alone.” Ali nodded solemnly, as if everything she’d just said was absolute fact.
Lauren tried to keep a straight face but burst into a fit of giggles. Ali merely smirked.
“I’m serious. I’ll do it. Just give me the go ahead. I might even push him into the water
for good measure...”
“I think it’s great! Really, you should definitely do it but there’s one fatal flaw in that
plan,” Lauren laughed. “You’d actually have to spend time with him and I’m pretty sure you’d
last five minutes before just punching him square in the jaw.”
“Fair point,” Ali said raising her pint glass.
“You are totally the creative yin to my nerdy yang,” Lauren laughed. “Just promise to
never join a cult or commune without me, okay?”
“I swear it,” Ali said somberly, one hand over her heart the other raised in a three-
fingered girl scout salute.
Lauren gave one final laugh before crossing her arms. “Ugh, I’m just so sick of it. I’ve
worked so hard for that company and all for what? The hope that we’ll keep surviving these
stressful milestones and have the money to keep going. Or maybe, just maybe, a big fish will
come along and buy us out.” She groaned and flopped on top of the table. Resting her head on
her bent arm she continued, “Problem is, because Parker is who he is, I’m getting the chance to
learn so freaking much. I’m getting an up close look at how startups operate and at my age with
my experience? Priceless. Anyway, I’m sick of hearing myself talk about it. How did your
audition go?”
“You sure? It’s just gonna be me bitching now. It went alright, I guess. I really like the
role, I think I did well and they probably liked me so that means I’m not gonna get it.” Ali pulled
one long leg up and hugged it to her chest. She played with the condensation on the outside of
her beer glass.
“Oh stop it, don’t be so pessimistic.”
“You know it’s true. Whenever I like something, or somebody for that matter, it’s
doomed.”
“You did choose one of the harshest careers in the world. I honestly don’t know how you
do it. Everyone judging you, critiquing you, measuring. What about that guy you knew who was
told his head was too big for his body? What the hell can you do about that?”
“He did look like a bobblehead. Hell, if I had your body I wouldn’t have anything to
worry about! See, with your dark hair and eyes and skin color you could easily be Latina,
Eastern European, even Asian with the right makeup. I’d be turning parts down left and right.
We should figure out how to Freaky Friday ourselves.”
“Um, I’m not saying no...I’m just saying I think I might need to talk to Nick about that
before committing to anything Freaky Friday-ish,” Lauren laughed.
“Speaking of the devil,” said Ali.
Lauren jumped as a hand touched her shoulder. She spun around to see her boyfriend
grinning down at her.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you. Scoot in, will ya?” Lauren shifted to the middle of the
booth and they shared a brief kiss.
“All done? It’s so early.”
“Yeah, it’s dead in here. She let me knock off early tonight.” He rolled up the sleeves of
his red plaid shirt, exposing his muscular forearms.
“Yay!” she exclaimed, giving him an excited hug. “I’m glad.”
“Nick. My dear sweet, obscenely handsome Nick,” Ali sighed.
“Yes, my dear sweet Llama?” He grinned.
“How many times do I have to tell you? You keep this thing up with Lauren and you’re
gonna provoke my jealous side. I don’t think you’ll like me when I’m jealous.”
“You know, you never explain what it is specifically you’ll be jealous of. Is it because
you want Lauren to yourself or are you secretly in love with me? I think it’s time we ask these
difficult questions because I’m starting to think you’re just full of idle threats.”
“A little from column A, a little from column B. Did you know our little gal here had a
shitty day.”
“Again? What happened?” he asked, his eyes filled with sweet concern.
“It’s alright, we can talk about it later. To be honest, I just want to play a little pool, get a
little buzzed and go home, okay?” Lauren suddenly felt too weary to talk about anything related
to Parker and StyleSpur without a good amount of alcohol in her body.
“We can definitely take care of that. Lemme grab a round and you girls put some
quarters up on the table.”
Pony Up was pretty quiet for a Wednesday night. The music was turned low and a couple
were playing darts on the other side of the room. The air conditioning cut the humidity and the
stale beer smell every bar seems to have. Lauren was balanced on a bar stool sipping a Juan
Collins, her feet dangling far above the floor. They’d been taking turns on one of the three pool
tables before giving up the pretense. Now they were just drinking and she finally felt content.
“You doing okay, babe? You look thoughtful,” Nick said as he wrapped his arm around
Lauren’s waist.
“Do I? I don’t feel it. I don’t know, Parker was a dick again today and it just brings back
everything I’ve been saying since I started.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean,” he said giving her a squeeze. “Have you thought about
“Yeah, I know what you mean,” he said giving her a squeeze. “Have you thought about
what we were talking about last weekend? It’s so expensive here and things haven’t worked out
the way you thought they would. Maybe it’s time we—”
“Shhh,” Lauren said with wide eyes. “If Ali hears you she’ll flip.”
“Alright, but we should seriously talk about it. I know it isn’t the greatest plan but I’d
have a job at Phil’s and you could do contract work or something. It’s so cheap we could have
our own place finally. Plus, you know you love summers back home...”
“True,” she said reluctantly. Lauren quickly changed the topic when she spotted Ali
approach from the bar, her long swinging strides meant for the guy watching her walk away.
“The guys from Pinnacle seemed interested,” she said as Ali drew close. “I think we won’t have
to be dealing with all this funding stuff for very long.”
“Little Llama, how would what’s-his-name feel about you getting phone numbers from
other men?” Nick said with a smirk, watching her tuck a folded napkin in her pocket.
“What’s-his-name is a single man in New York. He’s got it easy. I need to keep my
options open. Plus, how old school is actually writing your number down? Love it.” Ali replied
setting her beer on the bar table.
Lauren perked up. “That reminds me. I heard about a start up that just got funded. I can’t
remember their name, but basically they hire private jets to fly single women from New York
out to Silicon Valley on the weekends. There’s such an imbalance in the gender ratios and
everyone’s too busy to date anyway. Isn’t that hilarious?”
“Yeah, I’m gonna need the number of that company,” Ali laughed. “Isn’t that what you
guys are doing now? Trying to get funding?”
Lauren looked around the bar. There was little chance anyone important could overhear
but stranger things have happened in the business world. StyleSpur was in a delicate position
and if the wrong people heard the right information, everything could disintegrate.
“Right, so you really want to know?” Ali nodded. “Alright, let’s use the lemonade stand
analogy. When you were little and wanted to start a lemonade stand, you probably went to your
parents and asked for money to get started. You had to buy the mix, sugar, cups, paint for the
cute little sign you were going to make, all that stuff.”
“Don’t forget to paint the little backwards ‘e’ at the end of ‘lemonade,’” Nick added.
“Obviously. So with that seed money, you started selling lemonade and because you
were a clever little Alana Llama, you made sure your income covered your costs. Now, not only
were you were a clever little girl, you were hungry. You were ruthless. That tiny profit wasn’t
enough and you had bigger plans. With me?”
“Yup. I like that this is all about me so far but gonna be honest, though. If there isn’t a
mobster or car chase soon I might mentally check out,” Ali replied.
“Fair enough. So, you wanted to branch out. More lemonade stands, maybe even get into
growing organic lemon trees so you can start supplying to other kids in the neighborhood but
you’re gonna need more money. Your parents are already tapped out, so you have to get it from
somewhere else. You start quietly asking around if anyone is in the market to invest in your
amazing lemonade company and hopefully you find someone who has the capital and the
industry connections to help out. That’s where StyleSpur is at. We’re asking around to see if
anyone is interested in helping us expand, make sense?”
Ali nodded but waved her hand as if to say, go on...
“Oh! Um, and you have to pay off the local mobsters for protection. For a small price,
Gino the neighborhood kingpin, will make sure no other lemonade stands open up nearby.”
“Thank you,” Ali exclaimed, throwing her hands up dramatically. “No really, thanks.
That all makes sense now.”
“I still don’t understand why you need to be involved in any of that,” Nick said. “You’re
just a programmer.” She loved the way his forehead furrowed when he frowned, his dark
eyebrows casting shadows over his eyes.
“Because Parker had no desire to learn anything about his own business. You’d think
he’d want to at least try and understand what I’ve designed and how it works but no. It’s easier
for him to just drag me along to all these meetings and waste my time,” Lauren grumbled.
“Shouldn’t that be his brother’s job?” Nick asked.
“Philip? Yeah, it is. He’s technically the CTO but he hasn’t been in the office in over a
month. Apparently he’s on the West Coast meeting with potential investors.”
Ali pulled over another bar stool and sat. She leaned forward and rested a comforting
hand on Lauren’s knee.
“It seriously sounds like it’s time for you to quit,” she said.
“Maybe. Something else happened during that meeting today. As I was sitting there
listening to him ramble on and on, I remembered this idea I’d had months ago. I don’t really
want to go into it because I haven’t thought it all through, but I think it could be pretty big. I’d
have to review my thesis to make sure I know what I’m doing and I’d need to find a way to
calibrate the cameras...” she realized Ali and Nick were staring at her blankly. “Anyway, I think
it might be something that could guarantee us some serious funding. Once we get enough money
to move forward and everything settles back down, things can go back to normal and I’ll be less
stressed.”
“Will you have enough money to hire a hit on Parker cause there’s the source of your
stress,” Nick snorted. Ali nodded in agreement. She leaned back and pretended to crack her
knuckles.
“I’m cheap, sloppy, and would probably crack after five minutes of interrogation, but I’d
do it for you.”
“Aw, you’re too sweet,” said Lauren. “No, I liked your idea from earlier. Much more
humiliating.” The girls burst into laughter as Nick remained confused.
“What idea? Can I help?” They looked at each other, both imagining how he could
possibly help in Ali’s original scenario, and laughed even harder.
Crissy tapped Nick on the shoulder. She was the petite blonde manager of Pony Up and
she didn’t look happy.
“What’s up?”
“Hey guys. I’m really sorry to do this Nick, but do you think you can work tomorrow
night and Friday? Trisha just no-call, no-showed for the second time. I’m gettin’ rid of her and I
need to cover her shifts.”
“I’m sorry, Cris, of course I can. Let me know if you need any for next week, too.”
Visible relief washed ac