the way, and they paid off big,” Rafi said.
“TrakChange overran costs by four and a half million and we came thiiiis close to a partner revolt.” Beth pinched her fingers together. “Do we want to go through that again for this bunch?”
“We could coach them through—”
Beth’s phone buzzed right then, cutting him off. She checked the screen, frowned, and put the phone back down. Rafi lifted his eyebrows at her.
“Somebody with a San Francisco area code’s been calling all day. I thought it might be the BlitzCom people, but they’re not leaving messages.”
“So, pick up or block the number.”
“Yes, Mr. Gutierrez. Right away, Mr. Gutierrez.”
Rafael tossed his bottle cap at her. Beth lifted her bottle to block it. The cap pinged off its side and dropped onto the couch.
Beth sipped her water and glanced at the clock again. 4:28. Dana was due to text her at four thirty. That was their standing agreement. Four thirty, every day. No exceptions.
It was eleven years since the day at Bloomingdale’s where the worst possible thing had almost happened. After that, Beth had wanted to lock all the doors of her life and never let the outside world near her daughter again. She’d wanted to kill the man, because of who he was and who he might have been.
She’d almost done it too, although that wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was how very right it felt.
Since then, things had gotten better. The move to Chicago had helped. So had the fact that she’d worked out a series of necessary steps, defined them, and organized them. The daily contact was one step. It gave Dana some freedom and allowed Beth to keep breathing.
Beth pulled her mind back to the problem in front of her. “Rafi, the AllHome guys are trying to break into health care, and they haven’t even started to think through the legal concerns or a real system of care for people at their lowest and most vulnerable.”
Rafi eyed her over the rim of his bottle. “But you know who has?”
“HomeAssist,” she answered immediately. “I’ve met their developers, and I’ve been watching their proof of concept advance for a couple of months now. I think they’ve got the scope and vision to actually pull this off.”
Beth checked the clock again. 4:29. She laid her hand on her phone so she’d feel the buzz.
“And it just so happens that HomeAssist has a woman-led development team,” Beth told him. “And their CEO is Megan Reese, who just got named one of the twenty-five Best and Brightest by ChicagoLand Entrepreneur magazine. They’d be perfect for the Excelsior Fund.”
Excelsior was still in the planning stage, and the plans were mostly Beth’s. It was a venture capital fund specifically for women from outside the traditional tech sector who wanted to get into the tech sector. Their motto: The real talent’s still out there.
Rafi blew out a sigh. “How long have you had this waiting in the wings?”
“Since I got a look at the nonplans of that little huddle of Stanford tech bros who could barely get their own laptops working.” She leaned forward, elbows on her knees. “Rafi, Excelsior will pay off, and HomeAssist is a perfect vehicle. It’s ambitious, it’s sexy, and it’s timely. There is an appetite for diversity and for VC to show it’s got a heart as well as a wallet.”
Rafi paused, but then he nodded. “Two meetings,” he said. “And two phone calls to gauge initial interest and show I’m behind the idea. After that, we’ll see what bubbles up.” He raised his bottle and drank another swallow.
“Done.” Beth raised her own bottle in answer.
The phone buzzed. Beth snatched it up. Face ID made the screen light up and displayed the message: Dana had taken a meta-selfie of herself in the front hall mirror. In the background, her best friend, Chelsea, hoisted two cups of bubble tea. The caption read:
4:30 oclock & all swells @home w Chelsea.
Beth put the phone down and took a very long swallow of sparkling water. Rafi drained his own bottle and pitched it into the recycle bin. “Okay, I need to get going. I’ve got a dinner tonight and Angela’s on her tenth text. Where are we with BlitzCom? We ready for them?”
“I think so, but this one is really Zoe’s baby.”
“Is she ready?”
“She’s completely ready. Tell Angie I said hi.” Beth retrieved her shoes. He waved in acknowledgment, and Beth headed for her own office down the hall.
As soon as she had her door closed,