Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
W ednesday at eleven, Reese returned to the office in Oak Bluffs with a bag of freshly baked blueberry muffins and two piping-hot cups of coffee. At the door, he surveyed the view—
two mahogany desks; enormous monstera plants; flowers from Oriana wishing them good luck; and family portraits on Joel’s and Reese’s desks. Joel was in a “coding tunnel,” a term for when you were so immersed in what you were doing that you hardly noticed what was happening around you. Reese took a breath and allowed himself a moment of joy.
You haven’t told Joel you saw Lauren last week. You haven’t pried. But nothing bad has happened. Everything flows forward.
Maybe you just didn’t understand what you saw.
Reese set the cup of coffee and a muffin beside Joel and tiptoed back to his desk to avoid disturbing him. He checked his calendar to see they had a meeting at one and another at three. The latter was with Darcy. He smiled to himself. Darcy was a soft-spoken and kindhearted young woman who, according to Joel, had a far-fetched app idea that had to do with women and wellness. She wanted to run it past them; she wanted their help and guidance. Joel said, “It’s clear she doesn’t know much about the market.”
Reese had said, “We’ll have to let her down easy. But we have to encourage her, too! Maybe this is just her first idea. Maybe there will be more.”
But it was nice to get to know the Nantucket side of the family better, regardless. He knew how much it meant to Oriana that Roland and Grant were in their lives. Sam’s yearly Solstice Party at the Jessabelle House was just around the corner. Last year, he and Oriana booked a little rental house in Nantucket with a hot tub on the patio. It had felt like a beautiful retreat. A home away from home that wasn’t so far.
Joel climbed out of his “coding tunnel” at ten past twelve and let his shoulders droop. “That was a doozy.” He took a bite of muffin and spun his chair around to face his father. “We have a couple of meetings this afternoon, right?”
“You ready?”
“I was born ready,” Joel said with a smile.
Look at you together. A perfect father-son duo. It’s almost like you’ve always got along.
Carlotta Gionnocaro still hadn’t arrived at ten minutes past one. “She’s half Italian,” Reese explained with a laugh. “She doesn’t obey American time structures.”
“How did you meet her again?”
“I’ve built a few apps for her companies over the years. She only lives on Martha’s Vineyard part of the year.”
“A long way from home.”
“She dates an American businessman,” Reese remembered. “I don’t think they’re married, but they’ve been together for over a decade. They’re gorgeous. They look like they’re straight out of a classic European film.”
“What is she doing making apps?” Joel joked.
“She doesn’t make apps. We do,” Reese reminded him. “She’s an ideas woman. That’s why they pay her the big bucks.”
Joel laughed. “Thank goodness. I don’t think I’ve had a good idea in my life.”
“That’s not true,” Joel shot back. “It was your idea to team up together.”
Reese’s heart swelled.
Carlotta arrived at twenty past, which wasn’t the latest she’d been to a meeting with Reese by a long shot. She breezed through the door with the air of a woman who’d just finished a three-hour lunch and drunk an entire bottle of wine and eaten a decadent cheesecake. She seemed effervescent and free.
Oriana had met her once and said, “I’m not often jealous of women, but she’s got something special.”
“Darling Reese!” Carlotta shook his hand and kissed his cheek, then did the same with Joel. “You look nothing like your father. What happened there?”
Joel rubbed the back of his neck and grinned.
“He looks like his mother’s family,” Reese said.
“No paternity test?” Carlotta asked because she was always provocative and always making jokes that made people squirm.
Reese’s laugh sounded false, but Carlotta seemed not to notice. She clacked her lacquered nails across his desk and grinned madly. She grinned as though she wanted him to tell her to behave. Reese let his annoyance melt off his shoulders.
They launched into their meeting. Carlotta’s current client was based in Geneva, where she kept an apartment and lived five or six months out of the year. He needed a particular app for the upcoming soccer season to allow for betting across Europe, South America, and Asia. Carlotta showed slides of potential designs and announced that they were prepared to let Joel and Reese in on two percent of all company profits—which were slated to be huge.
Reese snuck a glance at Joel during the meeting and felt a jolt of pride. Joel was sophisticated and well-versed in corporate strategy. He asked questions, listened well, and even made suggestions that would make the app sing. Carlotta was very pleased.
“This young man has it , Reese,” she said. “He’s your son, after all. No paternity test necessary.”
They agreed on a strategy and a timeline. Joel typed notes on his computer as Carlotta rubbed her first finger and thumb together, frowning in the direction of the monstera plant as she tried to think of an English word she’d forgotten. Reese was prepared to tell her it was all right—that they got the gist without the English word—when suddenly the door opened, and there stood Darcy.
Darcy was clearly nervous. It was still twenty minutes before her assigned meeting time, and her face was ashen. She’d put on lipstick, a lot of eyeliner and mascara, and her shiny hair cascaded down her shoulders. She clutched a folder to her chest adorably as though she were going to school for the first time.
Reese prepared to ask Darcy to sit down for a little while so that he and Joel could finish up with Carlotta. But Carlotta spoke first, just as she always did.
“Darling! It’s you! My savior!”
Reese and Joel froze and looked from Carlotta to Darcy and back again. Carlotta floated across the room and kissed her delicately on both cheeks. Darcy grinned and let her folder drop to her side. “What are you doing here?” she asked.
“I should ask you the same thing!” Carlotta said. “Twice I asked you this week to come to my house for dinner! Twice you denied me!”
“I had to prepare,” Darcy insisted, “for this meeting.”
Reese’s stomach twisted. You need to pretend you like the idea. You have to be gentle with her.
Carlotta clutched Darcy’s shoulder and turned to address the men. “Darcy completely saved my life a few weeks ago. You cannot imagine the trouble I was in.”
Reese tried desperately to imagine what she meant. Carlotta was always one for exaggeration. Maybe Darcy had changed her tire or given her an extra sandwich when she was hungry on the beach.
“These are my app developers,” Carlotta explained to Darcy. “I always come to Reese when my client needs something. And he’s just brought the brilliant Joel into the mix.”
“I’m here for an app, too,” Darcy said. Her timidity returned, and her voice shook.
“You have an app! Is it someone else’s app or your own?” Carlotta asked.
“It’s my idea,” Darcy said.
“Wonderful. Amazing.” Carlotta snapped her fingers. “I want to hear all about it.”
Darcy’s eyes widened. She obviously hadn’t prepared to speak about her idea with anyone but trusted family members who would do anything to make sure they didn’t hurt her feelings. Carlotta was a champion of only the best and brightest ideas. There was no telling what she’d say when Darcy told her about her “beauty” app or whatever it was.
Reese’s heart pounded with nerves.
Carlotta bustled around to arrange a chair for herself between Reese and Joel. She sat primly with her ankles crossed. Reese wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d had some kind of “royal” training. He didn’t know what sort of things happened in Geneva.
“Okay,” Darcy said, straightening her spine and looking at Reese. “Okay. Sure. I guess it’s good practice.”
It’s just practice, Reese wanted to tell her. You’ll get better at this as you go on. If you want to go on.
Don’t hurt her, Carlotta!
It was then that Darcy launched into her app idea titled WonderBee. She set up her drawings for layout, discussed her strategy for outreach, and talked about the categories she envisioned and how the app would generate income. Reese didn’t think it was a bad speech, save for the fact that he didn’t think there was a market for this. And if there were, where would Darcy get the money? He and Joel couldn’t work on something of this scope for free. It would require hundreds of hours of coding. It would require outsourcing designers and marketers.
Darcy finished twenty minutes later. The room went quiet. Reese’s heartbeat was in his throat. Don’t hurt her, Carlotta. But already Carlotta was on her feet. She brought her hands together and gave Darcy a standing ovation. Joel and Reese hurried to follow her lead, though Reese thrummed with confusion.
“Darling, that was incredible!” she cried. “Truly. As you were talking, I thought to myself—if only that silly woman who destroyed my face last month had this app! This is the kind of information people need to have. Not just women! Men too.” Carlotta looked incredulous. “Yes. This is something, Darcy. This is a step toward greatness.”
Darcy’s legs shook beneath her. Reese could see the fabric of her dress vibrating. “I hope you’re right,” she said. She then glanced at Reese and Joel, who she’d come here to see, waiting for their assessment.
“I don’t know if they could ever really understand an app like this, honey,” Carlotta said with the wave of her hand. “They can build it for you, sure. There’s nobody better. But you need cash if you want to make this happen.”
Reese’s heart strummed. Was she serious?
Carlotta walked toward Darcy, tapping her chin. “I picture this in European and American markets, don’t you?”
Darcy nodded although Reese guessed Darcy hadn’t thought that far.
“There’s a summit I’d love to take you to,” Carlotta went on. “There will be heaps of investors there. People I’ve worked with in tech for decades. They trust me. They trust my eye. And I imagine they’d be willing to pour money into a project like this if we pitched it to them together. What do you think?”
Darcy stuttered with surprise, but not long enough to lose Carlotta’s respect. “I would love to come with you.”
“Brilliant. It’s in Roma in July,” Carlotta went on. “It gives us time to tighten up the pitch and have an artist draw up the mock-ups. These are well done, darling, but they’re simply not as professional as we need them to be.”
“Of course,” Darcy said. “I understand. You can’t hurt my feelings. I’ll take all your opinions.” She grinned. “My sister lives in Rome.”
“The pretty thing from that television show?” Carlotta asked.
“Yes.” Darcy was breathless.
“Tell her you’ll see her in a month,” Carlotta said.
Carlotta then strung her purse over her shoulder and swept to the door. “I’ll call you gentlemen later this week to go over more details for my client.” She paused with her hand on the knob. “Darcy, would you like to come with me?”
Darcy looked flabbergasted. She glanced back at Reese, who nodded almost imperceptibly. Go! You can’t say no!
Even if it mystified him, Reese was old enough and mature enough to recognize when he just couldn’t understand something.
“Thank you for the meeting,” Darcy rasped. “I’ll see you soon, I hope.”
Darcy slipped into the bright afternoon with Carlotta and disappeared around the corner. Reese couldn’t imagine what the two of them discussed.
Joel let out a long, low whistle. “Wow.”
“That was weird, right?”
Joel nodded his head.
“I was telling myself to let Darcy down easily,” Reese said.
Joel laughed. “I was sort of telling myself the same thing. No matter how good an idea is, it needs investors. And I wasn’t willing to put money down on this.” He paused. “Not that I knew whether it was a good idea. It flew right over my head.”
“Me neither,” Reese said. “See how much I know?”
“Can’t believe we’ve made it in this business as long as we have,” Joel joked.
Reese and Joel returned to their desks to code for the rest of the afternoon. They cracked beers from the fridge at five and clinked them over their mahogany desks. This was what it meant to be business partners, Reese thought as he floated through the final hour of work. This was what it meant to get over the past .