his phone, tapping at it a few times.
“Why? A baby is a baby is a baby. They cry, poop, and pee.”
I thinned my lips. “Does Marika know your views on babies?”
His eyes widened, and he ran to the door, closing it quickly.
“Shh. Keep it down. I don’t want people knowing about that.”
I shook my head. “Rock already knows.”
“But not everyone else. Anyway, I’m not here to talk about Marika. I heard you were looking for investors for your computer geek start-up.”
“Social Glass. It’s virtual reality.”
“Then, yes, sign me up. VR gaming is amazing.”
I shook my head. “It won’t have anything to do with gaming. It’s to help special needs kids understand their environment. Something they can work with teachers and therapists to help them navigate the world without the distractions that are currently around them.”
His eyes glazed over, and I knew my brother had stopped listening.
“I’m glad you want to help, but I’m looking for investors. Big investors.”
“Call Hamish. I don’t think they make them bigger than him.”
I tapped the desk with my finger. This office was small, but I didn’t require a big office. My brother was nice enough to lend me the room in his resort while I worked on my new venture.
I had a company out west working on apps to handle business efficiency. Different apps for different parts of a company that could be tailored to the specific company’s needs, ranging from helping HR to improving sales.
But the VR technology was advancing, and I wanted to use it differently and in a way to help people. Just about everyone in VR was looking at it for gaming and other entertainment purposes. A few were even looking to help doctors learn medicine.
But I wanted to push it further. To do more. I needed investments to research and develop a few ideas of mine. If I were back at my company out west, I’d have to focus on current projects and not getting the time I needed to work on VR. I let the CTO run things while I took a break in Virginia to work on my idea and seek investors.
“I thought about reaching out to him, but we do that with everything. He helped you and Rock and was even one of my first investors. Sure, he has all the money in the world, but I don’t want him to think the only reason we have him in our lives is for money.”
I met him at university. I had landed a scholarship to MIT. He had gone to Harvard, which was right down the road. We got to talking at a few parties and struck up a friendship.
I introduced him to Rock, and sometimes I thought Rock liked Hamish Blackwell more than me. Even James had a little man-crush on him.
“I see your point. Maybe we could come up with some ideas over lunch. I hear Laura’s making steamed blue crab.”
My mouth watered.
“I can’t. I have an interview that Rock set up for a new assistant.”
“Reschedule. I know how much you love crab.”
Why did I have to love food so much? I rolled my lips over my teeth and shook my head. “Stop it. Stop tempting me.”
He meandered toward the door and said, “And she’s making chocolate chip cookies for dessert.”
Ugh.
“I hate you.”
“Love you too, Big Brother.” He winked before opening and then closing the door as he left.
My stomach grumbled as I stared at the closed door. I was hungry. Maybe I could run over to the kitchen of The Blue Chip, the in-house restaurant, and grab a cookie. Laura wouldn’t mind.
I got up when I heard a knock at the door, the same moment my phone buzzed with a text message. Glancing at my phone on the desk, the message said my interviewee was here.
No time for a cookie.
“Please, come in,” I called out as I sat back down.
The door opened, and as I glanced up, I stopped pulling my chair into the desk.
It was Julia.
She stared at me, holding something behind her back.
“I’m, uh . . . here for the interview.”
She wanted to be my assistant? That was a bad idea. I couldn’t work next to her every day and not blurt out that I was the father of her child.
I nodded and waved for her to come inside. I wasn’t going to hire her, but I had to perform the interview.
She wore a short sundress and looked adorable. It wasn’t appropriate for me to stare at her legs, but it also wasn’t