Page 29 of Heart Strings & Hotlines
She stops at a fruit stand and lifts a peach to her nose. Her chest rises as she inhales deeply, and her lashes flutter closed. My gaze lingers on Lottie’s throat while she makes small talk with the young girl standing behind the table.
Peace. She’s the perfect representation of it.
I stare, transfixed as Lottie places four peaches into a canvas bag. I’m handing the young girl a twenty before I realize what I’m doing.
“I can pay for my own fruit, Thane.”
I shrug, then tug on my earlobe.
“Too late.” I take the canvas bag from her shoulder and tell the girl to keep the change.
“You really don’t respect boundaries,” she mutters.
I have no idea what she means by that, so I ignore it.
“Why is your father spiteful?” I ask again.
Her gaze on me sends blasts of heat across my skin. She appears to be the only one who doesn’t make me want to claw at my own skin, so I face her head-on.
Her sigh is heavy, as though all her history rests on her shoulders. “My father had very specific plans for me. They included marrying a man of his choosing to increase his wealth and social standing.” She peers up at me with a small V forming between her brows. “Very archaic, right? He wanted me to be a Stepford wife and truly believed that was my only job in life. But I had other ideas. I took his missteps and failures as my father and turned them into a million-dollar company in less than three years.”
“What would he do with your company anyway?” My skin itches at the thought of her father forcing her hand at anything, especially marriage. But more importantly, I need to know if he understands exactly how valuable her assessments could be for everything from job interviews, to dating, grocery shopping, dream analysis, time management, movie selections, flight seating, even perfume creation. The possibilities are endless.
But there’s a dark side to her tech too. It would make discrimination easier and less traceable, and my mind recalls all the ways it could be misused while I stare at her.
“I honestly don’t know.” Lottie’s voice drags me out of the mind tunnel I’d dug. “Destroy it would be my guess.”
I don’t believe that’s why. Does she have any idea how her test is different than something like Myers-Briggs or CliftonStrengths? Lottie’s algorithm brings a human element to it like I’ve never seen before.
“And the other companies that want you to sell? What will they do with it?”
“I’ve had everyone from a company working on college roommates to dating apps. Even some government agency reached out, but they wouldn’t tell me what they wanted it for.”
She stares straight ahead as she speaks, but I’m glued to her face, fearful I’ll miss a reaction.
“Do you plan to sell?” We walk on the very edge of the market until we hit the end, then turn left and continue around the perimeter.
“That was never my goal. This is…it’s my baby. It’s something I created on my own and turned into a success. It’s the first thing I ever truly chose for myself, and I don’t know what I would do if I sold. My entire personality is tied to the success of my company right now. I’m sure that probably makes no sense to someone like you.”
“Someone like me?”
“I don’t mean that in a bad way at all. I simply mean, I’ve heard you’ve had many very successful accomplishments in your life, and you started at a very young age. For me, it’s different.”
“Why? Why is it different?”
Every time she stops speaking, it’s like ending a book on a cliffhanger. I simply must know what’s coming next.
She lifts her gaze to mine, and my heart stops for 3.2 seconds.
She bites on her bottom lip, drawing my attention to it, and the blood rushes through my veins, throbbing in my chest.
“I was adrift for a long time in my life. It’s hard growing up not realizing that you have options, or that you’re not the cookie-cutter version of yourself that everyone in your life formed you into. I struggled to find my value and my place in the world.”
Her eyes grow wide enough to show the white all around her light blue irises, and she bites on her lip again.
“I can’t believe I just spewed my history to a near stranger.” She’s laughing, but the sound doesn’t match the tightness around her eyes.
“I’m not a stranger. I’m your neighbor.”
