Chapter Seven

Enzo’s phone vibrates in his pocket. A text from Ximena. Tap, open, read. 

Ximena: You’re trending.  

Enzo: So I’ve been told. Whatever the fuck that means. 

Ximena: Literally 50,000 people around the world have seen your speech already.  

Enzo: I can’t believe I’m going to France with you 

Ximena: You’re going with Theodore. I’ll be there too. 

Enzo: What are you going to do in New York? 

Ximena: I’ll tell you on the plane.  

Enzo: 👍  

Ximena: Meet me out in front of the lobby so we can drive over to the airport.   

He placed his phone in his pocket, and it vibrated once more. He retrieved, unlocked and read the message from Darius. 

Darius: How did last night go? 

Enzo: A complete disaster, as usual. 

Darius: Did you close the deal? 

Enzo: No, but she has an app. She’s raising. Can you give it a four-star rating? I promised her some assistance. It's called Condon. 

Darius: Who doesn't have an app these days? I guess all the gold really is in California. What are you up to today? 

Enzo: Apparently, I'm heading to New York. With Ximena. And Theodore. 

Darius: Yeah, you're going to New York with your ex-girlfriend, the one you're still hung up on, and her husband. What could possibly go wrong? 

Enzo: It's all purely platonic. 

Darius: Well, I recently discussed you with my therapist. He believes you should get your own therapist. 

Enzo: Aren't you my therapist? 

Darius: No, I'm your best friend. And an audience for your questionable life choices. I feel like watching your love life is like witnessing a slow-motion train wreck. Who wouldn't want to watch that? 

Darius and Enzo had been friends ever since they met at Stanford Business School, commonly referred to as GSB (Graduate School of Business). GSB held the same prestige in Silicon Valley that HBS (Harvard Business School) did on the East Coast. Darius went on to establish a tech company that sold organic and all-natural fertilizer to home gardeners online. The company's name was "fersnizzle.com" and its irreverent slogan was: "Our shit is the shit!" 

Darius disrupted the fertilizer industry during the dot com era, and at one point, his company's value was so high that he contemplated acquiring DuPont Chemicals. Eventually, his company was acquired by Monsanto for a staggering $750 million. Monsanto changed the formula of his fertilizer and added genetically modified ingredients. Then their chemists removed the organic material. Monsanto’s marketers, somewhat ingeniously, kept the brand intact and put millions of dollars into promoting the product, still referred to as “The Shit”.

They were right: It actually was shit now.  

Darius was rich and on the dating apps. He mostly surfed in Santa Cruz and hated the “platforms”, as he referred to the web 2.0 era of Silicon Valley.  

Darius: Well, here's some advice for you: keep swiping, baby. Placing all your hopes on Ximena seems dumb. 

Enzo: What if sanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over and getting better results? 

Darius: It's not. 

A notification appeared; it was a text from Ximena. Enzo tapped the screen and read her message. 

Ximena: Let's go. I'm waiting for you. Put your phone away; I'm sure you're texting with Darius. Whatever he's saying about this trip, ignore it! We're going to have a great time. 

Enzo put his phone back in his pocket, completely unaware of what fate had prescribed for him on this trip. 

Three large SUVs were parked outside the lobby and Ximena stood by the middle one. Her hair was like a halo in the warm, mid-morning sun, and her gleaming-white shirt with three open buttons added to her physical perfection.  

"Let's go," she said, opening the door and letting him in. The spacious back seat was covered in glistening leather, and the carpet looked as if it had just been washed and brushed.

"Of all the people who could pull that off, I should have known it was you," she chuckled, referring to his speech earlier that morning.  

Despite everything that had happened in the hours since, the only thing he could think about was the ring Ximena had given him.  

"Ximena, why did you give me that ring?" Enzo asked. "I don't understand. You're married."  

She looked at him, eyes met for a long moment.  

"Did you sleep with someone last night?" she asked.  

Enzo was taken aback, "No, I didn't. But if I did, so what? What am I supposed to do? How long should I wait for nothing?"  

"You're right," she said, exhaling deeply. "I'm sorry. That wasn't fair."