Warm, sandy beaches, I think of as I start to pull off my Italian leather gloves and hand them to Annie, my personal assistant. She’s oblivious that I’m mentally checked out as she begins talking my ear off about her upcoming weekend – something I could have done without that morning. I wasn’t ready to work. I hated to work when it was this dreary outside.
Divider Marketing, Inc. had gone public last week and as it stood, my personal net worth sits at a cool three point two million dollars, having almost fifty-five percent of the shares in my family’s name. Does my family know? Of course they know I set money aside for them, but do they know how much? No fucking way. My mom and dad, blue collar, all-American citizens in Jacksonville, Florida, were always supportive of my success starting from a very young age. They sent me to a private flutist throughout my childhood when they realized my love of the instrument. Eventually, they invested more in those private lessons, so it could grace me with a scholarship to college. Wherever that college was they didn’t care. Never in their wildest dreams did they think I would get a full ride to New York University, where I worked my ass off to obtain a double major in business, because let’s face it – flutist don’t make actual money. Actual money was what I had in stocks, bonds, art, homes, diamonds, and written all over my face. Nevertheless, playing the flute is still where I find my calm. Well, except for my getaway weekends. Those are my most favorite past time… hands down. Hands all over me, actually. Hot, soothing hands with whispered intents make my stomach jump a little.
I live the good life and it is my secret alone. Apart from Annie, I have two people that work side by side with me at Divider. Leo and Mitch are two guys that I had a bulk of my courses with at NYU, and to this day, have never been able to understand what the draw to a keg party was. They tend to stay out of the nightlife and focus on numbers, allocations, financial trends, and most importantly, coding for software.
When Apple came out with the Application Store, the three of us spent hours talking and researching applications that would best help people in the new millennium. We own nearly twenty percent of the largest applications that are sold through the Application Store so every few days, over a box of Dunkin Donuts coffee, and equipped with jelly donuts, the three of us brainstorm at least another three to five applications that would find themselves on the App Store by the following week. We use this brand of marketing to start helping smaller companies get with the twenty-first century. The almost daily meetings are imperative to Divider. Leo and Mitch are the brains and I’m the beauty behind Divider. While I enjoy that part of the business very much, I hate the nitty-gritty details of meeting with people that have ideas to give us, trying to take a piece of the pie. Sure, sometimes it is necessary to bring them on to help as a consultant, but even those meetings piss me off because since college, I believe Leo and Mitch to be two of the smartest men that have ever lived. They, in turn, love that I took all my blood, sweat, and tears and got us up and off the ground years ago. I remember the sleepless nights and the painstaking accounts that no one wanted in this industry. I started off pinching a form of Ramen Noodles through an interactive application on a smart phone. We’ve been pinching hundred dollar bills instead of pennies ever since.
A year into our endeavor; they sat me down and asked me how and why I believed in the company and where I could get the startup capital. Those questions never had real answers. I looked at both of them and gave my most fantastic grin. After I swooped in with a most cuddly hug for both of them, I told them never to worry about money again. I wasn’t worried, but something about those two nerds from college made my heart sing and still does to this day. They may never know my penchant for dirty sex and lavish gifts, but I like to think that if they ever knew, they’d ignore that side of me. I can’t imagine them being too angry. Well, I hope they might find some compassion for my addiction.
I knew then I had enough jewelry in my safe to get us started and let’s just say, an anonymous donor got us up and running. After many demands to know, I just said, “Girls need to have some secrets, boys.” I playfully squealed at our new office, kissed them both on the cheek, and begged off to all the staff interviews that week. I hated meeting with people even back then so they’d let it slide.
Now, I come in for our powwows and my love of prettying up campaigns. I meet up with Annie and she goes over the social events that Divider is expected to be a part of now that we were in the top five most lucrative firms in Chicago. The boys, as I call them, have absolutely no idea how to hold a champagne flute, give a succinct toast, a riveting speech, or talk money shop with potential investors. It’s so cliché, but yes, I’m the walking, talking poster for Divider and I play it well knowing they are huddled in conference rooms, being the brains they are. I like to believe that we all knew our roles and the three of us are quite comfortable in them.
After the business had been flourishing for a year, Mitch was growing tired of being a guinea pig, so I threw two assistants at him, both graduates of MIT. One of them accepted his daily intellectual challenges and threw it back into his face. Rachel became more to Mitch. Much more. Now Mitch is married to his Rachel, with two kids. He hardly ever complained about another thing again, except how she challenges him at home. All men need challenges every now and again.
Leo’s a different story. He’s so damn pigheaded that he picks apart every transaction and person until there is nothing left. The guy is always unhappy and since it is money and the business that made him unhappy, I had a friend do a small favor and pay him a visit every Friday evening around ten. Since that first weekend, Leo has been as chill as a surfer dude in Hawaii.
If those two are happy, they don’t question why I’m not sitting in on important meetings or why I wear my sunglasses unless I’m alone with only certain people or behind closed doors. They’ll never understand that as much as I love the life Divider has provided me, the pride it gave me – to do this on my own and to know I would always be secure financially is not where my happiness stems from.
“Mark would like to know if you’d like to meet for dinner at Palo’s tonight,” Annie begins to say. This is the time where she chirps off my social calendar for the rest of the week, and normally, I listen with great interest to the gentlemen that want to have dinner with me. Today, I just want out of this fucking awful weathered city.
“Annie, I’m going to take tomorrow and Friday off to look into a business down south,” I say as I whirl around, lower my sunglasses, and wink at her. A small smirk flashes across her face before she straightens and looks around to be sure we didn’t draw any attention.
“Of course, Luca. Shall I tell them you would like a rain check then?” she asks as we continue down the hall to my two thousand square foot office that includes a sitting room, a bathroom, and okay, a closet with an automatic runner. Sweet dreams are made from money and I have the sweetest dreams.
“Don’t you mean snow check? Ugh, when will this filthy weather give up already?” I ask rhetorically.
Annie knows she doesn’t have to answer, so instead goes on to ask what services she can provide in my absence.
“I’ll call you tomorrow at eleven to check in. Mitch, Leo, and I will do our hour following your updates. You all know the drill. If there are any problems, I’ll be sure to update everyone’s calendar.”
I open the door to my toasty warm office and find the boys have already made themselves comfortable in my sitting area. I walk around to look at the forms on my desk.