Page 90 of Sparks Fly
“He told me he ended his company’s contract with Yellow Sparks,” Stella said.
Chelsea looked up. “That’s good news, right?”
“Yes, but he also said his brother knows about us, and of course he isn’t happy about it, so now they’re not speaking,” Stella said. Then, as if it was an afterthought and not the thing that kept her up all night, she added, “He also said he loved me.”
Chelsea stopped beating her eggs and stared at Stella.
“And you said…?”
“That we should take a day or two to make sure this is really what we both want,” Stella said with a sigh. “Like an idiot.”
“Well, it’s been, what? Twelve hours? What are you thinking?” Chelsea asked.
“I love him.” Stella blew out on a breath. “I think I love him.”
Chelsea cocked her head. “Okay, so maybe go tell him that? Clearly the ball’s in your court.”
“I know,” Stella groaned. “But I mean, am I crazy? Isn’t ittoo soon? Don’t people usually date someone for, like, I don’t know, three months before they say theLword?”
“I don’t know because, surprise, surprise, this is one thing I don’t have that much experience with either,” Chelsea said. “But I don’t think falling in love has a set schedule. I think when you know you know.”
She shrugged. “But also, didn’t your parents fall in love in like a week?”
“A day,” Stella said, rolling her eyes. “But yes, I see your point. Thank you.”
“No problem,” Chelsea said, beaming. “Now we’re really even.”
Stella scrunched up her napkin and threw it at Chelsea, who easily ducked out of the way, laughing.
Forty-Five
Somehow Max was resisting calling or texting Stella.
He knew that all he could do now was give her the space to come to the same conclusion he had. In the meantime, he still had other things to deal with. For starters, his father had called him to ask if he’d spoken to Miles and what was going on with the company. Max was surprised Miles hadn’t already told their parents the whole story about him and Stella. He decided to take the opportunity to get ahead of it and told him the truth himself.
His father wasn’t exactly thrilled to hear about Max’s involvement in the potential downfall of his brother’s company, but he also acknowledged this was a hole Miles had dug himself into, and he’d need to dig himself out. Still, Max had no doubt that if it came to it, their parents would at least give Miles the shovel he needed to get out of this mess—that is, a very large check.
Max then went to the office and tried his best to work as if it was a regular day and not periodically check his phone.
At some time around lunch, Rashid stopped by his office and dropped a folder onto his desk.
“Remember when you asked about AI medical tech?” Rashid said by way of greeting.
Max picked up the folder and opened it. In the midst of everything else, he’d forgotten that he made this ask of Rashid. It was after he’d told Stella about his mom. He’d gotten to thinking about how he and Miles were tested for a heart condition and wondered why his mother hadn’t gotten the same.
“What’d you find?” Max asked as he flipped through the pages.
“A lot, actually,” Rashid said. “There’s some good tech already out there, but of course most of that exists for the Western world, not the islands in the Caribbean or developing countries. I think if you wanted to pursue this, there’s definitely a gap there, and using our AI tech could provide research grants as well, offsetting the costs for some hospitals that may not be able to afford it otherwise.”
Max looked up at that. “Do we have anyone here who’s worked in medical tech before? This isn’t my expertise.”
“Mine either,” Rashid said. “But I think this might be worth expanding for. If we find the right person to head this up, it could be a big move for us. Plus, the good PR wouldn’t hurt.”
Max nodded. “Can you start looking into people? I’ll handle the interviewing myself. I think I want to be hands-on for this one.”
“You mean you’re going to come out from behind that desk and actually work?” Rashid asked. He clutched a hand to his chest. “I’m shocked.”
“Fuck you,” Max said. He continued leafing through the papers. “Do you need this back? I want to read through it all.”
