by Camy Tang
TWENTY-NINE
Jenn, I need a peanut butter cup.” Venus pressed her Bluetooth closer to her ear to make sure Jenn heard her.
“You don’t have to shout.” Through the cell phone, she heard the click-click-click as Jenn turned on the gas range on the stove.
“Please tell me you made some.” Venus took the exit off the freeway toward Jenn’s house.
“Sorry. I made a batch while you were in Japan, but Lex took most of them.”
“Aaargh!” She would have words with her cousin the next time they saw each other.
“I’m making raspberry truffles right now. Will those do?”
“Good enough. I’m five minutes away.”
Jenn exhaled. “What if I didn’t have any chocolate in the house?”
“Are you kidding? You always have chocolate in the house. Homemade chocolate.”
“Well, you still need to wait twenty minutes before I start coating the ganache, so tough noogies.”
“Ugh. Okay, bye.”
Venus rang her mom’s cell phone and almost ran into a stop sign when her mother picked up. “Mom! I’ve been trying to call you since I got back.”
“Got back? From where?”
“Grandma got Bananaville an interview with a Japanese VC. I flew in from Tokyo yesterday.”
“I’ve been calling you for days!” Mom’s voice sounded like one of those seabirds.
“I called you before I left, and I called yesterday and today, but I kept being shunted straight to your voice mail. Was your phone off?”
“Uh…my phone must have been malfunctioning.” She was speaking rather fast.
Venus sighed. “Were you at the beach?”
“It’s too cold for the beach, dear.”
“Spa?”
“No! I was…taking a personal day. Or two.”
Venus’s hands clenched the steering wheel, digging her nails into the leather covering. “If you needed to talk to me so badly, why did you shut your phone off?”
“Because if Grandma called me, I could say my phone was broken.” Her voice sounded so calm and reasonable, Venus could almost ignore the fact her fiftysomething mother was playing hooky from work like a teenager.
“What did you need to talk to me about?” Venus turned into Jenn’s parents’ driveway.
“Where are you?”
“At Jenn’s house.”
“Stay there. I’ll meet you. Bye!”
Venus yanked off her Bluetooth headset. Mom had been mysterious and melodramatic in her voice mail messages, and she still refused to just say what she wanted.
The heavenly smell of chocolate filled Venus’s lungs and shot straight to her hips (she was sure she added an instant pound or two) when Jenn’s mom answered the front door. “Hi, Aunty Yuki. How are you feeling?” Venus kicked off her shoes in the foyer as Aunty closed the door.
“Just had a checkup yesterday. The doctor says the cancer’s still in remission.”
“Great. Still feeling tired?” She loved Aunty Yuki, but she needed a chocolate badly. She nudged her aunt toward the kitchen.
“No, I walked a whole two miles yesterday.”
They entered the kitchen, where Jenn stood stirring a pot of melted chocolate. Venus looked around at the countertops. “Where is it?”
Jenn gave her a sour look.
“Fine, fine. How much longer?”
“The ganache needs to cool another fifteen minutes before I can coat it.”
“Where is it?” Maybe she could steal a little…
“In the fridge. Don’t even think it.” Jenn brandished her spoon at her, splattering chocolate on the floor. Venus winced. Jenn cooked like a master chef but always made the biggest messes. She grabbed a paper towel to clean up the chocolate ribbons on the linoleum. At least the floor had been freshly scrubbed, from the smell of Pine-Sol.
Jenn went back to stirring. “And you still need to wait another minute for the chocolate coating to cool before you can eat it.”
“Okay, I’ll wait.”
Jenn pinned her with a narrow gaze. “You don’t know how to wait.”
“I’m learning these days.”
Jenn’s eyes brightened with curiosity, but then slid to her mother, listening avidly by the doorway. “You’ll never guess who Mom and I saw in Japantown today.”
“Who?”
“Mrs. Matsumoto.”
“Grandma’s ex-friend?” Jenn had theorized that Mrs. Matsumoto, Grandma’s only Christian friend—a very vocal Christian, at that—had said something to make Grandma uncomfortable. If it were true, it would explain why Grandma had suddenly stopped being friends with Mrs. Matsumoto, and why she had ripped on Lex and Trish’s faith at various times in the past year. Venus had been steeling herself for something similar, but it hadn’t occurred the few times she’d seen Grandma.
“Mrs. Matsumoto and Grandma are friends again.” Aunty Yuki took a few steps into the kitchen and perched on a stool.
“And get this.” Jenn waggled the spoon at Venus, causing more chocolate ribbons on the floor. “She got Grandma to go to a Seniors group a few weeks ago. A church group.”
“What?”
“Mrs. Matsumoto is so happy to introduce Grandma to some new friends.” Aunty Yuki smiled serenely as if it weren’t anything special, but Venus and Jenn knew otherwise—Grandma had been so violently closed to Christianity for so long, her concession to a church activity spoke volumes.
Jenn glanced at her mother—not a believer, although not opposed to Jenn’s faith. However, talking about religion with family had always been a dicey thing for the four cousins, since everyone else was at least nominally Buddhist.
Jenn raised her eyebrows significantly. “Mrs. Matsumoto is so glad”—Translation: triumphant—“that she and Grandma are friends again”—talking about God—“and she’s spending so much time chatting with her”—wearing down her defenses.
Venus wasn’t sure whether to laugh or feel sorry for Grandma. Both, probably. Mrs. Matsumoto was quite a character, but she and Grandma had been friends for a long, long time.
“We saw Monica Cathcart in Japantown too. The Cathcarts go to your church, right?” Aunty Yuki looked a bit dubious. “Jenn mentioned you were doing, er…youth work?”
“Yes.” For the first time, the admission didn’t cause a twinge of embarrassment in her stomach. She didn’t care what people thought of her—or rather, the incongruity of her working with teens when she had developed some of the most gruesome video games on the market.
She had come to realize that she loved working with those kids. The teen girls were like the sisters she’d never had. They made her feel lighthearted and young again. And the girls seemed to like her too—wonder of wonders.
“Monica said that her daughter loves youth group meetings on Saturday night since you started working with them.”
“What?”
“That’s what I said.” Aunty Yuki laughed.
Venus didn’t have time to react—Jenn propped her fist on her hip and said, “Mooooom.” Venus counted at least three syllables in that one word.
Aunty Yuki sobered quickly. “Anyway, apparently the moms are very appreciative and think you’re doing a great job, Venus.”
Venus resisted the urge to preen. Who’d have believed game developer and Chief Technology Officer Venus Chau would be good with teenagers? Especially considering how notoriously bad she was at babysitting young children.
“How are you doing at work, Venus?” Aunty Yuki asked.
She couldn’t exactly vent to Jenn the way she wanted to, not with Aunty Yuki—and her mile-a-minute tongue—sitting there. The news would be all over Japantown in mere seconds. “I just got back from a business trip to Japan.”
“Oh, how wonderful! I remember my last trip…”
Between eyeing Jenn’s melted chocolate and trying to appear interested in Aunty Yuki’s rambles about the forty-three Shinto shrines she visited, fifteen minutes never seemed so long.
Finally the time
r went off and Jenn removed the pan of little chocolate balls from the fridge. She slapped Venus’s hand when she tried to grab one. Really, considering how mild-mannered Jenn was normally, she became a monster in her kitchen.
Soon, soon…
Venus’s cell phone rang. Bananaville. “Hi, Gerry.”
“It’s Darla. I’m calling from Gerry’s phone. Venus, I’m sorry, I know you just left work, but we have an emergency. This guy came in…”
Jenn had started coating each chocolate ganache center with melted chocolate, then rolling it in cocoa powder. Venus lost Darla’s words as her eyes followed each little truffle, lying helplessly in the cocoa powder, just begging to be eaten.
“Venus? Are you still there?”
“Sorry, Darla, what did you say?”
“This man won’t leave, and in between his ranting, he insists he has an appointment with Drake—”
“Just call him.”
“He won’t answer his cell.”
“Where’s Gerry?”
Darla blew out a frustrated breath. “I just told you, she’s out with her kids in Fresno for some basketball game.”
“And he won’t say what he wants?”
“He refuses to talk to anybody but Drake.”
“Well, then, what could I do? He won’t speak to me either.” She reached for a truffle, but Jenn smacked her with the chocolate spoon. “Ow!” She licked the chocolate off her knuckles. Mmmmm…
“He seems to know you. He keeps taking your name in vain.”
“What?”
“Calling you all kinds of things you probably don’t want me to repeat.”
The chocolate turned to ash on her tongue. “Did he give his name?”
Darla exhaled again. “I told you, no he didn’t.”
“Sorry, sorry. Tell me, does he have thinning yellow hair?”
“Yes.”
“Acts like he’s smarter than everyone else?”
“Yes.”
“Big smile?”
“No, because he’s been too offensive to smile at anybody.”
Venus closed her eyes and rubbed her knuckles into her forehead to combat the raging headache that erupted there. Too late, she remembered the sticky chocolate remnants. Lovely—she now had brown streaks across her face.
“All right, I’m coming in.” Never mind that it was seven o’clock and she still hadn’t had her chocolate. She hadn’t been able to discover where Drake kept his stash of Reese’s that he kept surprising her with.
Venus called Mom.
“Hello, dear, I’m about fifteen minutes away—”
“Can you meet me at Bananaville instead? There’s an emergency.”
“Emergency? Is it Yardley?”
Venus stopped rooting in her purse for her car keys. “How do you know that, Mom?”
“I’ll meet you at Bananaville!” she chirped. “Bye!”
Venus stared at her phone. Suddenly she couldn’t wait to hear what her mother had to say.
Jenn handed her a plastic container with four truffles. “I’d give you more, but you’d probably yell at me for making you break your diet.”
“I’m not on a diet, I follow a healthy lifestyle.” Although her clothes had all been a bit snugger lately. However, her skin and hair had started looking better—healthier.
Jenn rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Eat and be happy.”
“Thanks!” Venus headed out the door.
She eyed the container, sitting in honor on her passenger seat, while she drove to Bananaville, but she wanted to enjoy her chocolate when she ate it. It had been one thing to anticipate eating it in the comfort of Jenn’s kitchen, another to gulp it down while driving to confront her mortal enemy.
Yup, it was Yardley. She recognized him, even from the back, through the glass front doors. He turned from harassing Darla as Venus walked in. “Yardley, what are you doing here?”
Darla saw Venus and dropped her head to her desk in relief.
Yardley’s face turned the color of Darla’s fuchsia twinset. “Your boss is not going to like the embarrassment to his company caused by your boyfriend!”
What? Her boyfriend? What boyfriend? Venus didn’t think he could say anything to surprise her, but this made her mouth drop open. Darla also raised her head from her desk to stare at Yardley.
He stabbed a finger at her. “This kind of underhanded dealing just proves you can’t play with the big boys. You always tried and you never measured up.”
No one told her what she could or couldn’t do. Venus shot lightning bolts from her eyes—she actually expected him to be struck and burned to a crisp. “Underhanded? You were the one who sent Esme and Macy in to do your dirty work for you.”
“You don’t know how to play the game, Venus. Thinking you could do as well as men with more skill and finesse.”
“Because it takes so much skill to send a little girl to drug me and steal a program. The truth is, I was always smarter and better than you, Yardley, and it scared you to death.”
“So arrogant. Wake up, Venus, you’re not as brilliant as you think you are.”
“Do you really think insulting me is going to make you look any less stupid and incompetent? You were threatened because you knew I could have taken your job.” She said it just to irritate him, but as soon as the words came out of her mouth, she knew they were true.
“You can obviously do your own job quite well,” he sneered.
“I can.” She stared him down. “I presented to a Japanese VC two days ago. They’re arranging for Akaogi Games—yes, the manufacturers of Ta k o m a n—to become a Bananaville sponsor.”
At the name, Yardley flinched.
“Didn’t Akaogi refuse to partner with Oomvid on a Takoman multi-player game? I think you were the one who spearheaded that.” She took a step nearer to him. “So tell me how well I do my job, despite disgruntled ex-bosses who try to sabotage me.”
Yardley’s mouth opened and closed a few times, then he clenched his jaw and spoke through his teeth. “Talk about sabotage. Sending your little boyfriend into Oomvid to try to dig up dirt. You won’t find any—I’m cleaner than a surgery room!”
That mysterious boyfriend again. Some guy had obviously done something to upset him, and he chose to believe Venus was behind it all. She pulled her shoulders back. “You’re off your rocker.”
Which only made him steam hotter. He looked like he might blow his thinning hair clear off his head. “I demand to speak to Drake—”
“He’s not available, Yardley. You either deal with me or you leave this building.” She pointed at the door. “Darla and I will kick you out bodily if you refuse. I warn you, we’re in great shape.” At least, she hoped Darla had some muscles under that slender frame. She didn’t know if she could handle Yardley alone.
He ground his teeth, looking at her as if she were the devil himself, but not wanting to leave either.
Venus crossed her arms. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Darla pointed out the glass doors. “Somebody’s coming.” Venus looked up to see Mom’s tiny frame hop-stepping toward them.
She entered with a bright smile. “Hello, dear. Why hello, Yardley. We met at my mother’s Christmas party. Do you remember?”
He looked down at her with a condescending smile. “You were a bit unwell that evening, as I recall.”
Mom’s smile grew hard, and her teeth gleamed. “You weren’t invited, as I recall, but my mother allowed you to stay when you snuck in with the CEO of Oomvid.”
Yardley’s mouth pulled into a disagreeable line.
“I take it you’re here annoying my daughter because of Brett?”
Brett? Who was that?
Yardley’s face darkened. Venus moved closer to her mother.
Mom gave that false tinkling laugh that always used to grate on Venus’s spine. It sounded like music to her now, while Yardley’s back popped into a straight line. “Isn’t Brett clever? He’s an investigative reporter, you know.
With the San Francisco Chronicle.”
He paled. “A reporter?”
“Such a nice boy. His mother is my good friend. Venus, do you remember Mrs. Kawa—”
“Mom…” Now was not the time for her to go tangential.
“Anyway, I told Brett about Venus’s development tool, and how she thought that nasty girl Esme had stolen it and given it to Oomvid.”
Venus knew the astonishment must be painted all over her face, but she couldn’t close her mouth. She’d assumed Mom hadn’t been listening when she told her about Esme.
Yardley ground his teeth. “Esme didn’t steal—”
Mom’s eyebrows popped up. “Esme? Not Ms. Preston? Know her quite well, do you?”
His lips disappeared as he pulled his mouth taut.
Mom smiled widely. “So Brett went to Oomvid for some interview and asked to use a company computer—all very official, nothing wrong with it—and well, Esme wasn’t very smart.” She spread her hands wide. “She used the company computer for all kinds of things.”
“What kinds of things?” And would any of it even be admissible in a lawsuit?
“Brett just happened upon some emails Esme sent about how Oomvid’s CTO hired her to borrow Venus’s development tool. And other emails that were very specific about Esme handing Venus’s program directly to you.”
Email evidence? Oh my. Esme hadn’t been smart at all.
Yardley’s eyes darted around the lobby, as if looking for an escape, but he remained rooted to the ground. Venus couldn’t figure out what was going through his mind.
“And wouldn’t you know, Brett happened upon some emails among your programming team, about how you told them to work on a development tool similar to the one you handed them, but not similar enough to infringe on the other program’s patent.”
His nostrils flared. “All that was gotten illegally, and Bananaville won’t look very good if I leak the information that the CTO’s mother sent a spy into Oomvid to steal company secrets.”
Mom’s smile never faltered. “It won’t be half as embarrassing as it would be for Oomvid to have yet another accusation that they steal technology. It’s been a whole ten months since they were last in the front page headlines.”
She had him. Venus knew the exact moment, because a muscle on his cheek jumped faster than a tick. Oomvid had been exonerated from that earlier accusation, but the company wouldn’t be able to handle yet another accusation so soon with any kind of dignity.