Season 3, Episode 14: Clearing

I'd mentioned to Amber that the never-ending string of bad news that kept coming our way needed to break soon, and she agreed. So when a respite came, even if it was messy or incomplete, I figured I'd take it.

And the respite came from Keegan, whose stock was suddenly on the rise.

We were having lunch, and I was congratulating him on the partnership he'd struck with Richard Lang, the tech investor in town who'd snapped up all five of Keegan's apps and was going to relaunch them under Lang's own brand; he had a proven digital marketing formula and an almost unlimited capital base, and Keegan was about to become mega-rich.

"You deserve it, buddy," I said. "You're the most talented guy I know."

"Yeah, thanks," he said, "but I don't think I get where I am but for what I've learned from you."

"From me? What have I taught you?"

"Business sense. How to plan beyond what's on a computer screen. How to hang in there when things aren't going well. How to stand up for myself. To act when action has to happen, even if it's unpleasant. I've learned a lot from you, dude."

"Wow. That's awfully sweet of you, Keegan!"

He just gave me a smile that told me to fuck off.

"I should apologize to you, though," he said. "I didn't tell you about Lang until it was over, and it feels like that was sort of a shitty thing to do."

"Why?" I said. "I'm not your boss or anything, and you built those apps without me helping. You don't owe me a thing."

"OK. I'm glad. It's just... I would have been broke but for you repping me and getting me IT work. The time I saved not having to actually run a business, I put into making those apps. Like, you made it all possible."

"I got well compensated for that," I said. "But I notice we're talking about the IT work in the past tense and I get the impression that's because you don't need to do it anymore."

"I still have a team that can work on IT work if you need it," he said, "but I don't know that they're up for taking on big, complex problems. I know that's an issue for Rachel trying to round up clients."

"Yeah," I said, "I don't think it's that big a deal going forward."

"Why?"

I told him I was going to sell the consulting business to RDS.

"Where does the business app figure into that discussion?" he asked me.

"It hasn't," I said. "It isn't mine, so I couldn't really address it."

"Of course it's yours," Keegan said. "Or at least, it's half yours."

"Well, they haven't even asked about it. Essentially, they want the subcontractors and the client list and that's what their offer covers. I haven't said anything about the app yet."

"Good," he said. "Say nothing."

"OK," I said. "I mean, I don't know that we can sell it anyway. It's basically a copy of Quickbooks all dressed up and modified - if we tried to sell it we'd run into copyright issues and we'd get killed."

"Not anymore," said Keegan. "I rebuilt it from the ground up. It's not pirated Quickbooks anymore. It's fully ready for commerce. When you sell, I'm gonna turn off the app on all the clients and watch them scream. And when they come to you, I'll split whatever deal you make with them 50-50."

"You can make a lot more off that app if you just let Lang market it for you," I said.

"I'm gonna make more than enough. I want to do it this way. Besides, it's as much your app as mine; you're the one who shaped it working with the clients. And I want them to have it. In fact, you need to get a bunch of the clients to raise hell about the app going down once you've made the sale of the consulting business."

My jaw hit the table. Since when was Keegan the devious strategist between the two of us?

"Where in the hell did you get the idea for this?" I asked him.

"From Stella. She's one of the app clients, after all, or at least she was. And she thinks I owe you, and she's right. You played the police thing perfectly."

"Well, thank you Stella," I said. "But what do you mean about the police thing?"

"You haven't heard? They dropped the investigation. Turns out that website was AI video and they've got no case against Cole. You probably could have told me that Cara was the one responsible for it, though."

"I wanted to," I said. "I didn't know how."

"Dude, I'm not mad. Your idea to have the whole upload-download thing get hacked by Cole's people was perfect. I just went all the way on it."

"Now I'm really in the dark."

"Oscar, these hackers who hit us? They got all the upload-download files and corrupted all of them. And they got Cara, too. Wiped her right the fuck out. She's worse off than Millie. I mean, I can't even fix her. I managed to do a full recode on Millie and just wiped her and started over. But Cara? Cara's totally gone."

Now I knew what Keegan was telling me without actually telling it to me.

"I imagine you had a look-see through Cara's files before the hack, huh?" I said.

"Turns out I did."

"Guess I don't have to apologize for pulling her head off then."

"No, you don't. And thank you for protecting me from Cara's first stunt. If I had known, I would have walked myself into some real shit trying to make it right."

"Well, Laura's out, right? On bail?"

"She's got a really good lawyer that I'm paying for. They're going to give her a big fine, that I'm paying for. And then she's moving to Colorado, which I'm paying for."

"Seems expensive."

"It's cheap, brother. I finally get to move on."

After that, I was in a really good mood. I had a bunch of afternoon errands to run, but then I made it home a little before dinner. Normally, Amber would have something on the stove, but not this time.

I made my way upstairs, and...

"Oh," I said. "This is... different."

"I got home early from Erica's," she said. "She and I had a talk."

"You did? About what?"

"About you. Erica released me."

"Oh, no! You lost your job?"

"No. Well, we agreed that I didn't need to go over there every afternoon. I'll just help her whenever she needs me to. But that's not what I meant when I say she released me."

"Ohhhhh," I said. "From your promise."

Amber nodded, a big smile on her face.

"She said you and her are now friends with boundaries instead of benefits."

"So it seems, yeah."

"So that means... I'm baaack."

"Well, yeah. I guess so."

"If you want me, that is."

"I think you'll do."

"You should probably tell me what you want to do to me," she said. "Y'know, so there are no surprises."

I took my shoes of and started to unbutton my shirt.

"I can't just show you?" I asked her.

She shook her head and smiled.

So I quickly laid out a plan and described it, and she said she approved.

And she seemed to really enjoy the execution of that plan.

That was a really good night.

And the next morning I had coffee with Rachel. It turned out we both had bombs to drop on each other, though thanks to the circumstances neither one exploded.

Or the explosions cancelled each other out. Analyze it how you want.

She went first after I gave her shit about her outfit.

"So you're pilfering stuff out of Polkadotis' closet, huh?" I said, making fun of her skirt.

Polkadotis was my nickname for Leigh, whose real last name was Papadakis but practically every time I saw her she was wearing something with polka dots on it. Now here was Rachel doing it.

"Believe it or not," said Rachel, "this is actually mine. But yes, Leigh is insisting that I cease and desist wearing pants until I find a guy willing to date me."

"I see," I said. "Well, I'm sure it'll help. And Leigh being a fully-qualified expert on relationships couldn't possibly steer you wrong."

"Oh, you are so bad!" she said, laughing. "Terrible!"

"Like she's got anything nicer to say about me."

"She actually wants to meet with you and get you a job. She says she could make both of you a lot of money."

"Pass," I said. "Thank her, though."

Then Rachel's face took on a serious expression.

"You're gonna hate me," she said, "but I'm abandoning you."

"Oh yeah?" I said.

"Mark Bergeron hired me as his special projects manager."

"Interesting," I said. "What does a special projects manager do?"

"Kind of a little of everything. He thinks I'm a go-getter and I pick things up quickly, so I'll plug in wherever he needs me until it gets fully figured out."

"So you're essentially his executive consultant," I said.

"I guess," she said with a shrug. "We'll see how it goes. You're not mad?"

"No! Of course not. I knew you were losing steam, and honestly the long-term prognosis could have been a little stronger for the company, so... sure. Can't blame you one bit for grabbing another opportunity."

She looked at me askance. Now it was my turn to shrug.

"But I don't want that to come off like I don't appreciate you or the work you've done. You're the best, Rach. I mean it. It's a shame the circumstances didn't allow us to really build something together."

"I don't really get this checked-out attitude, though," she said. "It's really sort of alien coming from you. And it's like you're fine with it. I mean, what are you gonna do?"

"Oh, don't worry about me," I said.

"There's something you aren't telling me."

"What, that I'm selling the company to RDS?"

She gasped. "You are?"

I nodded.

"It's time," I said. "I don't know that we can compete with them long-term and I'm ready to smell the roses a bit while I look around for something new to do."

She looked at me somewhat suspiciously.

"Did you already know that when we met at Bolero the other day?" she asked me.

"I knew it was possible," I said. "I hadn't made the decision. But now it's almost done. In fact, I'm going to see the lawyer after this to figure out the endgame."

"You sly sonofabitch," she said. "Should I have stuck around?"

"I dunno," I said with a shrug. "This is gonna sound awful, and totally selfish, but I kinda don't care."

She laughed.

"The thing is," she said, "even though the ending is a little, whatever, it's actually been awesome working with you. You're a great boss. Maybe we'll get another opportunity down the road to work together."

"I'd like that," I said.

That afternoon I was at Drew's office. He had three contract offers to go over with me.

"OK," he said, "So we're definitely putting this one aside? This is their offer to buy the company and give you a five-year contract to be RDS' district manager in Baton Rouge. No on this, or just no on the 150K a year? I think we can get more."

"I don't want it, Drew. If I'm getting out, then let me get out. I'm ready to do something else anyway."

"I thought you were just getting started on this deal as a general business consultant," he said.

"Nah. I'm at a stage where I don't really know what I want to do. Plus, I've still got that seat on the Stafford Oil board, at least until they sell the company, and it'll pay enough to live on. Add this sale, and... really, what I'd like is for my money to make my money for a while."

"Boy, that's a change," he said. "I always had you down as a grinder. Now, what? You just want to play golf all day?"

"I guess. Plus I have an ace up my sleeve with RDS."

And I told him about the app.

"Wait," said Drew. "I'm gonna lose my business app?"

Drew was one of our clients, too.

"Not for long," I said. "When you flip to RDS and the app turns off because it's not part of their consulting package, you're going to want to raise hell about it."

"So they come back and buy the app. OK. So this deal here is more of an appetizer and the main course is coming later."

I smiled.

"Goddamn," said Drew. "What you ought to do is shop yourself out as a negotiator. That's where your real talent lies."

"I don't know if I could. Would that be covered by this noncompete they want me to sign?"

"Probably depends. Why? Would you sign it? It doubles the offer on the table if you do."

"Yeah," I said. "Is it even enforceable?"

"Yes and no. Practically speaking it is, because the legal costs of fighting a big national company like that over a noncompete makes it not worth working anyway."

"So sign it and I'm just out of the consulting game."

"It's more like you get a waiver from them if you do have something you want to do." said Drew. "You have anything in the hopper like that?"

"Nope," I said.

"Man," he said. "Low-Stress Oscar is going to take some getting used to."

"For you, maybe," I said. "I kinda like him."