“Don’t be. It’s better for both of us.” Leo hoped he hit the right mix of reassurance and regret. He was glad Nathan brought up the divorce, he wanted to use it. “You were right back then when you told me we brought out the worst in each other.”
Nathan plucked the bright cherry out of his ginger ale and ate it, chewing on the stem. “I don’t take any satisfaction in being right about that.”
“I know. Just coming clean with an old friend. I should have listened to you—and not just about Victoria, about a lot of things.”
“Water under the bridge,” Nathan said. “You look good. And unless the grapevine is just desperately gnawing on very old intel, I think I heard something about you and Stephanie. True?”
“True. Yes. For now. We’re going slowly, but it’s good so far.”
“I’m happy for you, mate. Don’t fuck it up this time.”
“I’m not planning to,” Leo said, bristling a little at the sanctimonious comment. Nathan had fucked up plenty of relationships in his day. “I’m ready to get back in the game, so to speak. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to see you.”
“I thought as much. I’ve heard you’ve been dropping my name around town. Telling people we’re working together.”
“That’s not true,” Leo said, stunned that his movements had already been reported to Nathan.
“I’ve heard it from more than one person.”
“Stephanie told me about your idea and I was curious. Really curious. I’m interested. I’ve been making calls and doing research and asking questions, but I never misrepresented myself. I never told anyone I was working with you or that we had any official affiliation. The conclusions people draw on their own when they hear my name and your name are not my doing.”
Nathan stared at Leo for a few minutes, assessing. “Okay. I see how that’s possible. I hope it’s true.”
“It is true.”
“Because I can’t hire you.”
“Can we back up a little?” Leo couldn’t believe he’d lost control of the conversation so quickly. “Can we start over? I know you’re busy and I came prepared.”
“I’m confused as to why you’d want to be involved with this fairly modest project I’m considering.”
“It doesn’t sound modest. It sounds ambitious and worthwhile.”
“Believe me, it’s modest.”
“It also sounds like something that was once my idea.” Leo stopped; he hadn’t intended to bring that up at all and certainly not so quickly. He couldn’t let Nathan rattle him.
Nathan looked up at the ceiling, as if seeking for patience from above. “You hardly invented the concept of an online literary magazine. Don’t go Al Gore on me, Leo.”
“I know. I’m sorry. That came out wrong. I—we—have the experience. We were a good team. You don’t even want to hear my thoughts? You know what I can do.”
Now Nathan let go his booming laugh. Leo was unnerved by how casual he seemed, how matter-of-fact. “Sadly, that is very, very true.”
“Let me just give you a quick overview, how I think you could expand Paper Fibres in some really interesting and fruitful ways.” Leo opened up his folder and took out the stack of printed pages.
“Jesus,” Nathan said. “Did you make a PowerPoint deck?”
Leo ignored him, paging through the sheets in front of him and pulled out one with a mocked-up logo. “Right down to an event-based app that would also push content.” Leo put the page in front of Nathan who stared at it, confused.
“An app?”
“You’ve got to have an app.”
“This is not news to me, Leo. Every sixteen-year-old in New York City is trying to build an app.”
Leo said, “That’s one tiny element. I have an entire—”
Nathan interrupted. “Leo, I appreciate that you put thought into this. And I’m genuinely thrilled to find out you’re with Stephanie. Really. When I heard that, I thought, Okay, whatever shit has gone down for the last few years, he’s got his head back on straight. And I hope you do. I hope you find a gig that makes you happy. But even if I wanted to work with you—and I don’t—I need someone young who will work for next to nothing. Someone who is already up to speed and isn’t”—Nathan gestured dismissively at the page in front of him—“breaking ground with an event app.”
“But what about experience? What about name recognition.”