Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 98226 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 491(@200wpm)___ 393(@250wpm)___ 327(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98226 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 491(@200wpm)___ 393(@250wpm)___ 327(@300wpm)
I shrugged. “I suppose that’s one way of looking at it.”
“And what’s yours?”
“I don’t know that I really have an opinion on it.”
Theo rested his elbows on the table, eyes narrowing as he leaned in closer. “Why do you do that?”
I frowned. “Do what?”
“Shy away from saying what you believe, what you want. It’s like you want to hide from anyone who shows a centimeter of interest in you, like you couldn’t possibly have anything of merit to add to a conversation.”
My heart stopped in my chest, the quiet skip of the beat echoing in my ears as I stared back at Theo. It was unnerving, to be pegged down that way by someone who barely knew me.
I cleared my throat. “I just prefer to listen.”
Theo watched me like he didn’t believe that was all there was to it, but then after a moment, he sat back again, appraising me. “A lot of people could learn to listen more. Myself included.”
Theo and I drank our coffee and ate our breakfast in silence for a bit, and then he relaxed more in his chair, crossing an ankle over the opposite knee the way I’d found him earlier this morning.
“Your sister, is she older?”
I shook my head. “Younger. She’s just finished her first year at CU.”
“And that’s where you just graduated?”
“Mm-hmm,” I said. “She’s there on a volleyball scholarship. I don’t know if you’re into that sport, but she’s incredible. She’s what they call a libero. It’s a defensive position, lots of diving for the ball and stuff. It’s amazing to watch her when she’s really in her element.”
“Do you play?”
“Oh, God no.” I laughed at the audacity. “My mom used to, though. And my dad is a sports nut, so I think my sister was his saving grace, since he doesn’t have any sons. They’ve been Juniper’s biggest fan for as long as I can remember, putting her in summer camps, doing whatever it took to get her to all-state tournaments, buying her all the best gear.”
“And what about you?”
“Oh, I’m her biggest fan, too. I love watching—”
“No, I mean, what about you,” Theo said again. “Have your parents been big supporters of your photography?”
“Oh,” I said, looking down at the table and pulling my long hair off my neck. “Yeah. I mean, they know I love photography, but I just think it’s not as exciting as volleyball, you know?” I shrugged on a laugh. “Not like they can cheer me on at games or anything.”
I didn’t like the way Theo’s eyes watched me then, his brows pinched together above them, more questions dancing in his eyes that I hoped he wouldn’t ask.
“What about you?” I asked, sipping my coffee. “Where did you go to school?”
“Harvard.”
I almost spit out my coffee, which earned me a chuckle from Theo as he handed me a napkin. “You went to Harvard?”
“Don’t get too excited,” he said. “I dropped out after my first year.”
My eyes bulged. “What? Why?”
“Because it was a waste of time.”
I blinked.
“I didn’t need to be sitting in classrooms all day, listening to washed-up professors try to tell me how to make a career,” he said. “Nor did I want to be there. I had no desire to be in honor societies or fraternities or to spend my day throwing frisbee or whatever else my friends were doing. I was too obsessed with coding and database management to care about anything else. It was the early 2000s. The Internet and all it had to offer was bursting with possibility. And I was wasting my time and my potential trying to follow society’s suggested path.” Theo shrugged. “And after one year, I was tired of it.”
“What did your parents say?”
Theo chuckled at the horror in my voice. “Oh, they weren’t happy. But I know my father better than anyone, and I knew the only way to get him to understand my vision was to just get it done so he could see it in actuality. He’s not someone who cheers on a dream,” he said. “He cheers on success.”
“So you just quit school and…?”
“I started building Envizion. My roommate had the same desire I did. And while, unlike me, he stayed enrolled in school, we spent all our free time working on the business plan and coding and engineering what we had in mind for email marketing. We were especially proficient with server management, which set us apart in those early explorative years.” He smirked. “I know you’re too young to remember this, but there was a time when there was no service for email marketing. So as ancient as it sounds now, it was innovative then.”
“I’m not that young,” I deflected, but I didn’t miss how young I sounded trying to defend myself. From my research on Theo after I found out who he was, I knew he was thirty-three — born on December 31st at 11:58 p.m., in 1986 at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan. There was an old newspaper article about all the New Year’s Eve and New Year babies, about the race to be the first baby born in 1987.