Page 51 of Knocked Up by my Best Friend's Brothers

Yet this is about more than just our professional relationship here. Christa is involved with us on a much deeper, personal level. What happened at Perry-Sage is impacting that as well, which is why I’m fine digging into it without getting Christa involved.

Even if I’m not the one who’s doing the digging.

15

Christa

Constant tension exists between the Hawthorne men and me.

Not being able to speak to Teagan about it does not make anything easier, but I have to respect her decision. I have to trust Tony and her brothers when they tell me she’ll come around. I just miss her.

And the way I tried to leave…

I’m carrying around a sense of guilt I can’t quite shake. Cassius, River, and Nathan have been patient, caring, and kind, while I’ve been holding on to my secrets.

“The crypto app is coming along nicely,” I say, trying to keep my mind on work while I present a preliminary version of the phone application on a large screen in the demo room.

The Hawthorne brothers sit behind the conference table, curiously watching me as I plug everything in and double-check the interactive slides before I activate their touch screens.

“We can play around with it?” River asks, eyes twinkling with childlike excitement.

“You can but give me a few minutes to introduce and explain the features. You’ll each have your own portion of the large screen for the testing part; I promise.”

“By all means. I won’t stand in your way.”

“How close are we to completion?” Cassius asks.

“Anywhere between four to six months, I’d say,” I reply. “It depends on how quickly we go can test the beta systems and how many snags we find and have to fix after it.”

“Colin is handling the beta testers’ recruitment, right?” River asks.

“Yes. He’s got a lot of knowledge about the Portland-based crypto community.”

“Either way, four to six months sounds better than we originally expected, doesn’t it?” Nathan asks his brothers. He’s given a round of subtle nods in response.

I go through the product presentation, one slide at a time, taking long sips of ice-cold water every chance I get. My stomach continues to revolt at the thought of food. I really need to get my stress under control.

“Here comes the fun part,” I say, once I’m done with the key features and the issues Colin and I fixed since I took over the department. “Unless you have any questions.”

“So far, so good,” Cassius replies. “Do you anticipate any issues before the beta version is ready for trial?”

“Nothing our techs can’t iron out. Just minor functionality and accessibility cracks that have already been flagged. It’s mostly from the code,” I say. “I asked Colin to look into a couple of online seminars for that particular software, just in case.”

“But you have it under control,” River says.

I give him a confident smile. “Always.”

“Then let’s move on to the app testing. What version is this?”

“I guess you could say it’s the alpha,” I explain. “Although to be honest, it has most of the functionalities we already wanted for the beta, so…”

“An alpha-beta?” River quips.

“A beta-ish alpha,” Cassius chimes in.

I laugh wholeheartedly, and for the first time in quite a while, I can feel the air clearing. My breath and my mind are lighter, too.

“Alright, I’m activating your touch screens now,” I say. “Have at it. You’ll notice the interface is similar to other crypto apps, but it has its own design.”

---