While Brigitte finished up with work, I flitted back to the boys. My mood was ruined, however, so I begged off and tried going back to work for a bit. Soon enough, Brigitte pinged me and appeared briefly in my workspace. Taking a sad look around at what had replaced her, she took my hand and flittered us off to a quiet corner of the beach.
The day had settled into a heartbreakingly beautiful evening, and a crescent moonrise was casting a sparkling carpet over inky seas. Waves caressed the shore, and she held my hand in hers, slowly walking me through the wet sand at the water’s edge. We left a trail of footprints behind us.
“Willy,” she pleaded, “I love you, but I can’t do this anymore. Please, let’s fix this. Just tell me what you need.”
“I love you, too, but…I just don’t feel like we share the same goals,” I replied. “I need to focus on my business right now.”
And then the pause, that hurtful space of silence between words that shifted worlds.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” I continued. “Maybe the best thing would be for us to separate for a while, so I can figure this out.”
She looked into my eyes while tears welled in hers. Her feet left the ground, and she floated in front of me as I walked, holding both my hands now. Cast in the soft, monochromatic moonlight, she hovered like a ghost before me.
“Willy,” she sobbed, “you want me to leave you?”
I couldn’t believe I was doing it, but I slowly started nodding, looking steadily into her eyes.
Catching her breath she looked away, her body convulsing as she tried to fight back the tears. She let go of my hands and floated up and away from me and into the starry sky. Perhaps not like a ghost, but more like an angel.
My footsteps continued alone in the sand awhile before being washed away by the waves. It was as if we had never been there at all.
The Infinixx launch was coming up, and I had to rush to implement Jimmy’s suggestion before the end of the beta program. Once I had everything going full steam, we could have the life together that we’d always wanted. What I had planned was going to blow everyone away. I just needed to focus.
I went back to work.
8
Identity: Nancy Killiam
“Everyone—everywhere—every time.”
Silence.
“So what does it mean?” a reporter finally asked from the front row of the press conference.
We were unveiling our new marketing program—E3—the “E” and the “3” stylized in the logo to face each other and form an infinity symbol above the Infinixx name. It was all very clever.
“E3 represents the infinite possibilities of the future that we’re bringing to life,” I rolled out breathlessly. “E3 is the idea that anyone can be everywhere and anywhere at any time they like—while still never needing to be anywhere they don’t want to be.”
I paused before my finale, catching my breath.
“For the first time, people can be nowhere and everywhere at the same time—E3 represents total freedom!”
Applause rang out as I raised my hands to the crowd. I wasn’t sure I even understood what it meant, but I managed to deliver the pitch without cracking a smile. All that mattered was that the marketing department was in love with it.