‘Ginger shot?’ Ella’s head popped out from behind the fridge door. She was wearing a sky-blue blouse with daisies on it, her red hair in a side ponytail, holding out a tiny bottle to me.
I eyed it warily. ‘If you want me to be able to sit through a whole board meeting, you might want to rethink that offer.’
‘Right.’ She blinked. ‘Maybe you should try a peppermint tea instead. How was your weekend?’
I thought about my night with Daniel, and my fruitless attempts at writing a speech. Even with Rory’s pep talk, the moment I put pen to paper my mind had gone blank.
‘Nothing much to report. How about you?’
Ella was always ready for office small talk after the weekend. ‘Well, we started off the weekend with parkrun and pastries, and then on Sunday we’d booked a roast dinner in Clapham after we saw it during our nightly scroll on TikTok …’
I let her chatter on, hoping her optimism would wash over me. It might not have been in my own personal realm of possibility, but it was refreshing nonetheless.
‘And then last night we started a rewatch of The Vampire Diaries.’ She finally came to a stop, pausing to neck back her own ginger shot.
‘Team Damon all the way.’
Ella pouted. ‘But Stefan is the better partner.’
God. I couldn’t even choose a suitable fictional vampire.
‘Anyway, I’ll see you in there. I need to go and prep my presentation.’ Ella hurried off to the boardroom, having the decency to look at least a little bit sheepish. I was fully prepared for her to shove Link down our throats again this morning. I wasn’t sure how many more times I could say no without caving in to my deepest, darkest thoughts.
‘Boo.’ Rory appeared behind me, making me jump. ‘Penny for your thoughts?’
‘Like I haven’t heard that one before.’
He shrugged. ‘It’s an oldie but a goldie. Feeling ready for this meeting?’
It was our usual meeting with Harriet, Ella, and Andrew, but today felt all the more important. Sure, the crisis that we’d thought was a crisis was a little bit less of a crisis now (a mouthful, I know), but we still had a tarnished reputation. There was the odd tweet about how we should never have launched coming through every now and then. And despite Ella’s sunshine outlook and her ginger shots, we were in dire need of some financial support.
‘As I’ll ever be.’ I handed him a coffee which he took, gratefully. He was zoned in on his phone screen.
‘Another Twitter mob coming for the app?’
Rory snorted. ‘Thankfully not. I’m in a virtual Uno war with Maeve, and I feel like I’m jinxing us if I walk through those doors without a strong lead.’
A hot poker stabbed at my heart. Uno war. Maeve.
‘I highly doubt the future of Level depends on whether or not you win a game of Uno.’
I watched him tapping the screen. This was my chance.
‘About Maeve …’
He spoke over my feeble attempt to get some answers. ‘Boom. Take that, Maeve.’
My phone buzzed in my back pocket.
Dad: Just wanted to say thank you. Went on my third date last night and it definitely beats staying in the house.
Awkward moment with Rory aside, I couldn’t help but smile, my faith in Level momentarily restored.
Me: I’m happy for you, Dad. See you soon?
He responded with a thumbs up. I had to admit, I was extremely intrigued by all of this. How had my dad got it right on the first try? I texted Joe, asking him if he’d heard the update, before sliding my phone back into my pocket and steeling myself for the meeting ahead.
***
‘Even though what we’re really doing right now is looking for investors, I still think it’s wise for us to make friends in the right places and pursue more public partnerships.’ Ella clicked to the next slide on her presentation. ‘This is SafeTI, an app that’s making sexual health check-ups more available, and less of a taboo topic. I know you two like to invest in companies that align with the aims of Level, so I thought that this would be a pretty good fit.’
She clicked through some more slides, showing us the design for the app and pitching how it worked. Ella was absolutely spot on when it came to finding companies whose values aligned with ours. Which made the whole Link debacle even more ridiculous.
‘It takes the hush-hush element out of finding a clinic, and compiles all the ways you might want to get tested – an in-person appointment, getting a discreet kit through the post …’ She pointed to a screenshot of the app’s hub. ‘And it’s working with local councils and healthcare centres to share all results in the safety of the app. No one needs to worry about a text popping up whilst they’re in the middle of a meeting, because they get a discreet message telling them that their results are ready within the app. There’s also a section about safe sex, including contraception demos, and a breakdown of treatment if people do test positive. Making sure people have all the information and none of the stigma, so that getting an STI screening doesn’t have to be a scary or embarrassing experience.’
She finished the pitch, sitting back in her seat and looking – even if she would never admit it – smug that she’d made a good choice.
‘Well, I think that’s a great idea.’ Rory had been jotting down notes. ‘Could we reach out and ask about some kind of cross-promotion?’
‘I think so. I’ve been chatting with their team about how we might be able to include messaging on our app.’
I was pleasantly surprised. Maybe people hadn’t been turned off our company forever.
Harriet looked up from her screen. ‘Maybe something along the lines of ‘meeting a new partner and falling in love is fun, but it should always be safe’?’
I nodded. ‘I’m in. Accessible, safe, and perfect for our users.’
Next to me, Rory smiled. ‘We’re on the same page over here, boss.’
