Page 126 of Semantics

“Huh?”

“Violet, your phone is ringing.”

“It is? Why?”

“I don’t know.” She rolled to face Violet. “I think you have to answer it to find out.”

“Early.”

“I know, beautiful.” Stella chuckled and kissed Violet’s bare shoulder.

Violet’s hand sort of knocked the phone around on the table before she was actually able to pick it up.

“What?” she said in lieu of a greeting, and there was a pause before she shot up in bed. “Oh. Sorry, Mr. Silver. Good morning.”

“Who is Mr. Silver?” Stella whispered her question and sat up as well because Violet was naked in her bed, and in this position, Stella could slip behind her and kiss her back as she let Violet lean back against her, which sounded like a pretty perfect morning to her.

When Violet held her hand out and pushed Stella’s face away, Stella laughed and moved behind her anyway. She had a feeling that as long as they were doing this – and she hoped that was for a long time – Violet would always keep her on her toes, which, to her, was a good thing.

“You’re sure?” Violet asked.

Stella pulled her in by the stomach, trying to get Violet to lean back against her, but Violet kept smacking her hands away, which only made Stella laugh more.

“I’m going to kill you,” Violet whispered as she covered her phone and turned her head to her.

Stella just kissed her shoulder before she pulled her back again, and Violet finally let her have her way. Stella wrapped her arms around Violet’s middle and began kissing her neck and nibbling on her earlobe for good measure.

“There’s nothing big that needs to change in it?” Violet asked whoever she was talking to. “And we’re good to sign?”

Stella stopped kissing her and started paying attention then, recognizing what Violet was talking about now.

“Any issues with the upfront amount, the terms to get the money later, or that amount?”

As far as Stella knew, there was no Mr. Silver at Asset Capital, so it was likely that Violet was talking to the lawyer she’d hired to go over the agreement between the company and the VC. If he was telling Violet that it was okay to sign, that was definitely good news.

“Okay. Great. Thank you for getting this done so quickly. As soon as I get it back from you with those changes, I’ll send it over to them for review, but if it’s as minor as you say, they should have no problem accepting the revisions and sending it back to me to sign. When they do, do you need to review it again?” Violet paused to listen. “Okay. If they don’t accept the changes, then I’ll let you know, but if they do, I’m good from there. Thank you again for prioritizing this.” She paused. “Goodbye.”

Violet tossed the phone onto the bed and leaned back more fully into Stella’s front, seemingly a little more relaxed now.

“Well?” Stella asked.

“The lawyer said it was good to sign. He only had two small changes. One was a typo. The other was that he wanted something to say twelve months instead of eighteen. It’s fine with me, and I don’t think they’ll have a problem with it. He said I can sign it, Stella.”

“That’s great, babe. So, this means that you might have it signed by the end of the week, and it’s eight to twelve weeks from then that the money shows up, right?”

“Mr. Silver also wanted that changed to eight specifically, but he said that that was common, so they shouldn’t have an issue with that, either. He said if they push back on it, to suggest a smaller initial amount at eight and the rest at twelve based on new terms, but he seems to think that they’ll be fine with the change. I think I can finally, maybe, breathe a sigh of relief – we might have real money soon that didn’t come from me.”

“I’m so happy for you.” She kissed behind Violet’s ear. “And really proud of you.”

“I’m guessing when I tell my friends, they’re going to want to go out again tonight to celebrate.”

“You sure do celebrate a lot.” Stella chuckled.

Violet laughed, too, and said, “I know it probably seems like that, but we haven’t had anything to celebrate in a long time, so we’re taking advantage of it.”

“Well, do you want us to go out tomorrow night? You can come over tonight after you go out, and we can just sleep, if you want. I like the idea of sleeping next to you again soon.”

“Oh. Are you busy tonight?” Violet asked.