How big is the company? She hesitated. 430 employees. He set down the wrench. He turned and looked at her, really looked at her with an expression she hadn't seen before on his face.
Not anger. Something more complicated. The look of a man solving a problem and not liking where the answer is going. What kind of company? He said.
Analytics. Software. We build. She stopped, tried again. I should have told you earlier.
You have 400 employees. He said it evenly. You're not just a company in Denver. " The silence in the garage was different from their other silences. This one had weight. "What else? " he said.
"I'm the company is worth a significant amount. " I should have been clearer about what that How much? She looked at him directly. She owed him that. At last estimate, between 40 and 60 million, depending on the round. He stood very still.
"I wasn't lying to you," she said. "I just didn't I was so tired of being seen as that. " "I came here and you didn't ask, and it was the first time in years someone didn't. I don't care about the money. " His voice was flat, not cold, but controlled. "I care that I've been talking to you for three weeks and I didn't know who I was talking to. You did. " "You were.
Riley, you know me better than most people who've known me for years. " She felt the sting in her own voice and didn't try to hide it. "You know how I take my coffee. You know I can't braid hair correctly, no matter how many times Sophie tries to teach me. You know I built the south wall too high, and you didn't say anything because you knew Sophie liked it. " "You knew. " "I need to think," he said quietly, definitively. She nodded.