Page 144 - In Five Years

“Good,” he says. “That’s good.” His eyebrows scrunch, and then his face
descends into surprise. “I didn’t call you here to reprimand your work,” he says.
“I’ve been impressed with your initiative lately.”
“I’m confused.”

“I’ll bet,” Aldridge says. At this, he chuckles. “You know Yahtzee?”
“Of course.” Yahtzee is one of our tech companies. They’re primarily known

as being a search function, like Google, but they’re relatively new and building
in interesting and creative ways.
“They are ready to go public.”
My eyes go wide. “I thought that was never going to happen.”

Yahtzee was created by two women, Jordi Hills and Anya Cho, from their
college dorm room at Syracuse. The search function is outfitted with more

youthful terminology and results. For instance, a search for “Audrey Hepburn”
might lead you first to the Netflix documentary on her, second to E! True
Hollywood Story, third to her presence in modern CW shows—and the ways to

dress like her. Down the list: biographies, her actual movies. It’s brilliant. A
veritable pop-culture reservoir. And from what I understood: Jordi and Anya had
no intention of ever selling.

“They changed their minds. And we need someone to oversee the deal.”
At this, my heart starts racing. I can feel the pulse in my veins, the adrenaline
kicking, revving, taking off—

“Okay.”
“I’m offering you to be the key associate on this case.”
“Yes!” I say. I practically scream. “Unequivocally, yes.”

“Hang on,” Aldridge says. “The job would be in California. Half in Silicon
Valley, half in Los Angeles, where Jordi and Anya reside. They want to do as
much work as they can out of their LA offices. And it would be quick; we’ll

probably begin next month.”
“Who is the partner?” I ask.
“Me,” he says. He smiles. His teeth are impossibly white. “You know,

Dannie, I’ve always seen a lot of myself in you. You’re hard on yourself. I was,
too.”
“I love this job,” I say.