Page 94 of Summer Lessons
Dane talked about a boyfriend he’d had in college, the one who had triggered his big crash, and how he’d had to spend a month in a psych ward before he realized that anyone who made you choose him over your family and friends or even your principles was probably not someone you needed to appease.
Carpenter was quiet for most of the discussion, and when he spoke, he surprised everybody.
“I have an MBA,” he said bluntly.
Mason almost knocked over his beer. “You what?” he said at the same time Skipper crowed, “Iknew it!” and Dane smacked him on the back of his head.
“What in the furry hell,” Richie asked, looking at everybody like they’d lost their minds. “He’s got awhat?”
“He went to school for six years to sit with me in the damned tech pool,” Skipper said, and Mason recognized the anger on his face for what it was in his heart: hurt.
“Why would you do that?” Richie asked. “I mean… you could be making, I don’t know,Masonkind of money. Couldn’t you find a job?”
Carpenter pursed his lips and looked at Mason. “Mace, how many decisions you think you make a day?”
Mason tried to think past the heartbreak and beer. “I don’t know.” What had he done Friday after Terry hadn’t shown? Oh yeah. He’d had a meeting with HR about how to retain staff. He’d said something about furthering the education of the lower-tier workers—even if they didn’t use the education for Tesko, they would at least guarantee time to the company in return for the investment. He’d also mentioned stock options and a commissary for the tech crew and receptionists and even gift cards at clothing stores during the holidays, since they had a dress code requirement.
The guy in HR—Hugh Goodman—had seemed excited about the ideas and put Mason in charge of a committee making those things happen. It all seemed simple enough, and Mason’s real job—mergers and acquisitions—was often a game of hurry up and wait. He’d done all his research, made all his offers, and was in the process of waiting for people to respond to his moves. He could implement that stuff in a week, probably less.
And then he realized what Carpenter had asked him.
“I don’t know?” he said, hating to think about this. “Fifty? A hundred?”
Carpenter shuddered. “I got out of school, was interviewing for a job, and it hits me. This job they want me for? The first thing they’re going to ask me to do is put a hundred people out of work. And it’s what the company needs in terms of instant cash availability, but it’s going to fuck the company over long-term. And people are going to lose their jobs. And I can either tell them up front that this move is sucktastic, and not get hired, or I can lie, and then lie some more, and then get the job where the first thing I did was be a douche.”
Mason found himself staring, openmouthed. He wasn’t alone.
“So I said fuck it,” Carpenter continued, knocking back a beer. “I spent the next year dodging my parents and working in a pizza joint, and finally got tired of the dirty calls from the student loan office and got the job at Tesko.”
“Oh, Carpenter!” Skip said helplessly. “You can do so much more!”
Carpenter looked at him and smiled sadly. “You’re the best friend I’ve ever had, Skipper. You think I would have met you working Mason’s job?”
“I did,” Mason said, jealous. Skip was the best friendhe’dhad too.
“Yeah, but that’s because your mouth is still twelve,” Carpenter said, smiling at him fondly. “You’re an A-1 guy, Mason. You’re not bad-looking—”
“He’s fuckin’ sexy,” Richie said, surprising them all. “Seriously—would you think I’d be jealous if he was a troll?”
Mason’s brown hair was getting silver. He had Dane’s brown eyes, a decent jaw, and deep laugh lines around his eyes. He was pretty sure all his friends had drunk too much beer.
“So, yeah,” Carpenter continued, “good-looking, nice guy, obviously smart because they keep putting your name on all the company newsletters. Yeah, I read them. ‘VP Mason Hayes just acquired a property in San Francisco.’ ‘VP Mason Hayes just sold off a property in Burlingame, and the company netted a zillion dollars.’ You’re all over the place. I’m surprised they haven’t hired someone to come in and wax your knob, just to make sure you stay there.”
Mason shrugged, uncomfortable. “All they really have to do is not screw my boyfriend.”
Carpenter spit out his beer. “Andsee!That’swhy you’re here. That’s why you and Skip are buddies and you’re breaking your heart over an itinerant tech rat who can’t track a sentence through a book. Because there’s this part of your heart that still believes all men are created equal. And you live that. And until I met you and Dane, I thought the only way I could use my education was to be a douche. But don’t you get it? My parents have been telling me foryearsthat I didn’t have to stay in the IT pool and still be able to live with myself. But they weretellingme. Like I didn’t have the sense God gave a mole. I had toseesomeone doing it, and doing it right.”
Carpenter studied his beer while Dane glared at him, and Mason got the feeling there would be all sorts of shit going down he didn’t want a thing to do with. Skip was looking at Carpenter like he was fading before Skip’s eyes, and Richie?
Richie was staring into space like he was seeing the infinite in the falling shadows over the ravine.
“You’re talking about Terry,” he said after a moment, and Mason forgave him for everything, including winning Skip’s heart before Mason came on the scene. “You’re saying he’s got to figure out for himself what Mason is like. No one can tell him.”
“Yeah,” Carpenter said.
“You’re saying that he doesn’t know his own worth, really. That he’s not going to see if he’s good enough for Mason unless he goes out and screws other guys.”
Mason buried his face in his hands. He hadn’t wanted to think about it, but yeah. The idea was there.