Chapter 5
Sutton
I arrived at the Apex building a half hour before starting time on Monday morning.
I would’ve been an hour early, since I’d gotten up at five AM, but I’d changed my outfit three times.
I wanted to look professional, but maybe with a side of chic.
In the end, I’d gone with a black pencil skirt and a simple, cream silk blouse with a big, pretty bow on one shoulder, and paired it with Christian Dior slingback pumps my mother had gifted me to wear on my graduation day.
I’d twisted my hair into a sleek bun and added a few layers of simple gold chains to put the finishing touch on my look.
“Good morning.” I stopped at the security station. “My name is Sutton Holland. Today is my first day at Apex, so I don’t have a badge yet. HR said my name would be on the daily visitor list.”
The security guard picked up a clipboard and scanned the top sheet of paper. When his finger stopped, he looked up. “Just need to see some ID, Ms. Holland.”
“Sure thing.”
After receiving a temporary badge, I pressed the button on the elevator panel for floor fifty-eight, the second from the top.
As the doors slid closed, a wave of nerves surged, and my heart pumped faster with each floor we climbed.
I’d done my interviews from California over Zoom, so this was my first time actually being in the Apex building.
I knew my stepfather’s office was on the top floor, and it made me wonder if all the executive offices were up there.
When the doors slid open, I took a deep breath and stepped out. A receptionist smiled in greeting.
“You must be Sutton.”
“I am. But how did you know? There are six interns starting today, right?” My heart sank. “Oh, no. Am I the last to arrive? I hope people aren’t waiting on me.”
She laughed and stood. “No, nothing like that. You’re actually the first to arrive.
” She counted on her fingers. “But our six interns are Tyler, Rasheed, Matt, Kyle, Ben, and Sutton. It wasn’t too hard to figure out which one you were.
” She walked around the desk and gave me the once-over. “Great shoes. I’m Amara, by the way.”
“Thanks. They’re actually comfy, too.”
She waved for me to follow. “Come on, I’ll show you around while it’s still quiet.”
The fifty-eighth floor housed the data-science and finance departments.
Amara walked and pointed things out. “It’s Monday, so a lot of people tend to work from home.
We have flexi-space two days a week, so the employees can vary which days they want to be in the office, and flexi-hours every day, which means you have to put in your eight hours, but it can be any shift—starting as early as five AM and ending as late as nine PM. It’s great for people with kids.”
“I bet.”
“The interns, unfortunately, have to be in the office every day, but you can still shift your hours after orientation is finished the first week. Most tend to work the schedule of their manager. You’ll also be assigned an executive mentor—whom you’ll meet with weekly during your internship.
” She pointed to the ceiling. “The big guys work one floor up.”
“All of them?” I asked.
She nodded. “Yep. Their offices are super posh. HR is going to give your group a full building tour later today. It takes a while, and I can’t be away from the front desk for more than a few minutes. Otherwise I’d show you.”
My pulse picked up at the prospect of seeing Jagger during the tour later.
I’d thought about the possibility of running into him a lot yesterday, and it might’ve had something to do with why it had taken me so long to pick out my outfit this morning.
Though I tamped down the excitement that started to grow in the pit of my belly, intent on keeping my focus on business and making the most out of my internship.
I really was excited that I’d scored such an amazing opportunity.
Amara answered the phone remotely from her headset as we toured the floor.
When another intern arrived, she showed me to my cubicle and said my manager should be in shortly, and I should help myself to coffee in the breakroom we’d passed.
I was busy admiring the amazing Nuova Simonelli espresso machine when a familiar voice interrupted.
“That thing should be on the fifty-seventh floor, not this one.”
I turned to find Jack, the attorney I’d danced with at the wedding, standing behind me. “Oh, hi.”
“Good morning.” He lifted his chin toward the counter with the sparkling, stainless-steel machine.
“Part of every employee’s annual review is a rating for being a team player.
They average the employees from each department’s rating for that category, and the group with the highest number gets their choice of some expensive item for the breakroom on their floor.
That damn machine goes for ten grand, but it’s worth every penny, if you ask me.
I wish it was one floor down, though. You want me to show you how to use it? It’s kind of confusing.”
“Oddly enough, I know. I spent two years in college working at a coffeehouse. We had almost the same machine. I’m also addicted to cappuccino.”
Jack held his hand out. “After you.”
I worked to prepare my caffeine fix while he waited. “Do you come up here to make your coffee every morning?” I asked.
He shook his head. “I usually bring it with me, but I was running late this morning. I’m actually part of your morning meeting today.
Each intern gets assigned a mentor from the executive team.
I’m not an executive, but I’m filling in for my boss for a few weeks.
She had a skiing accident and had to have knee surgery, so she’s going to be out for a while. ”
“Do you know who you’re mentoring yet?”
He smiled. “No, but I’ve been hoping for a certain intern since Saturday night.”
I smiled back, but inside I silently hoped he was assigned to someone else, though I wasn’t quite sure why.
I finished making my cappuccino, said goodbye, and went back to my desk.
Not long after, the rest of the interns arrived, and then finally Ellie Loring—the manager I’d interviewed with.
The other interns seemed really friendly, and I’d started to relax by the time ten o’clock rolled around.
We were given a fifteen-minute break before a kick-off meeting for the mentor program.
I ate a granola bar, went to the ladies’ room, and grabbed a notepad to take with me to the conference room.
Jack was already inside, standing at the front of the room with Ellie and a few older people we hadn’t met yet. I joined the other interns seated around the table.
Tyler was seated to my right. He leaned in. “I heard the guy who does this program from the IT department is a hardass and gives you homework assignments no one else gets. I’m hoping I don’t get him as my mentor.”
“How do they match people up?”
“I asked that during my interview. She said they go through the candidates’ resumes and profiles and look for commonalities with the mentors—like schools and experience or whatever.”
Ellie called the meeting to order and began with introductions of the executive team members who would act as our mentors.
There were only five people up there, aside from Ellie, so I wondered if one of us would be assigned to her.
She told a little about how the program started and how it’s evolved over time.
Then she explained some of the logistics of how it worked.
“It’s really up to you and your mentor how often you’ll meet.
There’s a weekly meeting at a prearranged time that has already been set up on all of your calendars, but we encourage the mentors to involve you in as many things as possible, whether that’s accompanying them to a meeting or allowing you to take part in an ongoing project.
Today you’ll also be having lunch with your mentor offsite to get to know them a little better.
But you’ll get to know each of the executives.
They’re the group that will be deciding which of you will be offered a spot in the Apex executive training program, which begins at the conclusion of your summer internship.
” She gestured to the people standing beside her.
“If it’s okay with you all, I prefer to hold all questions until the end and move on to having each mentor participant tell you a little about themselves.
” She smiled. “When they’re done, I’d like to play a little game and see if you can figure out who you’ve been matched up with and why. ”
The first executive to speak was Jim Matthews, the vice president of human resources.
He gave an abbreviated version of his resume and then talked about his hobbies and family.
Considering his hobbies included golf, geocaching, and coin collecting, and nothing on his resume had anything in common with mine, I didn’t think he would be my mentor.
Three more executives took their turns. One had gone to Stanford like me, so I thought perhaps he might be the one I was assigned to, but then Jack stepped forward.
“My name is Jack Gallo, and I’m a managing attorney here at Apex.
I’ve been with the company for five years.
It was my first full-time job out of law school, but my interest was always corporate law.
I did internships at the SEC in the compliance department, and also at the law firm of Simon and Rugg in their transactional division.
My boss, Kirsten Volpe, is usually one of the mentors, but she’s going to be out for a few weeks, so one of you unlucky interns is stuck with me until she returns.
My hobbies include skiing, snowboarding, mountain biking, and rock climbing. ”
Of course, the one person I didn’t want to be matched with was the only person I had a hobby in common with. At least if I were assigned to him, it would only be temporary, until his boss was back.
Ellie looked at her watch. “And we have one more executive mentor. He’s also a fill-in. Our VP of sales went out on maternity leave earlier than expected, so this morning we had to scramble to find someone. I guess he couldn’t make this meet—”
She was interrupted by the conference room door opening. And my heart nearly stopped.
Ellie smiled. “Perfect timing. Here’s our final mentor now. The founder and CEO of Apex, Jagger Langston.”