"Eat your sandwich and tell me about the inquiries."
So I do, all seven of them, what they're looking for, the patterns I'm already seeing in what the piece reached.
"You need help," he says, when I finish.
"What kind of help?"
"The infrastructure kind. Someone to handle the intake while you do the actual work. A system of sorts."
He's right. I've been running the whole thing myself and that worked when the volume was low but it won't work now. Especially if it continues this way.
"I know someone," I say, slowly. "My friend Amber. She's been looking for remote work and she has an operations background and is incredibly organized."
"Ask her."
"I will tomorrow.”
"Ask her today," he says. "Don't let it be a tomorrow thing."
The tone. That specific low certainty that isn't a shout and doesn't need to be. I remember the spanking in the library. He’s not wrong. I do need help. I hope I’ll need help. I glance over at the computer and do some quick calculations. Oh yeah. I can afford to hire her part time.
I pick up my phone.
"Amber?" he asks.
"I'm asking Amber," I confirm.
"Good girl."
There it is. In public, at a bar table, in the middle of the grand opening of a luxury resort, said as easily and naturally as everything else he says. Like it belongs in every register of our life, not just the private ones.
I feel it all the way down to my toes.
I text Amber.
MAYA: Question and say no if it's not right.
AMBER: Okay.
MAYA: I need someone to help run the operational side of the content business. It would be remote with flexible hours. You'd be dealing with client intake forms, sending documents out to my partnerships, and scheduling. Paid properly.
AMBER: ...
AMBER: Maya.
MAYA: You said you were looking for remote work and you have the background and I trust you completely and the business is growing fast enough that I actually need this now not in three months.
AMBER: Yes.
MAYA: Yes?
AMBER: Obviously yes. When do I start?
MAYA: After the new year? I need to get back and get set up properly.
AMBER: Done. Are you crying?
MAYA: A little. It's been a day.
