Page 90 of Semantics

“Stella has the money now. She doesn’t have the whole trust fund, but she’s got her own place. She’s making really good money, getting bonuses. She has stock options that actually mean something. She has a newer car than mine. We’ve changed places. I’m the poor girl now.”

“So?” Arlowe said with a chuckle. “Has she bragged or something? Made you feel bad about it?”

“No, of course not.”

“You are overcomplicating this like you’ve been overcomplicating the investor deck. You like her. She likes you. If you want to date her, you do it. If you don’t see it, you don’t.”

“The timing is off. We’re about to have this big meeting, and if it goes well, we’ll get a cash injection.”

“That we need desperately because you’ve been carrying us for far too long. Yeah, we all know that, and we feel terrible that we haven’t been able to make this thing profitable.”

“You do?”

“Of course we do. We hate that the investment money we did get ran out a long time ago. I know you’re paying our paychecks with your trust fund. We all do. We hate it. It’s why we’re giving this one last shot before we decide to maybe call it quits.”

“Wait. What?” Violet exclaimed as she leaned forward in her chair.

“We’re not giving up yet. I just meant that you can’t keep doing this forever, and we don’t want to take advantage even if you could. We want a viable business, so we all want this money to come in, too.”

“If it does, I’ll be dealing with all the strings it comes with.”

“We all will. You most of all, yes, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a relationship if you want one. Plenty of people do what you do and have relationships, Violet. You just have to ask yourself if you want to date Stella, or if you want to keep going to her house late at night for a booty call, pretending like having her hold you isn’t the best part of your whole damn day.”

Violet didn’t have anything to say to that because when she thought about her day today, being held by Stella was up there on her list, but she wasn’t sure if it were the best part. The best part, for her, had been when Stella had joined their team meeting and had argued with her. It wasn’t the best because of the argument necessarily, but because it was nice to have someone who was very smart, gorgeous, and who kept staring at Violet with those damn brown eyes, there with her. She liked having dinner with Stella joining them last night. She even liked that Stella had sat in her chair at the kitchen table.

“I’ll let you get back to work. I’m going to bed.”

“You have a lot to think about, but, Vi, don’t overthink this like you do just about everything else, okay? Just be with her if you want, and if not, that’s okay, too. You don’t have a country or two in your way.”

Violet stared at her friend, who still felt the loss of her love so acutely, even after so long. She suspected that was likely because Arlowe believed that Eline had moved on in their time apart, but she hadn’t bothered to check because it would be too hard for her to see. Violet understood. She had thought about looking Eline up herself, but that wasn’t her place and would only open a can of worms that she wasn’t sure Arlowe would be able to deal with.

Violet headed to her bedroom and closed the door behind her. She wasn’t tired. She was exhausted but not tired, so she flopped back on her bed and tried to think about the important meeting she had coming up and not Stella’s eyes when Violet told her that she had to leave the house earlier.

CHAPTER 26

The agreement had been sent back, which meant that she, as the SVP of sales, had to countersign, and because they’d given Violet and her team such a big discount, a regular rep couldn’t move it from the sales stage to the implementation stage.

“Hey, Monique? Got a minute?” Stella asked when she saw the woman walking by her office.

“Yeah. What’s up?” Monique said, walking in.

“We just got the signed agreement back finally, so you’re good to get started on their implementation. I think Arlowe is your main point of contact, but feel free to check with Violet first on that. She might want to run point on any meetings.”

“Okay. Cool. How many hours am I supposed to give them again?”

“Twenty-five, but if they’re about to go over and need a few more, let me know. I’ll okay it.”

“Really?” Monique asked her. “We’re normally pretty big sticklers with my hours.”

“I know. I… am hoping they lead to bigger fish, so I want to help a little more if I can.”

“Oh, yeah? I thought they weren’t really a big deal.”

“On their own, they’re not, but the CEO has a few connections, so I’d like to keep her happy.”

Stella thought about how she had tried to make Violet happy the other night in a very different way and how she’d failed. She shouldn’t have cooked dinner or set out candles. She should’ve known better. Violet had run out on her a few times, and she’d made it clear that she only wanted sex from Stella. Stella should have listened.

“Whatever you want. You’re the boss. I’ll let you know when they get close to twenty-five and if they need more time.”