At least he had wanted a reason to. When he was done, she found him at the utility sink. Same as before. You're very good at this, she said. I've had time to practice.
How long? 15 years. Started at 19 summer after my freshman year of college. Took a semester off to help my mother with bills. Semester turned into a year.
Year turned into a career. He dried his hands. That's how those things go. Do you regret it dropping out the path? He thought about that.
I regret some of the reasons. Not most of the work. He looked at her. You ever regret your path? Every day, she said without hesitation.
The difference is I can't tell anyone. Why not? Because I'm the CEO. The person at the top isn't supposed to have doubts. The doubts make other people's doubts louder.
That sounds exhausting. It is, she said simply. And then like she was surprised to have said it, she looked away. I have a meeting at 2:00. It's 12:40.
I know. She didn't move. There's a coffee place two blocks from here. I've never been, but Patricia says it's good. He looked at her.
Are you asking me to lunch? I'm suggesting proximity to coffee. She said, "What you do with that information is your business." He almost smiled. "Let me get my jacket."
The coffee place was small and warm and had exactly four tables, which meant they sat closer together than they would have in a restaurant, which meant the conversation was lower and more honest than it might have been otherwise. And that was probably not an accident on her part. He was learning that very little Victoria Langford did was an accident. She told him about the company, the real version, not the press release version. She had started it at 21 with money borrowed from three different people, none of whom believed she would pay them back, all of whom had been repaid within 4 years.
She had made decisions that business school would have called reckless, and that turned out to be correct. She had made other decisions that had cost her relationships sleep. Two years of her mid-20s that she sometimes thought about with something that felt like grief. "What kind of relationships?" He asked.