Page 26 of Totally Played
“Yeah, no, it’s cool. Who knows, maybe Tony will be better by then and he’ll come, too, and you can get another shot at that date-date.”
“Sure,” he says, and I hate that I even suggested it. It’s not like I have a claim on him. He was supposed to be Tony’s date, and sure, we’re friends now, and there is no rule saying I can’t be friends with the guy my brother’s dating. Except even the thought of Tony dating Ash makes me feel icky inside. Fuck, why is it the one person I wish I could talk to about this is the one person I can’t talk to about it? Rachel tried to be supportive. She agreed, it was probably just us being fast friends that threw me. I was always so shy without Tony with me, and so often growing up, most of my friends were Tony’s friends first.
Ash is different. He doesn’t even know Tony, and the more I get to know Ash, the more the things Tony wouldn’t like startto emerge. Ash loves plums, he screams at the television during games, he plays claw machines for silly little prizes, and moans when he eats. Tony hates arcade games like the claw machine and will head right for the dodgem cars at fairs. Cosmo drives him nuts with his screaming at the television, and a few months back, we had to move tables at Riverside Barbeque because the woman behind us was making noises while she ate. I couldn’t even hear her, but Tony insisted she was basically having a food orgasm in his ear.
“How is Tony doing?” Ash asks, and I regret bringing him up at all.
“Getting there. He’s been mostly sleeping. Benadryl will do that.” I laugh.
“I should take some before getting on my flight tomorrow night.”
“Your flight?”
“Yeah, I have to go to Belgium after game night at Tim and Lion’s.”
“Wow, Belgium. You must love seeing so many different places in the world,” I say.
He shrugs. “Actually, I spend most of my time in rental cars, hotels, and high-rises. I’ve been to Belgium twice before and I can’t say I know that much about the place, really.”
“How do you build relationships with these investors if you don’t spend time getting to know their country?”
“I’m there to get them interested in our tech.”
“And what better way to do that than to connect the tech to them personally? Who is it you’re seeing in Belgium?”
He hesitates like he might not be able to say, then leans in.
“The DeVos family.”
“Are they spies?” I whisper back.
He laughs.
“No. But you never know who might be listening.”
I doubt anyone on this street is even remotely interested in the fact that Ash is about to fly off to Belgium to meet with the DeVos family to convince them to invest in the tech company he works for, but who am I to know? Maybe Savannah is full of tech startups looking for foreign investors.
I grab out my phone and do a quick search online. It takes a few taps following different links as I go down the DeVos rabbit hole.
“Oh, this is interesting,” I say as we reach the restaurant, and he holds the door open for me to pass.
“What is?”
“The CEO used to be a farmer.”
“I know, they are one of the biggest AgTech investors in the world, that’s why we want them to up their investment in us.”
“Did you know the farm she still owns recently bred their Belgium Blues with Red Polls?”
“No.”
“Calvin, Ashley, move along,” Mom says, and we hurry to catch up as the waitress leads them to our booth. Ash sits right beside me, and I show him what I found.
“Look, there is a photo of her visiting the farm only a week ago. Tell her you’d love to see it.”
“My boss is sending one of our guys to the farms, trailing the sensors to get some testimonials for me to show her. But maybe if I talk to her farmers about them, show them the testimonials, and get their take on the sensors, it might help convince her to invest more.”
“Trust me, she’s not going to pass up a chance to visit the farm.”
