XOXO: A Bundle of Cozy Novellas

Edmund

EDMUND

Edmund pushed through the doors of Canopus, early for his Thursday meeting with Jude. Nerves had driven him out of the house and to his car earlier than necessary, but he’d get to chat with front-desk Owen, wouldn’t he? The days since his last visit he’d spent putting together a skeleton of the app Jude wanted. He’d also been on the phone with a big-name company that was interested in buying the rights to Edmund’s travel app. It was a big deal and would mean quite a bit of money, enough that he wouldn’t feel he needed to freelance at Canopus.

It was ironic he’d developed a popular travel app when he disliked travel himself. Loathed it, actually. Travel made him lonely. It occurred to him that if he sold TrekR he wouldn’t have an excuse to visit Owen. That, he didn’t like.

Owen was at the desk and smiled as Edmund drew closer.

“Hi, Edmund, you’re early. Jude won’t be ready for a few minutes.”

Edmund shrugged. “No worries. I had to get out of the house.”

“Oh yeah? Have you been working hard?”

“Always working.” He winked at Owen and then to his horror began to blush. He was dying, wanting the floor to open and swallow him whole because he had accidentally flirted with sexy Owen Addison.

Owen seemed not to notice Edmund’s discomfort. “Me too, it seems. Jude’s got me on all sorts of projects. Not that I’m complaining—job security and all.”

Edmund thought Owen looked tired, sexy but tired. “Are you working a lot of hours?”

He rolled his eyes. “You have no idea. Whenever Jude is working on deals, the days are long.” His gaze flickered to the desktop. “It’s time—let me message Jude that you’re here.”

Edmund found it funny that Jude sat at his desk maybe forty feet from Owen and still needed to be messaged.

“Okay, go on in.”

Jude Collins’s office was a lot like he was—austere and daunting, all sharp corners and uncomfortable. Edmund didn’t like it. The art on the wall was expensive, framed black-and-white prints of inanimate objects: sand dunes, snowbanks, unidentifiable creepy shadows. It made Edmund cold looking at them.

“Edmund, nice to see you.”

Jude stood and shook Edmund’s hand, indicating for him to sit in the guest chair. Edmund sat and tried to make himself comfortable on the high-end piece of furniture.

“So, have you thought about my offer?”

Like the other company, Canopus wanted to buy Edmund’s travel app. Edmund wasn’t sure he wanted to sell. Somehow it didn’t feel right. He’d developed the app back in England, and he owned it outright. He wasn’t sure he wanted to sell to Canopus and then likely be asked to change things here and there until it was unrecognizable. For that reason, he felt like the offer from 7Cs was a better one—but he hated confrontation. On the other hand, maybe he was being emotional—it was an app, after all, not an actual child.

“To be honest, I’m still not sure.”

“You’ve had another offer.”

Edmund couldn’t deny it.

“How much? I’ll go 10 percent over.”

“I thought you wanted to discuss the new app I’m working on for you.”

“I did. I do,” Jude made a soothing gesture with his hands, “but I’ve been thinking about TrekR and feel like it would be a good add to the Canopus stable and a great place to build from.”

Exactly what Edmund was nervous about. Updates were one thing; overhauling the whole app and remarketing it under the Canopus brand was another. It would be easier for Edmund to sell to a completely separate entity.

“I’m not completely comfortable selling.” The words burst out without Edmund meaning them to. “I mean,” he said, trying to backtrack and smooth things over, “I mean, I think it would be better to build a whole new app.” Oh lord, he’d just put his entire foot in his mouth. Why had he agreed to meet with Jude? Everything was better if he communicated via email.

Amazingly, Jude actually cracked a smile. “It’s fine, Edmund. We can still develop a new app. For now, let’s focus on that.”

For the next forty minutes, Edmund and Jude discussed the pros and cons of the mobile app he envisioned and what markets Jude wanted to target.

“There’s a fine line between targeting a tech-savvy population and one with people who aren’t looking for a hookup when they travel. In my opinion we need to find that sweet spot: the indie traveler who wants to maybe travel with a group for a while but maybe also strike out on their own a bit. That’s who we need to focus on.”

By the end of the meeting, Edmund had agreed to have something for Jude by mid-March. Edmund would probably have something to show him before then. It wasn’t as if he had a social life to distract him.