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ONE
LANCE
“This shouldn’t be so hard. I am not asking for miracles. We’re simply picking up the entire company and moving it. The move won’t affect the current portfolio at all.” I am pacing up and down the wall of windows in my home office. Looking out over the city, you can see the mirage of heat simmering over it as an early summer has us in the grips of a heatwave. “I trust my team, and I know a bunch of them are upset that they’re being asked to move. Fuck, I am having to put in more hours, too, instead of enjoying the perks of being a billionaire. I have to oversee this whole process. I am working eighteen-hour days. No one should be complaining.” My second in command is on the line, and she’s concerned that a large part of our staff will resign over the move.
“Lance, not everyone will relocate. New York is an expensive city. I think we need to be prepared to have to hire at least sixty to seventy percent new staff. HR will be hard pressed to do that on your timelines.”
“The timeline is not getting pushed out, Kim. We will have moved before the school year starts. I have to think of Nova, and how moving will affect him. We’re not shifting that date. Everyone needs to get on the same page and deal with it.” I’m not stupid. I know she doesn’t want to move either, but I’m done with Vegas. I don’t want my son to grow up in Sin City. He deserves the best private schools, and the opportunities and connections that will be afforded to him in a city like New York. Vegas may have made me a billionaire, but it is time that I moved on and shifted to a more global approach. This company can be a success anywhere as long as I set it up with the same solid foundation and my personal input.
“I understand, Lance. I will see what comes up at the mid-level managers meeting today and give you feedback. Will you be in today?” she asks, and I glance out of my office door to the media room where Nova is playing Fortnite on his Xbox.
“I haven’t sorted out the childcare situation for the summer yet, so I will work remotely today. I will drag him with me for the final meeting at three, but he’ll drive everyone batshit if he’s there all day.” Nova is a good kid, but being in a corporate office all day without someone to run after him will push my blood pressure up. At least here, he can entertain himself and I’ll get some work done.
“Okay, I will see you at three then. Let me know if I can help with anything else,” she says, and I’m tempted to sayfind me a decent nanny,but that is not her job. She runs my company, not my home. My son is my responsibility, and I take it seriously. Being a single father doesn’t impact my ability to run my business, and I have a hard line about allowing it to overflow into that space any more than is essential or unavoidable.
I have shifted him to a bridging program, and I need it carried through the summer, so he’s caught up to the higher level expected at his new school. Finding a nanny-slash-tutor is a priority for me today, and I add it to my long second to-do list––I have two, a work list and a life list. Until I can get some help, they’re both overwhelmingly long right now.
“Dad, can I have a snack?” The call from outside the office reminds me he’s home and that the video games won’t keep him occupied all day, and that his summer-appetite has been activated. He is not hungry for dinner or vegetables, but his snack belly is empty twenty-four-seven.
“Yeah, is it something you can grab yourself or do you require me to make this snack?” I call back to make sure before I settle down to start working.
“I can make it,” he calls back and smiles at his newfound need for independence. “You don’t have to help.” I don’t have to help with everything anymore, and it’s awesome and sad all at once. He needs me a little less every day.
“You sure?” I ask again, and I hear him giggle at me.
“I am sure I can pour cereal into a bowl without burning down the house, Dad.” His eye roll is audible, and I shake my head. He turned out just like me, which is amazing except the part where I have to raise a mini-me with my exact attitude. I wasn’t prepared for that, and sometimes it still catches me off guard when he acts exactly how I would.
“Okay, try not to pour the whole box on the floor either.” He’s already gone off to the kitchen and cannot hear me. I listen for the sound of chaos, but when it doesn’t happen after a few minutes, I get focused on work, and the growing list of stuff to get sorted before we move.
First on the list: we need to get the homeschool, summer school and prep-school prep going, so I need a nanny. One with good references and a teaching qualification if I can find such a gem. I pull up the number for an agency that more than a few friends have recommended. High profile families need discreet, honest, and good nannies more than one might think. They’re in short supply, and I am short on time. I will not be able to be too fussy.
“Good morning, this is Lance Cole,” I say when the receptionist answers. “Jeff Stuart referred me. You helped him with childcare recently.” If he trusts them with Macie, then they have to be good.
“Yes, he did say he had given you our details,” she says politely. “Hold on while I put you through to one of our managers.” The upbeat on-hold music plays for a few minutes before an unexpected, deep voice answers my call. I’m not sure why, but I had just expected it to be a woman.
“Mr. Cole, we have been expecting your call.” Really? Jeff must have said something. I don’t know how exclusive nannies work. “I am Nathan. How can we assist you with your son’s care?” There’s a different level of professionalism in how he talks.
“I am looking for someone to help with childcare, and especially a homeschool program over the summer to prepare Nova to start at a prep school in New York in the fall. So ideally, they need an education background. There will be household things, like feeding and taking him to sports. I’d like them to live-in and will provide them with a car to drive him around.” I know what I want and need. I just don’t know if I will get it all in one person on short notice.
“Tell me more about your son and your schedules. What would you need from an au-pair outside of the homeschool program?” he asks and I can hear he is typing notes as we speak. I rattle off all the possible things I might need help with and even some that I probably won’t need help with. Nathan listens, asks me a few more questions, says they can help me, and will have interviews set up by the latest tomorrow. It’s a huge relief knowing that I have started the process of getting the help we’re going to need.
I have a good feeling once I end the call, and move on to the pressing work issues that have landed in my inbox this morning. My plan had been to hand off most of this to others by now, but then I made the choice to move—so I will have to keep a tight leash on the business for a little longer before I trust anyone else to run things.
Yes. I can afford to pay people to do it, but I have deep seeded trust issues and an inability to do nothing. My need to be in control has stopped me from stepping back, and I know I am going to have to let some of it go eventually. My son will need more of me, and I am already spread thin most days.
I’m buried in procurement and planning when the alarm I set to remind me that my son will need lunch goes off. Silencing it, I get up from my desk, stretch out my body which was hunched over for way too long, and call him to join me in the kitchen.
“What do you want for lunch?” I ask, scanning the contents of the fridge, realizing I did not cross groceries off my to-do list yet. “We have a choice of hotdogs and sandwiches.” He already had cereal. I can hear it crunching under my feet.
“Sandwiches, but not gross healthy ones. Can I get peanut butter?” he asks me, and I have to smile. He hates when I put lettuce or anything like a vegetable near his bread. On the side, no problem… just not together.
“Peanut butter, we can do, then I need you to get dressed and find some shoes. We have to go into the office for a while.” His smile falls; he hates going to work with me.
“Ahh, why?” He moans.
“Ahh, because I have a meeting.” I mock his overreaction. “It won’t be long.” I hand him a sandwich and take a bite out of mine before I add. “I have an interview for a nanny to help with the homeschool, so you don’t have to come to the office. Just help me out today, okay.” He nods, but I can see he is unenthusiastic about it. There’s nothing fun about being at the office, and he’s on vacation. He wants some fun. He already has to catch up with schoolwork, which he isn’t impressed about. But the prospect of redoing a grade is even less appealing. He is dead set on going into fourth grade like he should. Their level of education at the new school is higher, and he’s not quite at the same level as the kids there.
“Fine, can I bring my Nintendo?” he asks. “Because there’snothingto do there.” I am not a fan of how much screen time he is getting lately, but there is nothing for him to do, so I agree.
