Page 14 of The Focal Point

“Your picture is on the wall,” she pointed out, her index finger drifting toward the frame we could still just see from our angle.

“The only reason my picture is on the wall is because Jace’s parents were one of our first investors. I did most of the coding work on my first project in this booth. And my high school homework. Jace and I were on the swimming team in middle and high school together.”

Bailey still didn’t look convinced, and I felt my mouth quirk into a half-smile.

“I’m just a guy who owns a company—there is absolutely nothing special about me. I spend my free time taking computers apart and putting them back together, swimming, golfing, and playing video games all night with my best friend like we’re still thirteen years old again. And traveling. I like to travel, too.”

Jace returned with Bailey’s water and took her order, promising to be right out with the food. He didn’t leave out a joke about my unendingly empty stomach, either.

“So you started Vitality Venture here?” Bailey asked, looking around.

Shaking my head, I pulled the sugar packets toward me and picked one out. “I designed the code for the software for our first product here. The company came later.”

“I had a place like that—a bookstore with a small coffee shop around the corner from our apartment. I would sketch rooms for hours, redecorating places I saw in magazines and books.”

My chuckle was appreciative, and Bailey’s shy smile told me she took it as such. “You’ve always loved design?”

“Always.” I was thrilled when Bailey’s face lit up, her smile growing as the discussion turned to her passion—the expression made my heart beat a little faster. “I still have diaries from when I was about six with little sketches I had done. And Mom always says that I redesigned my room at five, and she and Dad thought they would lose their minds because I was so particular.”

I laughed this time as I ripped open the packet and poured it into my coffee, imagining a pint-sized Bailey ordering her parents around as they tried to redecorate her room.

“Design school was like a dream to me—there was so much to learn and explore, and I got to work with and be a mentee to so many amazing people.”

“You did a great job with Tom’s office. I’m not sure how you did it, either. Trying to pull anything but code and tech ideas from that guy is like pulling teeth. He’s always been that way, too—all his creativity goes toward tech, and nothing is left for the rest of his life. Did you know he eats plain chicken breast, plain broccoli, and plain rice for dinner almost every night? He’s hopeless.”

Bailey giggled, her smile conspiratorial. “He wasn’t the easiest client I’ve ever had when designing. But he was also easy to work with because he approved everything without even looking at it.”

“Sounds like Tom.” I grinned into my coffee cup before drinking.

“What about you? How did you get into the medical tech field?”

Bailey’s question surprised me, and I had to swallow hard and clear my throat before I choked on the coffee.

“Sorry. Was I not supposed to ask that?” Her top teeth sank into her bottom lip.

“No, it’s fine.” I waved away her concern, mopping up drops of coffee from the tabletop with my napkin. “Like you, I was always that kid into building things, creating, and taking things apart to find out how they worked. I always figured I would go into engineering or science or something like that. But then Mom got sick, and they didn’t catch it until it was too late.”

Bailey’s eyes widened before she covered her mouth with her hand. “Oh, Liam, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry I asked—”

“No need to apologize.” I offered her a smile. “It’s not like it’s a big secret. It’s been about fifteen years, so it’s easier to talk about it. Usually. I was in high school when she got her diagnosis, but she’d been sick for a while by then. She spent several years going from doctor to doctor. They gave her all these diagnoses and put her on all these meds that made her feel like crap, but none of them helped. My parents finally had to fly to a place in LA, a specialist that cost them their savings, and he’s the one who finally found the cancer.”

Bailey was quiet, watching me, but she didn’t interrupt or change the conversation, as many did. I got it—the subject made most people uncomfortable for multiple reasons. But I appreciated that the woman across from me didn’t run from it or want to discuss something else.

“It was pretty terrible, honestly. I flunked a few classes that year, to be honest. Watching her go through all the pain, the sickness, the chemo, radiation, and surgeries. Watching her get sicker and sicker, not being able to do anything about it, watching her realize she couldn’t do anything about it, either.” I ran my hand through my hair, taking in a big drag of air as I felt the familiar grief threatening to settle into my lungs and chest and paralyze them. “It sucked. It really sucked.”

“Of course, it did.” Bailey offered me a sympathetic twist of her mouth, and I could have sworn the hand she had on the tabletop twitched to move toward mine. But it didn’t.

“It did help me realize what I wanted to do with my life. I decided to create software to help doctors diagnose cancer faster and more accurately so what happened to Mom doesn’t have to happen to anyone else.”

Bailey’s eyes shimmered in the fluorescent diner lights, and she passed the back of her hand over her eyes.

“That must do a ton of good,” she sniffed.

“It does. I also made it an open-source code, so doctors and hospitals can use it for free. The company has other tech hospitals have to pay for, which is how we stay in business, but that will always remain free to use.”

“That’s amazing.” Bailey’s eyes were shimmering again.

“And I didn’t go through it alone. I had my dad and my brothers and sister and grandparents and Tom and his family, and Jace and his—we all had each other, and we had to buy a second freezer for the garage just to fit all the casseroles and brownies people brought us. I got really sick of lasagna—still can’t eat it to this day.” I grinned and was finally rewarded with a small smile from Bailey. “I was lucky. Some people don’t have anyone else.”