but Stavrula and a couple other folks you used to
know are going to be there for homecoming
Morgan paused.
I’ll think about it
Her phone buzzed, and she wondered what had attacked her mother, whether a dybbuk or a crisis of conscience, that would justify following up with a call. But it wasn’t her mother—it was Kelly.
“Hello? Kelly?” she asked, answering the call. Lucareoth pushed the talisman back onto his wrist and looked questioningly. She held up a hand.
“Hello, Morgan,” Kelly said. “How’s the job hunt going?”
“Mostly rubberneckers so far,” she admitted.
“So you’re still free at the moment?”
Morgan’s eyebrows pinched together. Where was this going? “At the moment, yeah. How’s the hunt for you?”
“It was an interesting thing,” Kelly said, not quite answering the question. “Remember that one investor at the show? The one with the long dark coat and the movie star blond hair?”
Morgan froze. Luke looked up, suddenly tense.
“Well, Carter and I were having lunch yesterday. He’s got an offer from Hwon, the old founder, to join his new venture. And we were talking over that idea, the one about bootstrapping my own consulting business to help the more idealistic startups make it on their own terms. And the investor just walks over to our table, and says he’s overheard what we were discussing. And announces that he wants in. Silent partnership.”
Morgan let the silence stretch a little too long before she managed to croak out, “Did he say why?”
“Something about needing to check off an action item for ‘restoring balance’ or the balance sheet would be off,” Kelly said. “It was, well, to be honest, it was seriously weird.But then, get this—he drops a literal gold brick on the table and says it’s his stake, and then walks away.”
“Did you go after him?”
“Oh, I tried, but I supposed I spent a little too long being dumbfounded because by the time I got to the corner, he’d vanished.”
Of course he had.
“It was bizarre, to be honest. I’ll admit I’m not even sure how to deal with it from a tax perspective.”
Maybe she’d give the lady in Connecticut a call. “I might know someone who might have some thoughts.”
“Well, that would be useful,” Kelly said. “Which brings me to the reason I called. Assuming I can figure out this gold thing—it’s shockingly heavy, among other issues—I’m getting this started. And I could use some marketing help.”
“What’s the title?” Morgan asked cautiously.
“Marketing manager,” Kelly said, a note of caution in her voice. “And I’ll warn you, when we get a little bigger and start having a real budget, we would probably bring in an actual VP over you.”
Morgan sighed in relief. “That would be ideal, actually. I’m not ready to take on a head of marketing role for real.”
Kelly’s voice warmed a bit now that she could be sure Morgan was going to be reasonable. “Glad you feel that way.”
“Who’s on board?”
“Just a few more from the office. Ayumi from Accounting; Josh is handling tech. I asked Vijay, but apparently he took a job doing make-up for the weird monster theater people upstairs. He seems happy. I don’t suppose you know where Luke is going now that his internship is over?”
“Actually, he just landed an offer he’s really excitedabout,” she said. Jamal at the Make-A-Wish Foundation had turned out to have an opening. The pay wasn’t huge, but it would certainly help offset the rent increase and Luke got all shiny-eyed whenever he mentioned it.
She noticed that Ronaldo and Hayley were not on the list.
“So, you in?”
