But she had more important things to do—like get a life. Noah was back in the game now, and he’d bring home another woman tonight, and a different woman the next night, resetting the status quo of his life.
With more direction—and more clothes—she walked into the hall, trying to decide over the most appropriate way to leave. But when she reached the opening she’d been so terrified of crossing half an hour before, she found all the men in the great room sitting around the sectional sofa, engrossed in conversation. Since no one seemed to notice her, she moved into the kitchen and quietly opened the fridge, searching for something to eat.
After vetting the contents of the fridge and freezer the day before, Julia settled on a bag of frozen organic mangos and light vanilla yogurt. She stealthily pulled a spoon from the drawer, the scissors from a knife block, and took a seat at the bar.
“Dude,” Noah said, “you nailed those upgrades.”
“Yeah? You like it?” This came from the young guy, his voice both excited and unsure.
“Like it?” Noah asked. “I love it. Sweet changes, man. Wicked sweet. I especially love the addition of the ski bunnies passing out kisses. Hot, dude. Players are going to eat it up.”
Julia smiled and shook her head.
“Thanks,” the other man said. “Your input made all the difference. I also added the ability for multiple players to connect via Wi-Fi so they can ride with their friends on the same slopes.”
“Perfect.”
Julia cut open the mango bag and peeled back the yogurt top.
“But what we’re really excited about is the outfitting advances we’ve made since our last meeting.” This voice was new. Deeper. Older. More serious. “We’ve signed eighteen more manufacturers to pimp their goods in the initial setup section with everything from beanies to boards.”
“Awesome,” Noah said.
Julia mixed the yogurt, keenly aware of Drake’s silence.
“But what’s really awesome,” the same man continued, “is that we’ve also designed a purchasing feature within that section of the game that allows players to buy all the merchandise directly. So, say they put together a rad outfit on the animated version of ‘Shred with Noah Hunt’ and want to buy it for themselves, they just click ‘buy,’ and it’s charged to the credit card on file.”
“Holy shit…” Noah said, awe in his voice.
“Wait till you hear the royalty we negotiated with the manufacturers.” Drake finally spoke. “It’s even better. I’ll get you the final numbers later today.”
“We plan on replacing the animated guy in the beginning with your real image,” the younger guy said, “so the player gets the impression you’re right there in the game with them, dancing to the background music and flashing them the same hand signals they see you making on TV.”
Imagining that made Julia smile around a spoonful of yogurt.
“We’re creating a full-circle experience,” the younger man continued, “where the player pretends they either are you or they’re your friend, and you two are getting ready to scrape powder together.”
“That sounds a little weird,” Noah said with a chuckle, “but you guys know what you’re doing.”
Julia yanked the spoon from her mouth, frowning. So he’d let other people take control of what they specialized in but insisted on pushing her away? What the hell? That was…was…dammit, that was insulting.
“I bet you’re all pretty ready to get headed back to San Jose,” Noah said. “You should probably get started. The roads are going to make it a long trip.”
Yeah, they should get started so Julia could get started too. She swirled out the last spoonful of yogurt from the container and stood from the stool.
“There is one other thing.” This came from yet another man. He sounded a little like Drake, minus the salesman, and his voice held a note that made Julia tense. “We should talk about your recovery as it relates to the game.”
Ah shit. That didn’t sound good. She slid her butt back onto the stool and fished a chunk of frozen mango from the bag.
“Sure.” Noah sounded relaxed enough, but after twenty-four intimate hours with him, she noticed the hint of lurking apprehension. “What do you want to know?”
“It seems we’re going to have a timing issue with the game’s release. We’d planned to release it the week before the X Games and push it hard. With it coming out so late in the season, we’ve got a limited window for sales before kids’ interests turn from snowboarding to skateboarding and surfing. So we’ve secured a lot of advertising for the Snowmass events.”
“Sounds good,” Noah said. “I don’t see the issue.”
“The issue is, that you haven’t accepted the invitation to the X Games yet.”
“Ah, those are just formalities,” Noah said with all his I-can-totally-rehab-myself misplaced confidence. “I’m in.”