Page 115 of Semantics

“And I’m going to my room. I need to think about something other than code,” Arlowe added.

Violet watched them all go, and she allowed herself one sigh of relief because, at least for now, they were okay. Then, she went into her own room and closed the door behind her. She splashed water on her face in the bathroom, not worrying about the makeup she’d put on for the meeting because her friends had seen her look way worse than this, and sat down at her desk. She pulled her phone out of her pocket, checked the time, and hoped it was okay to call.

“Hey,” Stella greeted on a second ring.

“Hey. Are you busy? I should’ve texted you.”

“No, I’m good. How did it go?”

“Ant Flow didn’t call you first and ruin my good news?”

Stella laughed and replied, “No, she didn’t. But it’s good news?”

“So far. They’re going to invest, Stella. It’s a small investment first. Arlowe called it a carrot. Then, we’d get the stick later if we do what we need to do.”

“Babe, that’s awesome. I’m so proud of you.”

Violet smiled. No woman had ever told her that they were proud of her before, and it felt good. Hell, she wasn’t even sure that her parents had told her that, and if they had, it was only because she’d done something they’d wanted her to do and not something that was important to her.

“Thanks. It’s not done yet. The lawyer still has to review everything, and that could take time, so I’m still worried about running out of cash first. Maybe they could keep us afloat with a one-time injection or something if we need it. We’ll see. I’m just trying to be happy right now and worry more later.”

“Well, I think that’s a good call,” Stella said.

“Can I see you tonight? I’d love to go out with just you; maybe have some good wine at dinner and then see a movie or something and not think about my job for a few hours.”

“I’d love that. I should be out of here by six. I’ve got a meeting with my boss in about fifteen about that big client we’re chasing, so, hopefully, that’s good news. If I’m going to be any later than six, I’ll text you, though. Want me to pick you up?”

“You hate driving,” Violet said.

“I don’t hate it. I just don’t like it.”

“Well, it doesn’t bother me, so I’ll pick you up. Is seven too early?”

“No. Come over whenever.”

“Okay. I’ll see you at seven. And if you wanted to wear what you wore last night, I wouldn’t be mad at you.”

“You said you wanted me to wear it for you when you could take it off of me slowly. Is that a possibility tonight?”

“It might be.”

“Do I have to wear the hat at dinner?” Stella asked.

“No, you can leave that at home and put it on when we get back.”

Stella laughed a little and said, “Hey, I can’t wait to see you.”

“Me too.”

CHAPTER 32

“I can’t believe we locked them into a three-year agreement,” Stella said.

“It was all you. When I talked to their general counsel, he said the thing that sold him on Cerebral was the kind of service we’ve delivered so far, and that was led by you,” her CEO said. “This is the biggest deal in Cerebral’s history, and you even got them over the discount we could have given them. It’s amazing, Stella. Really great work here.”

“Thank you,” she replied. “I’ll put the implementation team together tomorrow since we’ve got the contract back now, and we’ll get the process going. I hope we can have them implemented by the end of the quarter, and we’ll have weekly calls after that for the next six months. Then, we should be able to switch to monthly or as needed.”

“Great. Put our best of everyone on this. We can’t afford to mess anything up during their implementation. The contract has an out clause at six months if they’re not seeing results.”