Page 8 of Sunset Serenade
She cracked a smile. “A revolution?”
Craig couldn’t help but laugh at himself again. “Sorry, sometimes I spend too much time with the PR department and start talking like one of them. I don’t mean to. Let me start over.
“I’m not a business guy. I’m a coder. In college, me and my roommate Barnabas – Barney – started a project. Something for fun. We used a set of questions from a psychology paper about long-lasting relationships to pair up some of our classmates for blind dates. We played matchmaker, just for fun, and people loved it. Before long, it spread across the campus, and long story short, we made it into a dating app called SerenadeMe.”
“Ah. A dating app.”
“Yes, with a twist. Our clients don’t browse profiles. Our system takes their responses and finds them a match.”
“A matchmaker dating app?” Rose looked down. “I think I have heard of this.”
Now they were getting somewhere. “It’s not as hokey as it sounds, I swear.”
She laughed. “It doesn’t sound hokey.”
“I know it doesn’t compare to what you do – research and actual scholarship – but with the app, we try to keep it based in reality. We get input from psychologists and relationship therapists. The matching technology – we’ve fine-tuned it, I guess. I mean, I don’t guess, we have.” Not going well.Focus. “For the most part, it works, but when I saw you on the news now – I mean, you justgetit. You get it in a way none of our consultants ever have.”
Rose took a deep breath. “Okay, listen, you should know that—”
“Wait! Before you say no. The reason we need you is because the company went public two years ago, and now the board wants to sell. We have a potential buyer, but he’s not convinced we have anything special. Anything elite to justify the high price tag we’re asking.”
Anything to justify their high stock price, anything to prevent it from plummeting like the article inThe Timessaid it would…
The lid to her coffee popped off, launching into the air and onto the sidewalk. “Oh my! I always have a death grip on my coffee,” she said. “Sorry.”
They both crouched down, almost bumping heads, with Rose pulling away at the last second. “I’m going to disappoint you, I’m afraid.” She put the lid back on and straightened. “As much as I’d love to help, I can’t do anything elite. The truth is…” Her voice trailed off, and she scratched her head. “When I went on that interview today–”
“I can get you a company car. Flights – we’ll pay for flights. Whatever you want.”
“I actually need to catch a flight right now,” she said, looking at her wrist. “Oh. Forgot I don’t have my watch today. Ha.”
“You don’t live in the city?” He straightened his shoulders. “We have free apartments for our employees downtown. They’re nothing fancy, but it’s a nice place to relax if you need to come in for a meeting.”
“I live on Orcas Island, actually. That’s why this can’t happen. Otherwise, I wouldtotallylove to work for you. Okay, thanks, got to run!”
She started walking again and Craig went after her. “I’m on Orcas all the time! I’m renovating a house for my parents’ retirement. It’s a great place – easy to travel here, actually. We’ll cover all the flights you need. You can work from home most of the time, if you prefer. Problem solved.”
She looked at him, scrunching her nose and pressing her lips together.
This was it. His last chance. It felt like the company was days away from falling apart, days left before the investors and employees and the board realized he was a fraud. That he’d been faking it this entire time.
Maybe it wasn’t that close, but it felt that close, and the results would be disastrous.
And here! The solution had just walked into his life. HeknewRose was the answer. She felt so familiar, so genuine. Like she’d been part of his life – and his business – all this time.
He sighed and straightened his shoulders. “It won’t be the sort of work you’re used to; I know that. But you might still find it interesting. You’ll pilot a new program for our clients. Our elite clients – you’ll be their personal matchmaker. It’s not like you’ll go in blind – we have a ton of data. Tons of questions. It’ll all be at your fingertips.” He pulled out his card and handed it to her. “Here. I’m not going to pressure you. I’m a terrible salesman, and I apologize for that, but – I had to try, because you’re remarkable, and I think you’d take us to the next level.”
She laughed. “Yeah, thank you. Sorry, I just have to go.”
“Think it over and give me a call. That’s all I ask.”
She accepted his card and stared at it in her hand for a beat. “Okay. I’ll think about it.”
“Thanks, Dr. Woodson.”
“Please.” She shook her head. “Call me Rose.”
Craig grinned. Down to earth, too. “Rose. I look forward to hearing from you.”
