We turned the discussion back to our business and for the rest of the morning, we went over numbers and plans, upcoming meetings and strategy.
It felt like old times when we were first brainstorming about how to get Chatter off the ground. I loved it. This was what I lived for. Nothing made me happier than planning for the future, imagining how to create a company and then seeing it come to fruition. Luckily, John and I were like two sides of the same coin and we each had the skills needed to take care of business.
"The first and most important question is this: what will we name our new company?"
I laughed. "That's not the most important thing, John," I said and pushed my plate away. "Concept is more important."
"Oh, pish posh. The company name is the most important. It will be our calling card. Since we plan on mining the asteroid belt, we should have some name that refers to the stars or space."
"Astra is star in Latin. Something with Astra in it."
"Astra Ventures. Astra Industries. Astra Investments."
I made a face, not sure about any of them. "Good start. We can play around and see if we can come up with something that fits."
"Astra should be in there, somewhere." He held his coffee cup up and we toasted each other.
"To Astra Industries. Or Investments. Or whatever we end up choosing. To our next future billion-dollar company."
"To the stars."
We each drank down our coffee and smiled.
Life was good.
Then, life wasn't so good.
I sent a text to Alexa, hoping to keep riding the good feelings after my meeting with John.
LUKE: Hey beautiful love of my life. Wanna meet me at O'Toole's for a beer and some good old Irish food?
ALEXA: I'm not feeling up to it.
LUKE: Should I bring some takeout-Korean and some cold Korean beer?
ALEXA: Nah. My stomach’s kind of off.
LUKE: Is everything okay? You’re n
ot sick, are you?"
ALEXA: No. I’m just tired.
LUKE: How did your meeting with Dragon Lady go? I'm all ears...
ALEXA: *sigh*
LUKE: That bad? Tell me...
ALEXA: We'll talk later, okay? Suffice to say that I got the feeling she was not all that happy with having me as a future daughter-in-law.
LUKE: Tell me what she said, and I'll go and have a little chat with her.
ALEXA: It wasn't so much what she said. I mean, she didn't say that we couldn't get married, but let's just say that she was trying really hard to show me why it was a mistake.
LUKE: It's not a mistake. You and I both know it's the absolutely fucking perfect idea. We belong together, Alexa. You know that. You feel it. I know you do.
ALEXA: I know but we do come from different backgrounds, social classes... You're from money and you have money. I'm lower white collar / upper blue collar.