Page 4 of Arrivals & Assets

“Thank you,” I replied, then nodded to the other two men. “Alonzo, Zane.”

Part of me always felt weird about calling the executive team by their first names, but they generally insisted that formalities were for clients, not employees.

“It’s good to see you again, Dylan,” said Alonzo, the chief financial officer.

“Agreed,” added Zane, the chief marketing officer.

I sat, and they followed. A moment later, Micah strode in, perched on a chair, and propped a tablet so that he could take notes.

“First off,” Brendan started. “I want to thank you for your patience during the selection process for the new Harris Cove branch.”

I nodded an acknowledgement.

“We understand it’s been several months of interviews and records reviews.” He paused and smiled. “That said, I’m honored to offer you the position as branch manager.”

Time stopped, and I momentarily forgot how to breathe.

“I… I got the job?”

He grinned. “Congratulations.”

“W-wow…”

“Don’t get too excited,” Linden said. “Now the hard work starts.”

I straightened in my chair and met his eyes. “Lay it on me.”

“That’s what we like to hear,” Alonzo said.

Linden grinned. “This branch… will be your baby. You’ve got a good track record of implementing and managing projects.We want to see what you can do when you’re given minimal direction.”

I swallowed. “Ok.”

Alonzo slid over a binder with a USB stick on top. “The stick contains everything in the binder as a backup,” he explained. “What you’ve got here are all the details: your budget, the branch mission, your first-year staffing levels…”

I nodded as he continued rattling off the list of business-related things. It was clear that I’d have to spend some time reviewing it all.

“Now,” Zane started as Alonzo finished. “As you’ll recall from the interviews, the new branch is more an investment in the future of the company than something we expect to see an immediate financial return from. We understand that it puts you in a strange position, but I’m going to add to that. The very nature of this agreement makes it a community investment, which is great for public relations. One of the reasons I advocated for you is the way you saw opportunity in unexpected places. I want you to put that to work. Don’t go chasing every opening, but if you see something that’s going to make the company look good, go for it. You don’t have a huge budget for it, but there is some money in your marketing plan specifically for goodwill and charity projects. I expect you to use that to send me back some good press release material.”

“Got it.”

Zane turned to Linden, who nodded, then faced me.

“First,” he started, “we know you’re close with Adam and Taal. They both applied to be Specialty Leads at your branch. They meet all of our criteria, but you have the final say. We havebackup candidates in mind if you don’t think you can manage your friends.”

I grinned. “I’ve led projects with both of them reporting to me with no problems. I think we’re good.”

Linden nodded. “Send them up once we’re done here, then.”

“Ok.”

“Now… We’re sending you out next week. We’ve been in contact with a broker to find suitable locations, but your first task is to decide on a space, get it furnished, and spec it for our needs. You’ve done similar tasks for clients, though not all at the same time. So we don’t foresee any issues.”

He glanced down at a binder open in front of him. “You should have plenty in your budget for permits and renovations, but the faster you can be up and running, the better. We’d like to start sending interns by summer.”

“So… I have six weeks to make it livable?” I asked.

Linden chuckled. “Ideally, or less. That might mean satellite internet while you wait on a dedicated fiber line, or sourcing several portable air conditioning units to keep the equipment cool until a better HVAC system can be installed.”