Mark had been with the same tech company for 5 years when his recruiter Jason presented a new opportunity.
"The company is a little different than you are used to, but it's a lot more money than you are currently making. Plus, cost of living in North Carolina is much lower than California," Jason explained. "I've set up a zoom meeting for Tuesday, but they want to meet with your wife too."
"What?" Mark asked. "Why do they want to meet with my wife?"
"I don't know," Jason replied. "I think they are a very conservative company, they went off about the importance of family. They are located in the south. I really won't worry about it."
"Ok, set up a meeting, I'll hear what they have to say," Mark replied.
When Mark got home, he told his wife Alison about the job interview he had set up. "I think the salary is around 200K but we would have to move to North Carolina."
"Wow! That's a lot of money, But I thought you hated the South," Alison responded.
"We'll I'm not thrilled about living there but from what I hear, Charlotte is more like a North East city. Many people from the New York area have moved there."
Alison was ready to hear what they had to say. She was actually happy to be part of the interviewing process. It made her feel included.
Tuesday came and Mark was interviewed. Toward the end of the interview Mr. Jacobs asked to talk to Alison for a bit.
"Hello Alison, I am Robert Jacobs. We are very interested adding Mark to our team. Can you tell me about your relationship?" Robert Asked.
"Well, we've been married a year and dated for 3 years before that. We me after collage and fell in love shortly after that." Alison replied.
"Do you have any children? Planning on having any?" Robert responded.
"We don't have any yet, but yes we plan on having them when we are in a situation to." Alison responded.
"That is wonderful news," Robert exclaimed. "We at Worthington & Associates are very family oriented. Actually, we look at our members as one big family. Every one of our employees is married. As long as your life goals coincide with our directive you will thrive here."
Later that day, Mark received an offer for $250K. "I guess we are moving to NC," he told his wife.
Three weeks later
Mark and Alison had gone from a small apartment to a large home in a gated community. They could not believe the size of the house they moved to. A house that would have been 2 million dollars in California was now their reality. It was almost a little overwhelming to furnish the place as there were so many rooms to fill. All of their old belongings could fit into a Sprinter van. So, they were basically starting from scratch.
When Mark started, he had a 3 day training session with a few of the other new recruits. They were all poached from other successful tech company start ups. Mark quickly made friends with another new recruit, Stephen. Like him, Stephen was about his age and had also recently got married. Stephen and his wife had just moved in from Connecticut. They were also getting adjusted to their new lives here.
The recruits were giving a history lesson about Worthington and Associates. The company had been around for 60 years and owned pattens on many tech and software designs. W&A keeps a quiet profile but secretly generates billions of dollars in royalties for their tech in many of the products we all use every day.
The recruits also learned about the Partners. These Partners worked along the other employees but made 10 times what the regulars made. About half the employees there were Partners. It was a great honor to be chosen as one. The recruits were told that if they worked extra hard and fit into the culture, they may one day be offered a partner position.
Partners put the company before all
was a mantra commonly repeated.
As time passed, Mark and Alison settled into their new lives. Mark was working long hours and felt bad that Alison didn't know anybody. One day they received a knock on the door. There stood a man of about 40 with long black hair and a leather jacket. He was holding a basket filled with wine and cheese.
"Hello, My name is Antonio. I live across the street from you. I wanted to welcome you to the neighborhood."
Alison invited him and called her husband down to meet him. Antonio looked like he was from the cover of some romance novel. He had an Italian accent and was very poetic with his soft spoken voice. Alison cracked open one of the bottles of wine and entertained the new neighbor.
Antonio owned a small import business in town which imported fine foods from Italy. After the 3 chatted for about an hour, Antonio learned that Alison was looking for a new job. He offered her a part time position at his company to help with the order fulfilment.
"You seem like a very intelligent woman and I need someone who can help at the office a few days a week. Alison had been bored out of her mind since moving in and took him up on his offer immediately. Mark was a little worried about Antonio's flirty nature but thought this would also be a good opportunity for Alison to make a bit of a life of her own in this new environment.
Mark was continually busy at work. He kind of fell right into the position he was given and was making great strides. At work, he became good friends with Stephen. Stephen was also in a similar position socially (not knowing anyone) so he invited Mark and Alison over for a Saturday night dinner.
Alison liked her new job. There were a lot of young women her age or a little younger working at the company. Shortly after settling in, they started treating her as one of the crew asking her to come to post work drinks at a local restaurant. Since, she got out of work at 4 and Mark was not usually home until 7 she began to take them up on their offers. Many of the woman at her office were single. Almost all of them had a crush on Antonio. Alison liked living vicariously through her new work crew. They remined her of some of her friends during her college days. She was happy she had some friends to hang out with, things were starting to come together, and Mark was happy she was able to make some new friends.
When Mark got home, he told Alison of a dinner party at his coworker Stephen's house they were invited to. Alison was happy to get to meet some of the people at Mark's company.
On Saturday evening, they arrived at Stephen's house. Stephen invited them in and told them his wife Jenna would be down to join them soon. Alison liked what they had done with their furnishings having just going through that task herself. When Jenna entered the room Mark could not believe what a beauty she was. Jenna had thick wavy strawberry blond hair and freckles. Her body looked like she did yoga all day and wore a very stylish summer dress. Stephen was also pleased with Alison's looks. He loved her thin frame and long almost white, blonde hair. Both women had stunning eyes but while Jenna's were green, Alison's were blue.
The two women hit of off fairly well. They both had a lot in common with the move. Jenna was finishing up her law degree and was working on getting certified in NC. She would be busy taking a course for the next year before she could work there.
While Mark and Alison had a somewhat of an equal marriage. Once could easily see that Jenna wore the pants in their family. Stephen was totally infatuated with his wife and seemed to be at her beck and call. Although Jenna held all the power in their relationship, she didn't abuse it.
