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Maisie scowled at me.
“Wanker! Did you think I was going to kiss you?”
Her eyes were lined dark with kohl and along with her black hair, red lips, and heavy biker boots, she did not look like someone I wanted to offend. Maybe on another morning, but not today.
She took out a small make-up bag and I immediately started protesting.
“Relax! I just want to get rid of those dark circles under your eyes. Have you seen your face today?”
Then she called out into the office. “Corey! Corey!”
A thin, nervous youth appeared in the door. “Yes?”
“Have you got some hair gel?”
Corey came back with a small tub, avoiding my eyes. Maisie took out some gel and whipped it through my hair.
She gave me a critical once-over.
“Well, at least you don’t look like you slept in your car anymore.”
She held her pocket mirror out for me to see and I had to admit that she’d done a good job. I took a sip from the coffee.
“Thanks, Maisie.”
“You have ten minutes until Aaron gets here,” she warned me.
I didn’t know what I was going to tell him. He’d been bugging me for months to get a prototype ready of our latest app but we kept having problems with rolling it out. Our main developer, a guy called Alex, had been struggling to fix the bugs and I knew we weren’t on schedule as I’d promised Aaron.
Right on time, Aaron Faulks came into the office, all six feet of his towering presence.
“Will! How are you! Just got off the plane from Delhi, man, it’s good to be back in the city!”
Maisie showed him into the office, asked if he wanted coffee.
He barely glanced at her, instead looking out at the city.
“I went on this silent retreat. Did I tell you about that? Amazing!” he bellowed before I could respond. “Fantastic! Such a spiritual experience, I feel completely renewed! What have you got for me?”
He sucked the energy out of the room, and out of me. I felt myself growing weaker, like a deflated balloon.
“Actually, Aaron, we’ve run into some hitches.”
“What?” his eyebrows shot up and I could see Maisie stop in her tracks right behind him. She was holding more coffee in her hands.
“I don’t want to lie to you,” I said. “Our app is running great on the Android devices, but on Apple, we seem to battle.”
“That’s what you said last time,” Aaron said, his voice low, his face blank. He looked like he was about to erupt.
I nodded, “I know. We were trying some things, but they didn’t work. I’m not sure why. I understand your frustration, we’re upset too. If you want to withdraw your funding, I understand.”
Aaron nodded slowly, then he got up, walked over to my office window. He put his hands into his pockets and said,
“Ever been to India, Will?”
I was thrown by the change of topic, as well as the tone of his voice. The manic energy was gone too.
“Uh… no.”
