Page 94 of Semantics

“That’s amazing.”

“We met with them already a few years ago; more than that, I think, but they didn’t impress then, so I wasn’t sold on meeting with them again initially, but I checked out their site and got a free trial of their product. It’s good. I had some of my employees test it, too. We’ve got offices all over the world for several of our companies, so I crowdsourced some language feedback, and everyone said it was the most accurate translation app that they’d ever used. Plus, they liked some of the other features, too. It’s not where we want it to be today, but their projections look good, and they have some partnership opportunities with companies in our portfolio, so we’re thinking about investing. We still have a lot to talk about on our end, but it’s looking good.”

“Really? You are? That’s great, Ant.”

“I hope so. They’ve got a small team, so their progress has been pretty slow, but we think with an investment, they could staff up a little at a time and actually grow much faster, which is what we’d want, obviously.”

“I’m glad to hear it.”

“Yeah. I was calling to check with you about something else, though.”

“Okay. What’s that?”

“Well, their CEO, Violet Russell, didn’t seem to know that you’d put us in touch.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. She asked why we reached out after turning them down years ago, and I told her that you recommended them to us.”

“You did? You told her?” Stella asked and swallowed.

“I hope that was okay. We normally don’t give companies a second look unless something has changed massively, which it hasn’t there, so if it weren’t for you suggesting it, I never would’ve thought about them again. She didn’t know it was you, though.”

“Oh, yeah. It’s fine. I meant to tell her about the email I sent, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet. Was she… mad?”

“Mad? No. But she seemed to be, I don’t know, thinking about it. We’re going to talk further internally, but I’ll be reaching back out to them soon, probably with an offer.”

“Great. Well, I’m glad to hear that it’s all working out.”

“Want me to follow up with you on the outcome, or can you get it from Violet now that she knows you were the one who sent me to her?”

“Oh, I’m sure I’ll be hearing from Violet soon.”

They wrapped up the call, and Stella turned in her chair to look out the window behind her desk. Then, she decided to get ahead of it, turned back around, and picked up her phone.

Stella Ross: Can we talk?

The response came back almost immediately.

Violet Russell: I can’t right now. We had a great meeting today, and we’re back at the house, celebrating. We’re going out tonight, too, because it looks like they’re going to give us the money. Arlowe is making us go back to that club. Can we talk tomorrow? I’m not trying to put you off, I promise. I know we need to talk, but we really can’t believe it. Asset is working up an offer sheet right now.

Stella Ross: Congratulations! That’s amazing news! And tomorrow is fine.

CHAPTER 27

Violet poured the remainder of the champagne they’d bought for twelve dollars at the convenience store nearby into her plastic glass because they didn’t have real champagne flutes, and she downed it.

“Damn! Violet is celebrating,” Sarai said with a laugh.

“I am, yes. Finally, there’s some good news.” She held up the now-empty glass. “For years, it’s mostly been bad or just decent, but now, it’s good news, and we needed some good news.”

“You all know we don’t have it signed and sent back yet, right?” Enya asked. “I feel like I should remind us of that. They said they were interested and would work something up, but there are no guarantees until we have it in writing and really, until the money is in the account, and we can spend it.”

“I know, but I’m celebrating,” Sarai said as she held up her own plastic glass in the middle of their living room. “Vi is right: we’ve had a lot of shit thrown our way. And to be honest, I’ve felt horrible because I haven’t been able to build our brand. I can make excuses about the budget being too small, but the reality is that people can market something for next to nothing if they do it well enough, and I just haven’t. I think I got burned out there for a while, and I hate that. I’m sorry. I’m back in now. All-in and ready to help take this money and use it to make our business some money.”

“Here. Here,” Arlowe added. “I’m ready to hire some engineers.”

“Arlowe, we can’t–” Violet began.