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“Because you guys had already postponed your launch for like a month and a half,” Sofia reminds me, “And you guys tested the hell out of it.”
“I don’t know, I’m just thinking maybe I should have launched it without that feature and run a beta for that first,” I gnaw my lower lip, “I wonder if it’s too late to have Shay ax it for now and do it that way…”
I reach for my phone in my back pocket and Sofia catches my wrist. “Josie, your launch is in less than two hours. It’s too late. And even if it weren’t, I would stop you, because I need to you take a breath and trust yourself, trust your team. Do you think your team would steer you wrong? Have any of them shown any doubts that you guys are ready tonight?”
“No, they were all ready for this a week ago,” I admit.
“And you trust them, don’t you?”
“Absolutely,” the group of developers, analysts, and various other members of the staff that made this possible are an amazingly talented group of people, or I wouldn’t have hired them.
“So trust that if they’re ready, then your launch is going to be awesome. I won’t say perfect, because everything’s got bugs, but hey,” she beams, “You never know when a glitch is going to be just what you needed.”
“You’re gonna make me fuck up that eyeliner you just put on me,” I complain, waving quickly at my eyes and staring at the ceiling to try and stop the rapidly forming tears.
“Brought waterproof for the evening,” she replies, “Mascara, too.”
“You think of everything,” I dab at my eyes carefully, “But seriously, have I told you just how happy I am for you? I love seeing you like this.”
“Well, you may want to grab another tissue, I actually have something I’ve been meaning to tell you. Marco and I are moving into Russell’s place next week.”
My jaw drops. “Oh my gosh, are you serious?”
She nods, grinning, “I’m already about half-packed, although the apartment will still be mine until the middle of next month.”
“Well, there we go, I guess I do have a success story from Mix n Match, before it was even a feature,” I laugh, dabbing at my eyes again and pulling her into a hug, “Congratulations, Sof, I’m so happy for you.”
“Thanks, I’m happy, too,” she grins.
“Good. Because if either one of those two ever hurts you, remember-”
“Your aunt has a pig farm and won’t hesitate to help me make a man disappear,” Sofia finishes for me, laughing, “I know.”
“Coming from her, I know it’s a sincere offer, too.”
“I’ve met your aunt; I don’t doubt it. But we’d better get going, we need to get set up and stuff.”
I nod. While my staff is normally remote, I’d rented a little office space for the evening so we could all get together for a little launch party. So Sofia and I finished getting ready, loaded some supplies into a cooler that we lugged out to my car, and headed down there. Fortunately, it wasn’t too far from my place.
“Russell’s meeting us with plates and cups and stuff, right?” I ask as we’re pulling up.
“And Marco’s picking up the catering order,” she nods, “They should be here any minute. Actually, wait…” she glances behind us, “That’s Russ pulling up now.”
Her face lights up, and I feel my heart melting a little. It just makes me so happy to see her like this. I remember what that felt like.
I smile wistfully and glance down at the ring encircling my finger. Sofia turns back around and sees me staring at it and slips a hand into mine, giving me a squeeze. “Toby would be so proud of you.”
“I wish he was here to see it,” I sigh.
“Me, too. But he’d want you to celebrate your moment,” she reminds me.
I nod, knowing she’s right.
Toby Finch was, quite simply, my soulmate. We’d met when we were fourteen years old and been completely inseparable from Day 1. We were high school sweethearts, and since our dream schools were in the same city, going off to college together was a breeze. We were planning to get married when we graduated and start our lives together.
It seemed like I had found the perfect fairytale ending I’d always dreamed about…until Toby’s headaches started.
They found a tumor growing in his brain, one that was in too delicate an area for surgery, and it was growing. There was no treatment, nothing they could do. They gave him six months.
