AllFreeNovel
Share Us
As he approached, I began to draw my hands together, crossing them in front of my body. As he reached me, Gabe extended his hands towards mine and swallowed them in the warmth of his grasp.
He nodded with his chin, specifically in the direction of my crossed arms.
“Everything okay?”
Unable to pretend, I shook my head as I looked into his brilliant blue eyes.
“No. I’m nervous.”
Gabe looked at me and smiled.
“Good… If you’d told me anything else I would’ve been worried. You’re going to be fine. You’re beautiful and brilliant. You know everything there is to know about the Link Protocol, and by the time you’re finished with the speech, we are going to be on the way to being hundreds of billions of dollars richer.”
I still hadn’t gotten used to hearing numbers like that.
Gabe threw them around as if they were nothing.
“Look at me,” he said. Squeezing his fingers around my forearms for emphasis, Gabe continued, “Forget about the money, forget about the science, forget about all that, Fiona. This night, this is about you. You can do this. Your grandmother believed in you. I believe in you. And now, there’s only one person left to convince…”
With that, Gabe released his grasp on me and pointed his index finger at me in silence. I looked at him and nodded.
“So,” he began, as he stepped back from me and slipped his hands inside of his pants pockets. “I’m going to ask you once again. Are you ready?”
After he asked me the question, I remained silent for a moment, reflecting and trying to get in touch with my true feelings. While the nerves were still present, the doubt wasn’t.
I looked at him—and smiled.
And then, before I realized it, the speech had come and gone.
For the first time in my entire life I was part of something that was going to be an incredible success. We spent several hours that evening celebrating and enjoying our time together as a team and with the investors.
Of course, I wished my grandmother could still be alive to share in the success. If everything went according to plan, the debts we shared as a result of her treatment would be wiped out in no time. Although neither she nor I ever placed a great deal of importance on money, it was a relief to have the burden lifted once and for all.
Yet, in spite of the overwhelming success of the evening, the fact was the hard work had only just begun. Now that the company had moved out of the fundraising phase, there were still many months, and more likely years, of work ahead to fully realize the market potential of the Link Protocol.
And so, as the festivities wound down, Gabe and I left the ballroom and began to make our way back to the suite.
“You were amazing tonight, Fiona,” he said, as we strolled, hands intertwined, beneath a tropical moonlit sky.
“Thank you,” I replied, as I tightened my grip. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”
“Mmm,” he grunted. “Very true.”
I shook my head and smiled. “You are such a jerk.”
“Mmm,” he grunted. “Again, very true.”
We continued to walk in silence for several minutes. Overhead, the large palms swayed and rustled on occasion as a passing breeze moved through them. In the distance, I could hear the rhythmic thunder of the surf as it pounded along the sandy shore.
After clearing my throat, I said, “Well, I guess we’ve got our work cut out for us now, don’t we?”
Gabe nodded in agreement.
“Yes, we do. There’s going to be an awful lot of it ahead of us.”
“Yes,” I said with an exhale. “There’s no time to waste now. We’ve got to get back and get busy as soon as possible.”
As soon as I finished speaking, Gabe stopped walking, freezing in place. He reached for my arm, and after grasping it, he turned my body towards his as he looked at me in silence.
“What?” I said, as I stared at him. “Do I have something on my face?”
Gabe chuckled and grabbed hold of my hand, stopping me before I could reach my cheek.
“No, Fiona, you don’t have anything on your face,” he said, as he smiled at me. “What you do have—is a problem relaxing.”
“Relaxing? What do you mean?”
“Well, let’s put it this way. My earliest memory of you is of your day planner.”
Not certain where he was going with it, I interjected, “Well, my planner helps keep me organized and on schedule and…”
“Shh,” he said, as he pressed his index finger into my lips. “Don’t talk right now, just listen.”
I nodded, promising not to speak until he finished.
“We aren’t going anywhere right now. Understand?” he said, as he moved away from me and gestured upward, looking towards the star-filled sky overhead. “You and I are going to have the vacation we should have taken long ago. You are going to stay here and relax with me, or I will fire you.”
