Page 39 of Return on Love

One of the coders pips in. “That can be done. We worked on parts of it last week. If that's all we do, we can at least have the first level. Maybe even two.”

“And the freelancers are already working on it. I’ll let them know the know the tighter timelines and maybe add a few more.”

“I think we’ll be able to get some reviews on the prototype from the influencers. They should be game for it,” adds Nora. “TheLochnesstard and MagnaHulkness are on board already.”

I shudder just thinking about TheLochnesstard, aka Greg. He’s a creep, but he has a good following, so yeah. Can’t exclude him for creepiness.

“What about the strategy we were working on during the weekend? The one Weber asked you to focus on? If we want the funding, won’t it be sensible to not discount that completely?” asks Gabriel, his gaze oscillating between Ryan and me.

Ryan gives me a slanted look and I nod. “Okay. We can have one person work on it to make it presentable.”

A tiny voice from the phone pops in. I hadn’t even realized we were on call. It must be Molly, the coder from Florida. “I can do it. That is, take it to a level where it doesn’t look like a WIP. Given that everyone is there, it's most efficient for me to handle this if only one person is necessary.”

“Great. Molly, you’re on it then. You already know the vendor who is working with us on this game. Ping me if you need any help.”

“Eva and I can work on the projections and presentation,” says Gabriel. “It’ll be our work to sell the damn thing.”

“Awesome. That’s my team,” Ryan’s voice booms in the room. He stands up and lifts his arms like Princess Leia, rallying her troops of rebels. “C’mon people, let’s get to work and code the shit out of this. I’ll send out the production schedule in a couple of hours, and we’ll touch base every evening to see where we are.” He high-fives everyone as they leave the room. “Feel free to come to me with any issues, doubts, problems or ideas that you may have.” They all nod. Their expressions show that they’re as excited as their boss.

I am the last to leave, ready to hi-five him. But as Gabriel, who’s right ahead of me, leaves, I feel conscious. I want to feel his hand, but I want to hold it, too. Hold it between my hands and feel the warmth radiate through me.

It’s unnecessary because he pulled precisely what he did in grad school. You remember, right? He was hugging everyone and started giving handshakes when my turn came. Yeah. So he stops hi-fiving right when I’m at the door. His hands are not in the air. They’re by his side. Of course, he doesn’t want to even touch me now, after last night’s ‘mistake.’

“Can I talk to you for a moment?” he whispers, and shuts the door.

He sits behind his desk, and I take a seat opposite him. He’s nervous. I know what he wants to talk about. He probably just wants to tell me not to tell anyone about it. This time, I want to beat him to it. Let me take the high ground.

“It’s okay,” I tell him. “Nothing really happened last night. Nothing to remember, at least. Rest assured, I don’t wanna talk about it either. Like ever. It was a bii...iig mistake.” I really overdo it on the big.

“Oh!” His tone and expressions show a surprise. Oops! This was likely not his intended topic of conversation with me. My statement, however, showed that it was still on my mind, even though my words said the opposite. Shit! How dumb can I get? Maybe he wanted to talk about work.

“That’s not what I wanted to discuss.”

Yup. The kiss was not even on his mind. “I’m sorry. Yeah. Of course. So, tell me.” I fumble, stumble and look like a fool.

“Look, I told my team we can do this. But honestly, three weeks is too little time. Is there a chance to get our presentation postponed to the next partner's meeting? Should I talk to Weber about it? I didn’t want to do it without discussing with you first.”

Normally we could do it. But after my discussion with Lily yesterday, I’m not too sure. But it’s an internal thing and even I’m not supposed to know it. Should I tell him? Tough decision.

I decide to be honest. I mean, keeping secrets hasn’t really been working, has it? Maybe if we’d talked about our mutual dislike way back in grad school, things would’ve been different today. Maybe they’d been different even then. Would we have dated? I don’t know. Perhaps. Ugh. This is not the time to get my head wrapped around these stupid thoughts.

“Eva!” Ryan is waving his hand in front of my eyes and brings me back from my reverie. “You with me?”

“Yeah, sorry. I was just thinking. Look, there are some things happening at the firm. I can tell you, but you need to keep it to yourself.”

He nods, his gaze locked on my face. “Of course. You can trust me.”

There it is again. Those eyes, that sincerity in his drawling voice. Difficult not to fall for it and believe it.

I give him a brief about what Lily told me.

“Bernard is in trouble? Can we do anything? What does it mean for MooreGames?”

“I don’t know what trouble Bernard is in. But I’d like to help him if I can. As for your company, if things go south with Bernard, you might not get another chance with the partners. And if your deal goes through, maybe it helps Bernard a little. Who knows?”

Ryan is silent for a moment, probably evaluating what I just said. It’s probably not fair to put him on the stand like this, but what choice do I have?

“Well, funding is important for us. I mean we have to use the freelancers, where we have lower control. I’d like to hire a bigger team. We need it, but Bernard is a good friend. He trusted me when no one did. When even I didn’t have faith in myself. I’m not sure I’d have gone ahead if not for him, and not just because of the money he invested, but because of the confidence he had in me. There’s nothing I won’t do to help him, even if it means working twenty hours a day for the next two weeks.” He pauses. “What if we’re not prepared by the time of the presentation? Would it hurt him more than a no-show?”

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