Page 11 of Technical Advances

Erin and Jonah quickly collected their things and left the room with a “yes, sir,” and an “I’ll let you know as soon as I hear from him,” but Beck remained in his seat. I could feel him watching me as I followed Erin and Jonah to the door and thanked them for all their hard work. I really wasn’t one to lose my temper, and I didn’t want to end the meeting on a sour note.

“This is going to work out great. I promise,” I assured them before I closed the door and walked back to my spot at the head of the table.

Figuring I knew Beck’s concern, I pulled the carton of carryout that I had only picked over until that point toward me and made a show of shoving a big forkful of leafy greens into my mouth.

“What the hell is going on with you, Ani?”

“What? I’m eating!”

“You know that’s not what I mean.”

The thing was that I really didn’t. “I don’t understand why you don’t get this, Beck. You’re the one who presented his work to me. He didn’t steal it, and it’s damn good work.”

“No, I get that part. The kid’s a genius. I trust you on that. But you should have told me you were going to interview him yourself; I would have coached you, or joined you if I couldn’t talk you out of it. But Ani, when I walked in here, the two of you had your heads together like my daughter and her friends sharing videos on their phones. Any closer and …”

“And what?”

“Stand up.”

“I’m eating, Beck. You should be happy!”

“And I am, just, humor me.”

Beck stood in front of me and leaned in until our foreheads almost touched. It was strange and ridiculous and uncomfortable. I stepped away, giving him a funny look.

“Un-huh,” is all he said as if he had proved some kind of point.

Next he shot his hand out in front of me. Naturally, I embraced him to shake it. I wasn’t good with many physical cues, but I certainly knew how to shake someone’s hand. I’d shaken the hand of presidents and celebrities and even royalty by that point in our careers.

His second hand enclosed our shake, and he stopped the motion, holding my hand still for much longer than the usual handshake.

Eventually, I yanked my hand from his grip, earning me another “uh-huh” and a smirky smile.

“Tread lightly with this, Ani. You’ve never wanted to work with someone before. Hell, we had to build you a private lab! A place, I’ll remind you, where I’m hardly even welcome, and now you’re just going to start working with this kid. I could barely convince you that you needed me back when we started.” Despite his clear frustration, Beck smiled when he said, “You know, someone to handle the business aspects …”

I cut in to complete a sentence we had thought humorous when we were just out of school and learning to work together, and one that we had repeated often over the years: “of the business.” At least he smiled at that.

“It’s going to be fine, Beck,” I assured him before performatively shoveling more salad into my face.

“I just don’t want to see you hurt, Ani.”

“Why on earth would I get hurt?”

Beck just sighed at me and made me eat more salad while he lectured me about setting boundaries with my new employee, like not expecting him to work through the night. He also talked about the board of directors until he was blue in the face, eventually convincing me that we couldn’t offer Benji fifty percent of the profits on Project Orthos.

“You know he’ll be well compensated at twenty-five percent, Ani.”

“At least try for thirty-five, Beck. Based on income, not net.” I tapped on the folder, like Beck had done when he’d brought it to me days before. “This is not entry-level work, Beck. He deserves his share.”

He nodded and sent an email to Erin and Jonah.

Beck was emphatic that I not reach out directly to Benji until he accepted our offer. I was under strict orders not to try and contact him in any way until I heard from Erin.

Once my lunch was done, I headed to my lab, excited to test out some of the calculations Benji and I had worked on.

I did end up working through most of the night, hearing Beck’s scolding voice every time I reached for my phone to call Benji with a question or an update. I didn’t even have his number.

I had never minded being alone in my lab before, but it was like everywhere I looked, I pictured him there with me. In my head, I shared what I was working on with him, and I imagined him by my side as we both stared as one of the 3D printers created a component we had brainstormed together.