Chapter 8 #2
Her mouth full of another bite of the sumptuous pad thai, she could only shake her head until she swallowed.
“Not exactly. I was an econ major. And with an econ degree, the most common thing to do is become a management consultant. Everyone was interviewing with places like McKinsey, Deloitte, KPMG.”
“I honestly can’t imagine you as a management consultant.”
Her heart skipped a beat. “I hope that’s not an insult.”
He shook his head vigorously. “I can’t see you at a think tank. I see you out there working with people.”
“As a management consultant, you work with people too.” She shrugged, but the truth was he made her feel seen .
“Anyway, all the big companies do these interview days at the career center. I went to a few of them. There I was in my business outfit that Mom made for me, and I couldn’t help asking myself why I was sitting there.
Honestly, I didn’t want to work for any of them. ”
“Did you already know what you wanted to do?”
She leaned closer. “All along, I thought I’d go the management consultant route, because I could make good money, even start my own consulting business one day.
But that day, I had an interview with one of the recruiters, and she asked me all these questions, and I gave all the answers I thought were right.
But I didn’t feel any of it. In fact, I felt a little sick.
Then she said, ‘You don’t really want to be a management consultant, do you? ’”
He raised an eyebrow as if he’d known that all along.
“I couldn’t help telling the truth, that I didn’t actually want to do that with my life.
When she asked me what I wanted to do, I was embarrassed to admit I didn’t know.
I mean, I had this plan—make money, help my mom, support her.
Then the woman asked me all these interesting questions.
Like, what was I good at? What did I enjoy doing?
And I finally had to say that my friends always said I was good at matchmaking.
And that woman said to me, ‘Well, then, do that.’ At first, I was a little frozen, and I’m sure I sounded stupid when I asked, ‘You mean, open a matchmaking company?’ And she said, ‘Yes. I bet you’ll be great at it. ’”
“And that changed your life?”
“Not right then. We were all close to graduating, and some of my classmates had already started their own businesses. They were already making it. And I felt bad because I didn’t know what I truly wanted.
And then, I don’t remember who I said it to—maybe it was Gloria—I grumbled that my interview was terrible except for the one super weird thing the woman said to me about starting a matchmaking service. ”
“And what did Gloria say?”
Michaela had to laugh. “What do you think? She said I should totally do it.”
“Was this before or after you matched them up for FoodFast?”
“After. In fact, both Gloria and Ivan helped me with seed money to start the business. Funnily enough, they both came to me separately, like they didn’t want anyone to know.
But they each wanted to be my first client.
They worked all the time, but they wanted to meet someone without having to go through all those dating sites.
And I said they were perfect for each other.
Now they’re happily married and have three kids. ”
“That’s an amazing story.” His eyes seemed to glitter, as if he meant it.
Michaela let out a huff. “It felt more like being in the right place at the right time. My class from Stanford saw a lot of amazing talent—people who are now billionaires, with companies in the Fortune 500. But I was never in their league, even if I matched them.”
She wasn’t in their league? Michaela was the smartest woman Troy had ever known. She’d been awarded a full-ride scholarship to Stanford University, for God’s sake. And now she was the billionaire matchmaker. There was so much to admire about Michaela Killian.
“Don’t you see how freaking incredible all that is?”
“Like I said, right time, right place.” She played nervously with her pad thai, then ate a little. As if she didn’t believe his compliment.
He kept asking questions, not just to learn more about her, but also because her beautiful voice strummed something inside him.
She saw through his ploy, though, because she said, “Enough about me.”
He thought there could never be enough about her.
But she asked, “How did you become an Olympic diver?”
He had to admit, “School didn’t come naturally to me.
I hated sitting inside at a desk. But swimming and diving were instinctive, and I loved the water.
I knew I wanted to do some kind of water sport right from the beginning.
The first time I did a flip off a diving board, I was two.
” He couldn’t help smiling at the memory, though his memory might have been reinforced with all the retellings by Dane and Ava.
He smiled, too, at Michaela’s ability to get details out of him.
“Our nanny was there because my parents were off skiing. I’m sure she had the most horrified look on her face, as if I’d hit my head on the diving board.
Even then, I felt Dane’s and Ava’s encouragement.
And I did not hit my head on the diving board, although my dive might’ve been more of a cannonball.
The weirdest thing is that I can still remember the rush, even though I was only two years old. And I’ve loved that rush ever since.”
“Maybe you were a child prodigy,” she said with a smile.
He had to laugh. “Probably not, since I did a lot more accidental cannonballs over the years. But I got a coach, and I improved. Later, Dane and Ava found a high school that specialized in helping athletes perfect their technique and was known for training kids who became Olympians.”
She sipped her lavender lemonade. “Even if you had help along the way, you’re still the one who accomplished your goal.”
Without drinking, he turned his glass on the placemat.
“I can’t take all the credit. My brothers and sisters did everything they could to make sure I reached my goal.
” Then he told her his whole story, just as she’d told him hers.
“Around the time I started high school, my parents were killed in a skiing accident in the Alps, and they left behind a lot of debt. None of us knew about that until they were gone. But even when all the money suddenly vanished, Dane and Ava didn’t let that stop us.
They worked their butts off to make sure we all reached our goals.
I’ll always be grateful to them and love them so much for what they did. ”
Her eyes seemed a little misty. “Susan told my mom a bit about this. It’s amazing how you all banded together like that.”
Though he could have been ticked off to know the two moms had been talking about him, he was grateful for Susan’s involvement. She was a wonderful, caring person, a surrogate mom, even.
Michaela chuckled and added a bit self-consciously, “And here I thought you were just a billionaire. But you truly worked hard. So did your whole family.”
He wanted to preen under her praise. “It wasn’t just for me.
Gabby wanted to play soccer, so we all trained with her every day until she made it onto the team.
Clay always dreamed about going to Harvard Business School, and we all worked as a team to make that possible.
But Dane didn’t stop there. He wanted to make sure we were together in mind, body, and spirit, a cohesive unit.
He acted like a father after our parents died.
He even started game nights once a week.
We all played games together—card games, board games.
We were all so busy with our own stuff—school, work, diving, soccer—but he wanted to make sure we stayed close.
” He scraped the last of his pad thai into his mouth and barely swallowed before he said, “Talking about it, I’m only now realizing we haven’t played games like that in quite a few years.
We’ve all got busy lives, and we’re spread out all over the Bay Area.
Dane and Gabby are down on the Monterey Peninsula—Pebble Beach and Carmel—while Ava and Clay are up in the city.
And I’m halfway between. But Ava’s put together these monthly masterminds.
” He air-quoted the word. “It’s a forum for each of us to talk about our work issues.
” He grinned. “And sometimes personal issues.” Though he wasn’t going to tell her those were mostly about love.
He’d always remained mum on the subject.
“In fact, we have a mastermind tomorrow night.”
It was on the tip of his tongue to invite her.
After all, the rest of them brought their significant others.
And there would be Fernsby and T. Rex, who was attached at the hip to Fernsby even though the mini dachshund was Dane and Cammie’s dog.
He was surprised Fernsby hadn’t brought the dog to the book signing.
But if Troy invited Michaela to the mastermind, it would imply there was something more between them than matchmaking. His siblings would never that let go.
Best not to make that invitation. Yet. He said instead, “I kind of miss those game nights.” His tone came off almost wistful.
Her pad thai finished, as well as the chicken satay, she pushed the plate away and put her elbows on the table, lacing her fingers. “When you’re at your mastermind, maybe you should suggest that a game night would be a lot of fun and a great stress reliever.”
He threw himself back against the booth as he barked out a laugh. “Stress reliever? You’ve never seen us play a game. We all play to win, no holds barred. There’s a lot of stress flying around that table.”
She smiled, and he adored that smile. He’d say and do anything to get her to smile like that. But she went back to the serious questions. “Is the diving all over for you? Or would you want to compete in another Olympics?”
He’d won three gold medals. Would a fourth be worth it? “Any sport is extremely hard on the body, and though I loved competing, I realized I’d achieved my goals, and it was time to do something else. I did some endorsements, and somehow, I ended up starting my own sporting goods company.”
She chuckled, shaking her head. “You ended up starting a company? Like it was no big deal?”
He gave her a phony grimace. “Kind of like you falling into starting your own matchmaking service.”
“Touché. But how did you get into the inspirational talks you do for kids?”
He loved talking to her, learning about her, sharing with her.
He couldn’t remember another woman he’d shared so much of himself with.
Most women he dated weren’t interested in him .
They’d wanted the gold medalist or the guy they’d seen in a commercial for athletic shoes or the rich businessman.
None of them had asked about the talks he enjoyed giving to kids, about his hopes that his words inspired them to reach for everything they wanted out of life.
“I felt it was time to give back to the community. My family inspired me, and I wanted to offer that same kind of inspiration. That’s when I started talking to youth groups and young people, high school classes and sports teams. Mostly, it’s about encouraging them to believe in themselves, that they can be whatever they want to be as long as they never give up on their dreams.”
“And doing that is more important than overseeing your sports empire?” she asked.
He drummed his fingers on the table and gave her a smile.
“It’s not an actual empire. But that’s important too.
Providing people with the things they need to be the best they can be.
Giving them new equipment, like this workout machine Matt and I have been working on.
But it wouldn’t mean as much to me if I couldn’t use it as a springboard to encourage young people. ”
She blinked once, then again, as though she suddenly saw him in an entirely different light. “That’s incredibly admirable. I’d love to attend one of your talks sometime.”
That drew him up. He thought about her sitting among the audience, listening, watching.
Would she think he was just another blowhard or that his talks were part of his business model?
As an athlete, people had judged him all his life.
They’d scored his technique, his execution, his behavior on and off the diving board.
But right now, he didn’t want her to be just another judge. So he said gently, “Maybe someday.”
He couldn’t tell if that was dejection on her pretty face. Especially when she said, “I’ll look forward to it.”
There were so many things he looked forward to with her.