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“For my botched wedding?” she asks, her voice teasing.
“For dragging you out here. For getting us lost.”
“You didn’t drag me out here. I was a willing participant, and I think we both got us lost,” she says.
I look away from her, leaning back against the rock. “The app failed, though,” I say.
“It’s just another glitch. We’ll get it fixed.”
I let out a long breath, my shoulders falling as I do. “It’s a big one, though. It will take a while to figure out what went wrong so it doesn’t happen again. And if it keeps happening, we might have to implement another map. We’ve had too many issues this trip. User testing is going to find even more. I just don’t see how we’ll be ready for New York in September.”
I see her head turn toward me in my peripheral vision. “Okay, maybe we won’t. But it’s just a setback.”
“Not one we can afford.”
“How’s that?”
“I pulled a lot of strings to get into the summit, used up some favors, and made some promises,” I tell her. “If we can’t get it done and ready by then … I don’t know what will happen.”
“Grayson, it can’t be that dire.”
“It is that dire,” I say. “Not only that, but I have debt that needs to be paid back soon.”
“What kind of debt are we talking about here?”
I turn my head toward her so we’re looking at each other. “It’s a long story.”
She smiles softly. “I’m pretty sure we’ve got time.”
I chuckle at my own words being thrown back at me.
The sky is nearly dark—not so much that I can’t still see her, but soon the only light we’ll have is from the moon and the stars. I’ve got a small LED light that’s attached to the backpack we can use, but I’ve never changed the battery on it, and I have no idea if it even works, and if it does, how long it will last.
“I started AppInnovate with my cousin,” I say.
“Aaron?” she asks.
“That’s right,” I confirm. His name still makes me flinch. I’m also impressed she remembers because I’ve made it a point to barely mention him. Most of the people currently working for me weren’t there from the startup. And those that were there were part of the whole fiasco, so they don’t like talking about it either.
“Aaron had the idea that we should borrow money from our family before we went to banks to get the company off the ground. Because we barely had a product at the time, banks weren’t really an option.”
“Oh,” Mila says. “Isn’t that one of those things people warn you about? Never borrow money from family?”
“I knew that,” I say. “But I let him convince me to do it.”
She looks away from me, over to the side and then back. “Is that why your brother doesn’t talk to you?”
Mila is so perceptive. Maybe it wouldn’t take a genius to put that together, but it would if someone weren’t listening. Really listening. I don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve had someone in my life that fully listens to me. Someone who hears the things I say and can pick up on the nuances. I don’t know if I’veeverhad someone in my life do that.
“That’s pretty much why,” I admit.
“Did you borrow from him?”
“No,” I say. “He hardly had any money when Aaron and I started the company. Josh is a few years younger than me.”
“Where is he now?”
“Married, living in Sacramento.”
