Total pages in book: 18
Estimated words: 17220 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 86(@200wpm)___ 69(@250wpm)___ 57(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 17220 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 86(@200wpm)___ 69(@250wpm)___ 57(@300wpm)
What does it hurt to ask? I think. If Jude wants this so bad, let him say no. Hell, for five hundred dollars an hour, I might even go back to PitchSlapped if they ever came begging.
But damn, let’s try this first.
January 21, 2026
Codeify Slack channel
Jude T: I heard back from Veronica.
Adam P: And?
She asked for a hefty consulting package. $500/hour plus a laptop and a new desk chair
A desk chair? Why is that so funny to me
Did you miss the part about $500/hr?
No, but let me do the math
I’m going to counter; I’m just not sure with what.
Dude, I just did the calculation, and You make $230/hr
. . . I am not going to calculate my hourly rate
I think she’s just trying to get me to go away.
But she’s still replying. You’re not creepy yet.
lol thanks
I think I’ll go back to her and offer a monthly retainer of $5,000
If she can get this pitch in shape in ten hours, then she’s earned her preferred rate
If not, fine, but either way we’ll get help
Email correspondence between Veronica Cochran
Subject: Re: Consulting rate
Date: January 21, 2026
Jude,
My counter to your counter: $10K monthly retainer, laptop, desk chair.
-Veronica
Veronica,
We can offer a $7K monthly retainer.
Best,
Jude
Jude,
$7K, laptop, and desk chair.
-Veronica
Veronica,
$7K, laptop. Final offer.
Best,
Jude
Jude,
No desk chair, no deal.
-Veronica
Veronica,
What is the significance of the desk chair?
Best,
Jude
Chapter Four
Jude
Ineed to get up and walk around after this bewildering rapid-fire exchange with Veronica. Are negotiations always like this? I could punt this over to Helen, our single HR manager, but knowing how swamped she is, the potential deal with Veronica could be drawn out over weeks, and I’m becoming more and more anxious to wrap this up and move on.
Jogging downstairs, I pass the mailman, Larry, in the lobby as he’s carefully delivering the mail into each of the fifty-six boxes for the building. I glance down at my wrist: It’s 2:00 p.m. on the dot. I wave at him, shaking my head with a laugh. “Larry, I could set a clock by you.”
“That’s the goal,” he says, grinning.
Across the street, I order an iced Americano at the neighborhood coffee shop, and as I’m stepping back into the lobby, my phone pings with a new email.
It’s from Veronica, and it’s so long that curiosity gets the better of me and I stop mid-step in the lobby to read.
Jude,
The significance of the desk chair is that mine died of natural causes a few days ago and I just had to carry its lifeless body down to the dumpster. Normally, I could weather this loss, you see, but my refrigerator also recently bit the dust, my laptop is toast, and I suspect my severance check is still making its way through the approval process of seven management levels and two spirit realms. I’m not going to be very useful as a consultant if I can’t look at slides, charts, and proposals on a screen that doesn’t have a giant green stripe across the entire middle, and I’m not comfortable working on the couch like a GenZ goblin, shaped like a shrimp while typing out *emotional damage* in lower case. I suppose I could ask for a standing desk, because that would serve the same purpose, but I like to sit to work because it means I can get up and pace to think. I’m asking for a desk chair because I have nothing to lose.
I realize this is a strange thing to hold the line on and that this email is a lot, but I’ve had too much caffeine because I slept like crap, and I think I’m just generally over giving in to anyone else’s demands, no matter how small. So, take it or leave it.
-Veronica
I read the email again and swipe my free hand over my mouth, stifling a laugh. She’s funny, of course, but there’s something vulnerable beneath the salty stubbornness, and I like the playfully unhinged vibe I get reading this. It speaks to the weariness and bubbling hysteria just beneath my own calm exterior.
Smiling, I reply to her email.
Veronica,
Your argument is valid. $7K for a one-month retainer, laptop, and the desk chair of your dreams. Go wild. I’ll get the contract drawn up today and emailed over for digital signature.
Best,
Jude
I’m so amused by the entire exchange that I clip the shoulder of one of my neighbors with my elbow, looking up in surprise to apologize. “I’m so sorry!”
A husky voice jokes, “Barely a flesh wound!”
It’s the woman from 4C, and when our eyes meet, she looks just as surprised to see me. My mouth immediately goes dry.
She’s petite but scrappy, with chin-length light-brown hair, hazel eyes, and a scattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose and cheeks. Today she’s wearing a blue fitted tank top and black workout leggings, and I struggle to keep from inspecting her figure too closely. Her arms are strong and toned—her thighs, too. She’s wearing flip-flops, and her toenails are painted pink. There’s something so incongruous about the delicate color with her athletic exterior, but it only makes her more appealing.