Rush

“How has your day been?” I keep the conversation light because Elias is less than ten feet away with his ear tuned to us.

This guy gives Lester a run for his money.

If he’s reporting anything back to Drake, I want it to all be rated PG.

“I had lunch with Bella.” Her gaze drifts up. “Calvetti’s has spoiled me for Italian food. How will I ever go back to a chain restaurant that serves warmed up pasta again?”

“I’ll courier Marti’s lasagna to you in Seattle whenever you crave it.”

It’s meant as a joke, but her expression shifts. She covers it quickly with an awkward grin. “Or I could just ask Bella for the family recipe.”

I laugh. “I think Marti will take all her recipes to the grave.”

Emma half-shrugs a shoulder. “I’ll experiment in the kitchen when I get home.”

I almost volunteer to be her taste tester, but that’s not going to happen.

Her hand pats one of the papers in the folder. “Drake keeps notes on the things we talk about.”

I take two measured steps into my office so I can shut the door and cut off Elias’s access to this conversation because what the fuck did Emma just say ?

Lowering my voice, I ask the obvious question. “What do you mean?”

Her lips curve up. “Drake and I brainstorm sometimes. My educational expertise helps him flesh out ideas. I’m happy to help.”

I skim the paper in front of her. It’s the detailed notes on an app for kids. The premise is genius. The child gets to dictate the direction of various stories with their gameplay. It’s based on the child’s reading level. As they progress, more words are added to the game’s vocabulary.

“You helped him with that idea?” I point to the paper.

She nods. “This is Vary Tales. I wouldn’t say I helped him with the idea. This one is all mine.”

With a swipe of the pen in her hand across the top of the paper, she writes Vary Tales .

“Vary Tales?” I ask, curious where the idea was born.

“Our grandmother’s maiden name was Vary, and she always made up stories to tell us.” She traces a fingertip over the words she just wrote. “I thought it was fitting that we name the app after her since she was the inspiration. It’s an obvious play on fairy tales. Whenever I come up with a new story idea for this I send it to Drake. I’ve sent dozens over the last six months, but he only has a few written down on this paper.”

If we take this to market, she deserves credit and compensation.

This is her idea.

She’s the creative mind behind it.

I stare at the folder, realization hitting me like a freight train. “Did you have a hand in any of the other ideas in there?”

Her fingers flip through the papers in the folder. She yanks one out and places it on top. “This one is mine.”

Before I can get my eyes on what it is, another paper is on top of it. “This one too.”

Scrubbing a hand over the back of my neck, I curse under my breath.

“Oh, and this one.” She pats her palm on yet another paper.

Every fucking paper in that folder that has some tie to education is Emma’s idea.

“My favorite idea isn’t here.” Her lips dip into a frown. “Drake was so excited about it. I’m surprised he didn’t keep the notes I gave him.”

He probably already developed the damn thing and collected a huge bonus from me for all ‘ his’ hard work.

I drop into one of the chairs in front of Drake’s desk. “Tell me about that.”

“It’s an app to help kids learn basic reading comprehension. It’s a simple concept.”

I want more details, so I roll my hand in the air. “Go on.”

“If they line up the letters to spell a word, they uncover a picture related to another word that starts with the same letter. It’s all about sound association.” She smiles. “Spell Snake was the working name because I thought it would be adorable to have an animated snake guide the kids through the game.”

I feel like I’ve jumped into the deep end of a pool without any sense of which direction I need to swim to hit the water’s surface.

“The app would mainly help kids prepare for kindergarten and first grade, but there are levels beyond that.” Her gaze drops back to the desk. “Drake thought it might be too simplistic, but I think it has merit.”

It has millions of dollars invested in its launch weeks from now.

Letter Leap is expected to gross more than any educational product we’ve developed based on early interest in it. Our preliminary testing showed that kids love the animated frog that narrates the game.

That app wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for Emma’s ideas.

I need to make this right and that happens now.