Page 5 of The Five Year Lie

“In the conference room,” Ariel says immediately. She doesn’t addyou dickheadto the answer. But it’s implied. “Ten copies. Stapled.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Drew sees her holding up a yellow note card—the same kind her father uses for everything, often dropping them onto the team leaders’ desks like a surly mailman.

Drew has only been here a couple of weeks, and he’s already seen a flurry of those yellow cards. There’s no greeting on them, either. Just a job request, with a deadline at the bottom.

Version push 3:30p. Meeting 4:15p.

There are office jokes about the yellow cards—like maybe the boss uses them at home with his wife.Dinner 7p. Missionary sex 9:45p.

Now Edward Cafferty folds his arms like a general addressing the troops. “And the coffee service? The client will be here any second.”

There is a loud silence, and Drew thinks,Uh-oh.

“Coffee service?” Ariel repeats quietly.

“Coffee, tea, pastries and a fruit platter,” he sputters. “We order the same way for every damn presentation.”

Her defiant attitude is gone now, probably because she’s seen this show before, and she doesn’t like how it ends. This is only Drew’s second week of working here, and he already knows the boss is about to blow a gasket.

“It wasn’t on the card,” she says softly.

Edward Cafferty drops his voice, but it doesn’t make him any less threatening. “I gave you this instruction onMonday.”

“Well, shit,” she says, and Drewalmostlaughs. But he wouldn’t want to draw attention. Ariel rises from her chair. “I’ll go find something now.”

Remarkably, she slips past her father without the volcanic eruption that Drew is expecting. Possibly because of time constraints—the client’s arrival is imminent, and maybe it’s not a good look for the CEO to throw a tantrum just now.

Sure enough, he’s all smiles a few moments later when a team of visiting cops is ushered past the programming staff and into the glassed-in conference room. And he smiles again when Ariel opens the glass door twenty minutes later, carrying a box of coffee from Dunkin’ and a waxy bag of cookies from the bakery down the block.

It’s a crocodile’s smile, though. Drew knows the type.

So does Ariel, apparently. She doesn’t go back to sketching afterward. She puts away her brightly colored pencils and makes herself busy with a stack of receipts and a grim look on her face.

Drew puts his head down and goes back to work on his code. He has plenty to do, plenty to learn. He’s given himself ninety days to accomplish his personal mission at Chime Co. And fourteen of them are already gone.

The client meeting ends right around five. Drew notices thatAriel doesn’t even look up as her father escorts his clients to the door. There’s a round of hand-shaking before the visitors depart.

But she must sense what’s coming.

The minute they leave, Edward storms right back to her desk and plants himself in front of her again. “What the fuck, Ariel? What the actual fuck? Your solution to a huge mistake is a box of coffee fromDunkin’ Donuts?”

Drew actually holds his breath, wondering if she’ll say something flip.

“Apologies,” she says stiffly. She tilts her chin up and looks him right in the eye, though, refusing to cower.

Edward hates that. So he gets louder. “This job is so easy a goddamnmonkeycould do it! But you never apply yourself. This business is responsible for every comfort you have in the world. That client could grow our revenue ten percent.” He sweeps an arm out, indicating the room. “We could provide jobs for five or ten more people. Is it too much to ask that you put away your toys and do your fucking job?”

“No, sir,” she says crisply. “It won’t happen again.”

“Itbetternot. Now get your ass into that conference room and clean it. There are cookie crumbs everywhere.”

Drew can almost hear the sound of her jaw clenching. But she doesn’t argue. “Consider it done.”

The boss begins to turn away from his daughter, and Drew sees her exhale.

But then he whips back around again. “And youclearlyneed to spend more of my fucking money on some decent clothes. You’re dressed like a slutty teenager.”

After a long beat, the boss finally storms off. His office door slams shut a few seconds later.