Just Breathe Trilogy Box Set (44 page)

The next morning I jump right into my regular morning routine. By eight-forty-five, I am walking up to Joe’s penthouse, without Sadie. He insisted on picking me up, but I refused. I need the movement after plugging away half of the early morning on the computer for Raven Media and finalizing things for our meeting — working out got pushed to the side for later today.

With the warm weather, having this somewhat of a business meeting with Joe and his father and knowing that I’ll be with Maggie for the rest of the day taking care of wedding things, I put on a cute floral dress that fits my body and flairs out slightly just below my hips to the tops of my knees. I opted out for jewelry other than my moonstone necklace and I’ve got a simple, white Coach bag and silver strappy Jimmy Choo heels on.

After Anna greets Sadie and me at the door, she leads me into the living room to wait for Joe and Mr. and Mrs. Covelli.

In less than a minute, Joe is walking briskly to greet me. “Why didn’t you let me come and get you?” Joe comments, moving closer.

“I told you that I needed the walk,” I reply impassively.

“You shouldn’t have walked dressed like that,” he contends with a hint of concern. He leans in for a kiss on the cheek while placing his right hand on my hip.

“This is Pasadena and it’s broad daylight, Joe. I’m not going to get mugged or anything. Besides, even if someone tried, you know . . .” I begin before he cuts me off.

“You know what I’m talking about,” he presses.

“I’ll consider it for the future,” I announce, wanting to change the subject and taking a step back, hearing footsteps in the hallway.

“You look lovely, by the way,” he adds sweetly in a low voice.

“Thanks.”

It’s hard to stay miffed with those gorgeous blue eyes staring back at me.

“Don’t you look stunning,” Mrs. Covelli reports with a smile. She continues moving towards me.

This time, ready for a friendly greeting, I initiate a hug first. “Mrs. Covelli, it’s a pleasure to see you again.”

“Please, Emma, call me Elaine,” she reminds.

“My apologies. I’ll do my best to remember Mrs., I mean Elaine,” I return.

“There. See. That’s better,” she generously announces.

“You look lovely as well,” I praise.

She’s wearing a stunning pearl white business suit like dress, golden heels and accented the outfit with a thick gold necklace and matching earrings and bracelet.

“Why, thank you. You’re too kind,” she accepts graciously. “John will be out in just a moment. He had a quick call he needed to take.” Gesturing towards the couches, “Please sit. Would you like anything to drink?”

“No. I’m fine. Thank you.”

“Very well, then. I’ll leave Joe to entertain you while I go check on John and let him know that you’ve arrived.” She glides away in a relaxed, prompt manner.

“Hi,” Joe nervously says, taking a step closer.

“Hi,” I return, doing the same.

A laid-back smile appears on his face. Neither one of us talk. We just stand, staring into each other’s eyes. The silence is not awkward, but the sexual tension is at its peak, even for me with my period.

A man clearing his throat suddenly catches Joe’s and my attention. My head snaps around to see where the sound is coming from. Mr. Covelli is patiently waiting with a grin on his face and his hands clasped in front of him.

“Mr. Covelli,” I address, turning toward him.

“Emma, please call me John,” he corrects cordially.

“Yes. Mr., I mean John,” I reply, taking a few steps towards him to greet him properly. “Thank you for having me back so soon.”

“You are quite welcome. However, this is not my home,” he reminds sweetly.

“Yes. Of course,” I nervously answer while chiding myself. “Where would you like to have our meeting?”

“She cuts right to the chase, Joseph,” Mr. Covelli states.

Joe smirks and I lower my eyes to the floor bashfully for a moment.. “My apologies.”

“No need to apologize, dear,” he reassures. “Besides, Joseph probably has told me more about you than he has of me to you.”

“I know a bit,” I slip.

That’s not what I wanted to say.

Laughing, Mr. Covelli continues, “Good. Hopefully, he’s only shared my good moments.”

“Of course,” I declare.

“Good. Good,” he states. “He’s done the same for you.”

I smile at his comment. “Thank you.”

Mr. Covelli leads the way into the dining room where place settings for four have already been put out. Anna offers us some drinks as small talk erupts while we wait for Mrs. Covelli to join us.

“If you don’t mind me asking, how long have you had your two businesses?” Mr. Covelli investigates.

Pleased with any easy question that I’m willing to answer openly, I explain, “I started Naturally Me, my online wellness blog website, when I was eighteen and my social media management company, Raven Media, when I was twenty.”

“Impressive,” he commends. “How old are you now . . . If you don’t mind me asking?”

“Thank you. I’m twenty-four.”

“Ahh, the same age as Joseph,” Mr. Covelli states openly. “From what Joseph tells me, you never went to college.”

“No sir,” I affirm. “I was homeschooled by my mother until . . .” my voice trails a little.

“I’m sure she’d be very proud of you,” Mrs. Covelli adds, entering the dining room.

“Thank you. I would hope so,” I reply, struggling to maintain a professional demeanor.

This is not the time or place to allow memories of my parents to hinder me.

“How did you get into starting Naturally Me?” Mrs. Covelli inquires.

“I became interested in alternative healing methods from Maggie and her family which spear-launched my desire to learn as much as I could.”

“Wonderful,” Mrs. Covelli comments.

“And, then your second business?” Mr. Covelli reminds me.

“A few years into Naturally Me, I started using social media to promote the website. When my staff and I were bogged down on time, jumping from one platform to another, I created the software to connect all of the accounts and maintain them in a centralized location,” I describe.

Anna starts serving each of us, offering plates of breakfast foods to choose from as our conversation moves forward. I nod my desire or offer
no thank you
to Anna as she offers each choice.

“You created the software?” Mr. Covelli checks.

“Yes sir. With the help of two of Jared’s friends who are also programers and who currently work for Raven. Once the system was in place, we used it to easily promote both Naturally Me and Raven Media.”

“How many clients do you provide services for now?” Mr. Covelli seeks more.

“We have fifteen clients for the social media management services alone, not counting Naturally Me as a client.”

“What other services do you provide?” Mrs. Covelli questions.

“Social media marketing and strategic planning, media development and other advertising and marketing consulting services.”

“Maggie is her COO for Raven and Jared is the same for Naturally Me,” Joe adds.

“Yes,” I agree.

“What are you looking to change with your company?” Mrs. Covelli peruses.

“Joe had the idea that I should rework the current software to offer it as a cloud packaged based service for companies who already have their own social media staff. This way I can offer the same managing benefits to more companies minus the overhaul of directly handling their online marketing platforms and communication. Ultimately, I would like to switch to that service completely.”

“How do Joe, Elaine and I come into play?” Mr. Covelli asks.

I’m sure that Joe has filled his father in on a lot of this information, but perhaps he’s seeking to hear it directly from me.

“The challenge is if there is a demand for the use of the software, and it increases beyond a certain point, which could happen rather quickly, the hosting company’s servers will be bogged down, causing them to run slowly; not to mention the potential security concerns. It would be better to create my own hosting company with my own servers and implement my own security software. That also makes the possibility to provide hosting and additional services as new streams of revenue, if I choose.”

I give Mr. and Mrs. Covelli a moment to process what I’ve said.

“My hesitancy to move forward is that I don’t have the funding to jump right into the ideal situation of having my own servers. I’m not interested in tying up a large portion of my cashflow. Raven Media has enough liquid cash to purchase either a building or the hardware needed outright as well as at least the first year’s worth of salaries, but not both and I’d like to minimize the use of a bank loan to do it.”

I wait a minute or two for Mr. or Mrs. Covelli’s response, but they just sit and nod their heads.

“My apologies. Did I offer too much information?”

“No, no, my dear,” Mr. Covelli sweetly returns. “I’m just factoring certain pieces in my head.”

Mrs. Covelli smiles as if she is doing the same.

“Oh, okay.”

“She literally knows every step that is required to move forward on this pretty quickly. She’s ahead of schedule already on the preliminary software,” Joe praises.

“It sounds like it,” Mr. Covelli concurs, looking pleased.

“Why don’t you just use the current server company and switch once you’re close to that point?” Mrs. Covelli investigates.

“To switch over to a whole new system can take from twenty-four to forty-eight hours to occur, leaving our company and our clients without any services or functionality during that time.”

“That’s a long time to not to conduct proper business,” Mr. Covelli states, showing his comprehension to the potential dilemma.

“Precisely,” I acknowledge.

“If you had the proper funding, how long would this all take to set up?” Mrs. Covelli inquires.

“Since the product is digital, it would all depend on how long it takes to to close on a property, deliver the needed hardware, set it up and hire additional staff. My current team and I should have the software finished before the end of the year . . . after testing and retesting, that is. The first round of testing will start just after Maggie’s and Henry’s wedding.”

“That quick?” Mr. Covelli says with a little surprise.

“They already have the basis for the software. They are just building out the functionality to make it more appealing as well as secure,” Joe includes.

“Interesting,” Mr. Covelli comments while Mrs. Covelli nods in agreement.

“Costs can be offset by placing the servers underground to help with the cooling along with adding or refurbishing the facility to be as green as possible,” Joe adds.

“They’ll be even lower with the new hardware company I have discovered. They use vacuum tubes which reduce the computing temperature significantly while simultaneously increase network speeds,” I mention.

“You didn’t tell me about that,” Joe teasingly stipulates.

“I know,” I playful contend. “I can’t share all of my secrets.”

Joe gives me a look from my statement which forces me to bite the inside of my lip to refrain from our little inside joke.

“Looks like another potential power couple,” Mrs. Covelli muses.

“Indeed,” Mr. Covelli agrees with a widening smile as he looks back and forth to Joe and me.

What does Mrs. Covelli mean by a power couple? Joe and I aren’t a couple.

“Do we have specs and numbers?” Mr. Covelli checks.

“Of course,” Joe returns with a smile. “And, I don’t doubt that they’ve improved with Emma’s discover of the new hardware.”

“I have them right here if you’d like to see them,” I offer, reaching into my purse, grab my attache and handing all three of them a copy.

After a few minutes of silence as they turn the pages to the five-page document, Joe announces with surprise, “You’ve reduced the initial cost by a quarter?”

Smiling, I nod and verify, “The initial investment in a green facility will pay for itself in less than a year, each of the states with properties you are considering offer tax incentives for green technology, and if my calculations are correct, we’ll be over producing power, allowing us to sell the additional energy back to the utility companies.”

“Wow!” Joe exclaims.

“Exciting,” Mrs. Covelli comments. She exchanges a few silent glances with her husband as if they are speaking some kind of code. I can’t make out what they may be saying and watching them is extremely fascinating.

‘Well . . .” Mr. Covelli begins. “Draw up the paperwork, Joseph, and we’ll get started immediately. Whatever is needed, we’ll make it happen. This will definitely be a beneficial investment. Congratulations to you both!”

A little nervous because I wasn’t expecting the Covellis to agree so quickly, my eyes dart back and forth to the three faces smiling at me. “Wait. What?” I stutter, revealing my shock.

Is this really happening?

“Don’t you need more time to consider? I mean . . .” my voice trails.

“We’ve heard plenty of information. Between what Joe told and showed us earlier, Elaine and I were already convinced. Hearing it directly from you solidified the deal,” Mr. Covelli admits, taking his wife’s hand.

“But we need to go over particulars, like percentages and how much and . . .” I anxiously blurt.

“Emma, dear, those are all incidentals. I’m sure we’ll all come to an agreement on those pieces. For now, let’s just celebrate this joint venture. I’m sure we’ll figure out how to make it mutually beneficial,” Mr. Covelli diplomatically commands, dismissing the importance of the details.

“Umm . . . okay,” I stammer, confused by the whirlwind of emotions bouncing inside of me.

“Emma, are you excited about the premier?” Mr. Covelli inquires.

“Yes, but the premier can’t be determined until we establish a facility,” I mention courteously.

“No,” Mr. Covelli chuckles. “I’m referring to the movie premier, with Chris.”

I preform a mental head slap, not catching Mr. Covelli’s redirection of our conversation to another topic. My eyes expand when my brain fully processes what Mr. Covelli meant. “Sure,” I offer a little too impassively.