AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But she sounded so desperate. I can’t really leave her like that, can I? Wham, bam, wham, wham, bam, bam, thank you, ma’am?
Oh, fuck it.
I pick up my phone and call her before I can change my mind. As soon as she answers, I say, “I can’t believe you made me check my voicemail.”
“I know, right? That’s the worst,” she says.
We both laugh, and it’s the first time since we were on the plane to Lima that things have felt right. Brushing that thought aside, I say, “How’ve you been?”
“Good, yeah,” she says. “Well, actually not that good, really. I think I caught your insomnia. And we got word today that Skip is going to sue the foundation so … that’s not awesome. I’m also not super popular with my team on account of coming home empty-handed. Well, I bought them all little trinkets from the airport, but … you know. Anyway, that’s not why I called. I do have a reason. It wasn’t like I just wanted to hear your voice or something.”
“I’m sure it wasn’t,” I say, realizing I’ve been listening to her ramble on with my eyes closed so I can concentrate on every word. “You said you have a business question. How can I help?”
“So, obviously, we’re still trying to figure out a way to get funding, and I realized that people who have money know how to get more of it.”
“That’s true. We do.”
“I’m hoping you can tell me how, so I can get some and keep the foundation going.”
“You mean keep your project going,” I say.
“No, the whole thing. I really want to help everyone out, which means I need to come up with a cool billion, so not exactly the kind of money you get from hosting bake sales or setting up a PleaseFundMe page.”
“True,” I answer. “A billion, huh? That’s … a lot trickier than coming up with a hundred million, which is what you need for your team.”
“Yes, it’s ten times harder. We’ve been cold-calling billionaires, but you can guess how well that’s going over.” Gwen pauses, then adds, “I’m hoping you might have a couple of ideas that you’d be willing to share?”
Letting out a heavy sigh, I say, “Gwen, I wish I did. Honestly, it’s just so much money that you’re talking about. So, so much.”
“Well, we don’t need all of it upfront. Just enough to get us all through the next year. That would give us time to keep fundraising.”
Oh God, she sounds so damn hopeful, it’s breaking my cold, cold heart. “Off the top of my head, I can’t think of a way to do it, but I promise if I come up with something, I’ll let you know.”
“Sure,” she says, her tone overly bright. “Thank you. That’s all I can ask.”
“Okay.”
“I should let you go.”
“Yeah, I should probably go, because … business calls and whatnot.” Business calls? That didn’t even make any sense. “I’m … um, in Dallas at the moment.”
“Oh, Dallas, right. Is it going to work out then? Buying the team?”
I freeze for a second, my mind scrambling.
Before I can try to pretend I don’t know what she’s talking about, Gwen says, “I figured out that you weren’t just talking about a hypothetical.”
“You did?”
“Yeah, you left a pretty clear trail of breadcrumbs.”
Shit. “I guess I did.”
“Don’t worry. I haven’t told anyone. Well, my best friend Allie knows, but I didn’t tell her. She saw my list of pros and cons on my desk, but don’t worry because I didn’t write the team name down on it so she doesn’t have enough to go public with the story before the deal is done,” Gwen says. “Which I’m assuming has happened already since you’re in Dallas.”
“Not yet, but it’ll be done in a couple of hours.”
“Right, well, congratulations. I hope it’s what you want.”
