Page 78 of Love Is an Art
All right, so we have our plan of attack. Tessa stands and moves to the credenza, where the tea and coffee thermoses are set up. “Do you want a tea or a coffee?”
“Coffee. I’ll make mine.” I stand and join her there. I watch as she makes her tea. No paint on her nails now. She’s so close, and yet we’re strangers.
“Should we send the document list now?” I ask.
“No. That will give them time to think about it and possibly doctor documents,” Tessa says. “Let’s give it to them when we get there.”
We take our hot drinks back to the table and sit down.
I pull up another document for her to view. “Here’s my research on what the services should cost. We can compare these numbers to whatever Comidas en Canasta is paying to see if the rates are legitimate or if there are any kickbacks or padding of the contracts.”
Tessa reads it, her hair falling down slightly. She pushes those strands back behind her ear and keeps reading. She finishes the document and puts it in her folder.
“Let’s brainstorm where else you could get kickbacks if you have a food app.” She pulls out a pad and stares at the photographs of New York on the conference rooms walls. “What about the restaurants … asking for an extra kickback to be featured on the app?”
“That seems kind of self-defeating. And I interviewed a sample of restaurants.”
“Did Comidas en Canasta provide the sample?”
“No.” I look at her. “I’m not a complete idiot. I looked on the app, found some, and went to speak to them directly.”
“Hmm.” She tilts her head. “I don’t think you would ask for kickbacks to be featured initially—before the app has proven itself. But based on these returns, the app is now #1, so if you’re not featured, then you’re at a disadvantage. So now there’s an incentive.”
“Good point. All right, I’ll run a comparison and see what new restaurants have been added. And we can go interview some of those. But I don’t see them admitting it if we ask outright.”
“They might. But do you have the pitch deck Comidas en Canasta used initially?”
“Yes.” I pull it up on my laptop. I connect my laptop to the screen and flash it up there. We flip through it.
“Okay, let’s make a pitch deck for a fictional competing company. And ask what they like and don’t like about Comidas en Canasta so we can make our new service better. Do you have any suggestions for a name?”
I glance at her sharply.
She holds my gaze. “Like you said, it’s unlikely that they’re going to come out and admit it if we say we’re there on behalf of Comidas en Canasta.”
We write down the names of the American company equivalents.
“Something with traveling and quick delivery? I doubt thinking of a name is going to be my strong point,” I say.
“Don’t sell yourself short. You didn’t think you could paint, either, and thenDalmations Gone Wildinspired a bidding war.”
Our glances meet, and we share a smile. I still can’t believeDalmations Gone Wildinspired a bidding war. That was a crazy moment. And painting together was … different.
“I hope you didn’t throw it out,” she says.
“No.” I shake my head. “I was impressed that you included your painting in your slide deck. That was a daring move. Weren’t you worried that it would backfire and remind me that you lied to me?”
“I didn’t think you’d forgotten, so I thought I might as well face it head-on.”
I nod. That move had impressed me. “Did you tell Paul you actually painted that?”
“Paul didn’t ask. Thankfully. I highly doubt that possibility would even occur to him. He did like the concept of that slide, though. He wants to use it in another pitch. I’m not sure how I feel about that.”
We’re both silent. I look at the framed photograph of people boating on the Central Park Lake. I’ve never done that, and I’d actually thought—before we broke up—that was something we could do as a couple during the summer.
She taps her pen against her pad. “I’ll start us off. Dinner Delivered. Or, No Dishwashing Necessary.”
“Don’t tell me you thought of that off the top of your head.”
