CHAPTER 2
Stella stared at the customer relationship management system, or CRM, on her screen, looking over all the opportunities that her sales team had yet to close.
As the SVP of this software company, she had big goals that she needed to hit and an otherwise all-male executive leadership team that was not necessarily waiting for her to fail but not exactly expecting her to succeed, either, which drove her to do just that.
She’d been working for Cerebral for the past three years, coming in as a director of sales after working her way up at her previous company before making the move here.
The former VP of sales had left, and that had given her a chance to interview for his role, which she’d gotten.
Later, when she and her team had outperformed all their key metrics, she’d been promoted to SVP.
The company didn’t yet have a Chief Revenue Officer, but Stella could see herself getting there one day, and maybe even soon, with how fast they were growing.
She’d never seen herself working for any particular kind of tech company.
It was more that she had wanted to work in tech and lead a sales team, and she’d always believed that if she were a good salesperson, she could sell anything.
Now, here she was, looking over her charts and graphs and checking in on the old opportunities to see why those accounts had not been marked as a closed-won yet, paying extra attention to the ones that had been marked as closed-lost, which meant that they hadn’t gotten the account.
After that review, Stella filtered by inbound leads and noticed one with a very interesting name.
She clicked into it, wondering if it was the same Violet Russell.
Russell was a common-enough name, but Violet was a name that wasn’t as common anymore.
Of course, that could also mean that it was making a comeback, since all old things eventually did, but she clicked on the name of the company that this Violet Russell had provided on their intake form, and after scrolling to the About page of the website to see if she could locate a photo of their leadership team, which was standard company practice, she leaned back in her chair.
“Well, hello there,” she said to herself because the Violet Russell, whom she’d known for a few months about ten years ago, stared back at her from a professional headshot.
Violet was wearing a pinstripe gray business suit with a nice-looking blouse under the jacket that, Stella guessed, was designer, given who Violet’s family was and how the woman had grown up with that silver spoon safely implanted in her mouth.
“Hey. Lunch?” Jen, her friend, whom she had brought on at the company a year prior, asked when she walked into Stella’s office.
“Sure. I have an hour. Want to go down the street?”
“Yes. I don’t have a meeting until two, and I could really go for their BLT.”
“It’s just a sandwich.” Stella laughed. “Why do you love it so much?”
“It’s how they cook the bacon. Diners always have the best bacon. It’s just crispy enough without being burnt, and it still has the chewy fat component.”
“You’re weird about bacon,” Stella replied, chuckling.
“Anyway… Can we go? I’m starving.”
“Hey, do you remember me mentioning someone named Violet Russell?”
“No. Should I?” Jen asked as she walked over to Stella’s desk and grabbed a piece of candy from the bowl that Stella kept there for anyone who came in and wanted a piece. “You need better candy. Why not have those fun-size candy bars?”
“I’m sorry; whose office is this?”
Jen popped the candy into her mouth and said, “What about this Violet Roberts?”
“Russell.”
“Whatever. Why should I remember her?”
“I thought I’d mentioned her to you before.”
“Is she a customer?”
“She might be.” Stella scrolled up on the website.
“She runs a language translation company or something and might be interested in buying our software. Probably to help with that whole translating thing. Anyway, when I was doing that semester abroad in Amsterdam my senior year, she was there. Total bitch.”
“Oh, wait.” Jen pointed at Stella, who stood up. “That one? The rich one you were always competing with or something?”
“Yeah, that’s her.”
“Why was I thinking her name was Vicky?”
“I have no idea. I don’t think I know anyone who goes by Vicky.”
“You do know someone who goes by Amber, though. Do not be late tonight, Stella. I like Amber for you. She’s nice and successful, ambitious, how you like, and funny.”
“Why don’t you date her, then?”
“I did, remember? Well, one date. No chemistry. I think she’d be good for you, though.
She just got out of a relationship, but it was only a few months long, so not a big deal, and she said she was ready to finally agree to go out with you after I’ve been telling her that I think you two would hit it off for the past six months. Do not be late and make me look bad.”
“I won’t be late. My last meeting will be done at six, and she’s meeting me at eight, so I’ll be fine. But back to Violet.”
“Are you going out with her tonight at seven or something?”
“No, obviously. But I haven’t seen or heard from her in ten years, and now, she’s requesting a demo of our software. What do I do with that?”
“Nothing. Have one of the reps take it and pretend like you had no idea you even noticed. Why would you do anything about it? Also, Stella… bacon.”
“Jesus, Jen…” Stella closed her laptop. “Have you not eaten in a week or something?”
“I skipped breakfast,” Jen told her as she shrugged her shoulder. “And why are you obsessed with this Vicky?”
“Violet,” she corrected and grabbed her jacket.
“I’ve decided to call her Vicky,” Jen stated.
“And I am not obsessed with Violet,” Stella added. “I haven’t thought about her in years prior to seeing her picture. I looked her up a few times when I first graduated, but nothing since then.”
They walked out of her office, and Stella closed the door behind them.
“Oh, please. You know that’s a lie,” Jen countered.
“What?”
“She was your arch-nemesis for that award thing you wanted. You know you think about her all the time and wonder if you’re more successful or if she is.”
“That’s not true,” Stella argued. “And it wasn’t really an award. It was the best GPA in a tough program. I mean, there was–”
“I was a C student, so forgive me for thinking of the highest GPA as an award. Anyway, what are you wearing tonight?”
Realizing that she wasn’t going to get much out of her friend beyond anything that related to this blind date that Jen had set up for her the previous week, Stella decided to answer her questions about clothing possibilities and the restaurant she’d made a reservation at while she thought about that picture of Violet Russell on her computer screen.
Violet still looked the same. A little older now, yes, but the long, brown hair was the same, and so were her hazel eyes.
Stella remembered staring at them from her seat in one of their classes.
Sitting behind Violet by one row and to the right, Stella had gotten a pretty good view, and that had included a view of Violet’s long legs because, even in winter, Violet had worn skirts to at least half of their classes.
Stella had been a baby gay back then, but even so, she hadn’t been interested in a relationship with anyone, especially not the very stuck-up woman with that silver spoon.
She’d felt the tension forming between them from moment one, though, and it had only grown the more time they’d been forced to spend together in and out of the classroom.
Stella had had to work twice as hard just to get into the program that Violet had been admitted into because she had known someone who’d known someone, or because her parents had.
Stella, on the other hand, had had zero connections and had worked her ass off in school just to get an entry-level job in sales when she’d graduated.
Violet had probably been given money from her parents to start the company she was now the CEO of, and while that wasn’t fair, it was often how life worked, unfortunately.
Violet had even had the perfect girlfriend waiting for her back home when they’d been in school, whom Stella had overheard her bragging to her friends about in the dorm cafeteria once.
“She’s just so smart and so pretty,” Violet had shared loudly as if she’d wanted everyone in the place to know that she’d had a girlfriend for some annoying reason.
Stella hadn’t had a girlfriend, but not everyone wanted one, either.
During her time in Amsterdam, she had been so focused on school that she’d only allowed herself to have a little fun.
She’d gone to the pubs, had a few drinks, and she’d even kissed a couple of women, but it hadn’t gone anywhere beyond that as she hadn’t been interested in starting something lasting when she’d known that she would be leaving the country at the end of the semester.
She’d been tempted to go further once, though.
Her last night in Amsterdam, she had been grabbing a drink at the bar, and she’d seen Violet there with Arlowe, Enya, and Sarai.
That night, a woman from the art program had walked up to Stella, introduced herself, and they’d shared a couple of drinks.
An hour later, that woman had invited her back to her dorm room, where they’d kissed, but when the woman had suggested that they do more than that, something inside Stella had stopped her.
She had never really understood the reason why she’d stopped where the night had clearly been headed, but she’d turned the woman down and had left.
The next morning, she had finished packing everything she’d brought with her and had left for the airport, and when she’d gotten there, she’d been surprised to see Violet on the very same flight.
Not even acknowledging her existence at the gate, Violet had boarded first because, of course, she had, and Stella had kept her head down as she’d gone by Violet’s first-class seat to her own, way, way back with the plebs in economy.
“Hi. Stella, right?” Amber asked.
Stella smiled warmly at the knockout of a woman standing in front of her in the lobby of the restaurant.
“Hi. Yeah. It’s nice to meet you,” she said and held out her hand.
Amber and Jen had gone on exactly one date about six months prior, and after that, they’d stayed friends, but Stella had only seen one photo of her in that time, and while flattering, it didn’t do the woman justice.
Amber had beautiful blue eyes, jet-black hair, and tanned skin, and she looked like she put the hours in at the gym, which wasn’t a requirement for Stella, but it didn’t hurt, either.
“It’s nice to meet you as well,” Amber said, giving her a soft smile back.
“Shall we?” Stella asked.
She told the host that they were there for their reservation, and they were walked back to their table, where they exchanged a few pleasantries and decided on a wine for their meal.
“So,” Amber began once their wine had been brought over and poured. “Jen tells me you’re the SVP of sales at the company you both work at.”
“Yeah, for about six months now.”
“And you enjoy working in sales?”
“I do. It wasn’t my original plan, but once I found my footing, I really liked it.”
“What was your plan, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“Oh, which one? I wanted to be an astronaut, a nurse, a teacher, a lawyer, and a botanist at some point.”
“A botanist?” Amber asked.
“My mom had a garden,” Stella explained. “She told me that there were people who studied plants, and I thought that was the coolest thing until I realized how bad I was in science, so I gave up on being an astronaut and nurse then, too.”
Amber laughed a little and replied, “Well, as a scientist, I can say that it’s not for everyone. Sometimes, it’s not even for me.”
“What do you not like about it?” Stella asked and lifted her wineglass.
“Part of me wishes that I’d gotten a job in a lab somewhere instead of going into teaching. College students are the worst sometimes.”
Stella chuckled and said, “As a former college student myself, I am deeply offended.”
She winked to let Amber know that she was kidding.
“Hey, I was, too. Kind of had to be to get my doctorate. I’m sure my former professors thought that I was the worst at times, but it’s exhausting, teaching at a small college when all I want to do is work on the actual science.”
“Why do you keep doing it, then? You could find a job elsewhere, right?”
“Because, as much as I complain about my job, I also really enjoy it. I get great students every semester, too, and I love inspiring them to go into sciences, especially the female students, showing them that it’s possible to work in a male-dominated profession and thrive.”
“That’s amazing,” Stella replied. “And I get it – I’m in a similar boat in sales. I’m also the only woman on the leadership team at my company, which, unfortunately, is still pretty common in tech.”
“Hopefully, not forever, right?”
“Hopefully not,” Stella agreed.
They talked throughout their meal, getting to know one another a bit, and Stella liked this woman.
She really did. Amber was smart and funny, just like Jen had said, but there was something in the back of Stella’s mind that kept shifting her focus from the beautiful and accomplished woman sitting in front of her back to the annoying woman she’d known for a few months about a decade ago.
“So, I’m going to go out on a limb here and ask if you’d like to do this again sometime,” Amber said when they arrived at Stella’s car in the restaurant’s parking lot later that night.
“Yeah, I’d love to,” she replied and meant it.
“Great. I’ll call you?”
“Please do,” she said and felt Amber lean in.
Her date didn’t go for a kiss on the lips, though, which Stella appreciated. Amber’s lips landed on her cheek instead, and Stella smiled at the gesture.
“Drive safe,” Amber told her before she headed to her own car.
When Stella got home about twenty minutes later, she ignored the three pings from her phone, knowing that it was only Jen checking in on her date, which could wait, and she grabbed her laptop.
Then, she found the account for Violet’s company, reviewed the details once more, added herself in the CRM as the account owner, and used the templated email that her reps sent once they first got an account.
She checked it over thoroughly to be sure that it was good and hit send.