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Suddenly, I felt totally naked in front of Jude. “What’s your point?” I asked defiantly.
“You didn’t include this on your resume,” he said. “I want to know why.”
“Didn’t seem relevant.”
He laughed, a rich sound that reminded me of the way he laughed at the bar last night when we flirted. “You helped create one of the Top 100 cryptos in the world. Forget ACS. That kind of experience would put you on the shortlist to work for any company in Silicon Valley.”
“Thanks for mansplaining my own crypto experience to me,” I said. “You can go, now.”
Jude removed his glasses and pressed the heel of his palm against his eyes in frustration. “Why omit it? Tell me that, at least. Are you trying to remain anonymous for tax reasons after you cashed out?”
“I paid all my capital gains taxes,” I replied curtly.Personal property taxes, on the other hand…
“Then why?” he pushed.
“Because it’s the biggest mistake I’ve ever made!” I finally snapped.
He put his glasses back on and blinked in surprise. “Mistake? ArgoCoin is a legitimate crypto. It hasn’t been used for illegal activity, or anything else problematic.”
“Not thecreationof the coin,” I hissed. “The way I cashed out! Like you said, each coin was worth nine cents when I sold everything. A month later, they were worth thirty-two cents each. A year later, a dollar.”
Jude grimaced with me. “The price of ArgoCoin is over three dollars today. The amount you had back then would be worth a hundred million dollars.”
“One hundred and two million, four hundred and nine thousand,” I said weakly. “I check it every morning. I have to. It’s a compulsion, knowing what I would have had if I didn’t cash out.”
“Why did you?”
“You’re the one who spent the morning cyber-stalking me,” I replied. “Even though pancreatic cancer took my dad in three months, the medical bills were insurmountable. We had nothing. Mom was gone by then, dealing with Dad’s death in her own shitty way with pills and opiates, and we were alone. I wanted to buy a place for Michelle and I. My shares in ArgoCoin made that possible.”
To Jude’s credit, his eyes were soft and sympathetic as he listened to my story. And his tone was gentle as he said, “You were at Berkeley at the time. That’s a long commute from San Mateo.”
“Almost two hours each way,” I agreed. “Close to four hours a day, depending on the bridges. But I didn’t want Michelle to have to change schools, so I dealt with the commute so she wouldn’t have to. And she ended up going to Stanford, which is an easy CalTrain trip south.” My sigh held five years of regrets. “It was the right decision at the time. But I can’t help thinking that if I had just held out longer before cashing in my ArgoCoin…”
“That sucks,” he said. The simple platitude was strangely comforting.
“Yeah, it does. At the time, I remember thinking that three million was all the money in the world. But after buying this condo, and paying for Shelly’s tuition, and five years of California property taxes…” I frowned. “Is that why you came down here? To make me explain the biggest mistakes of my life?”
“No,” he said. “I came here to offer you a job at ACS.”
I barked a laugh. “Yeah, right. After the scene I made at the office today?”
“You’ve made a lot of scenes at a lot of interviews,” Jude replied. “None of that was on your resume, but I made a few calls. Visa. Alphabet. Helix. You certainly have a way of putting your foot in your mouth.”
The mention of my other failed interviews was like a wasp sting in my brain. I flinched as he listed off the companies that I had applied to, and subsequently blown up.
You sabotage your opportunities as a defense mechanism, my therapist had told me a long time ago.Because you’re afraid of failing at the job. Better to push them away during the job interview, right?
“Yeah, I’ve got a big mouth,” I replied curtly. “That doesn’t explain why you still want to hire me.”
“We could use someone with your expertise,” he insisted. “Someone who helped build a major cryptocurrency from scratch? Your knowledge would be more valuable than anyone else in the Bay Area.”
“I called your partner a cunt.”
“Honestly?” he chuckled. “Owenisa cunt.”
“In my experience, tech-bros generally don’t like being called that to their face.”
“He’ll get over it. Come work for us. Help us build something amazing from the ground-up, just like you did with ArgoCoin. And if we’re successful? You’ll make more money than you ever could have with that crypto.”
