Chapters (45)
- Cover
- Dedication
- Pulse
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY–ONE
- TWENTY–TWO
- TWENTY–THREE
- TWENTY–FOUR
- TWENTY–FIVE
- TWENTY–SIX
- TWENTY–SEVEN
- TWENTY–EIGHT
- TWENTY–NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY–ONE
- THIRTY–TWO
- THIRTY–THREE
- THIRTY–FOUR
- THIRTY–FIVE
- THIRTY–SIX
- THIRTY–SEVEN
- THIRTY–EIGHT
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- RESOURCES
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- What’s next onyour reading list?
“Of course. Everyone worked their tails off, and we’re not going to let Ryan Thompson mar ValleyStart. He’s already been removed from the program. As for the incubator, the winners will be announced shortly, though they’ll likely be disappointed. We can’t have them go to Pulse, not with all you’ve uncovered. They’ll have to be satisfied with an internship at my company.”
“Then we lost more than I thought,” Lucy said softly.
Nishi put her arm around Lucy’s shoulders. “You were incredible, Lucy. What you did, what all of you did . . . But I can’t help thinking that I failed you. Why didn’t you come to me sooner?”
None of them spoke. Finally Lucy said, “I was ashamed. And I thought I could protect us, our place in the program, in everything that would come after.”
“You wanted to protect your friends?” Nishi said.
Lucy could barely look at Maddie and Delia, but she nodded.
“Well,” Nishi said, “seems to me you’ve all won a lot more than ValleyStart. How I love it when I’m right. Anyway, I wanted to tell you how proud I am of each of you.” She pressed her hand to her stomach. “And get something edible. Mountain View U catering tastes as bad as the dorms smell.”
They pulled up another chair for Nishi, and the stories continued, Danny beginning by telling them all about the pterodactyls on Martha’s Vineyard. As he spoke, Maddie uploaded the Girl Empowered logo to be the first image in the portfolio on her website.
She looked around the table, thinking of what waited at home in Boston. Not just the cloudy skies and snow to come. But the absence of this.
Family.
Because family wasn’t just the one you were born to. It was the one you made for yourself.
And remade. As new people came into your life and old ones returned. The room in New York City might have just been extra square footage, but Maddie chose to believe it was an olive branch. One, despite the people around this table (and, fine, the infuriatingly wonderful sunshine), she was ready to accept, not for Danny but for herself. So welcome back, rain and sleet and snow.
(After all, who worries about snow when they’ve got a kick-ass parka like mine?)
THIRTY–SEVEN
ANGEL INVESTOR • One who invests in small startups and entrepreneurs early on to help founders through the hardest stages
THEY DIDN’T WIN. DELIA knew they couldn’t, they wouldn’t, and yet all through dinner, she couldn’t help the nagging inside—not that she’d disappointed her parents. She’d wiped her mom’s lipstick off her cheeks enough times to convince herself of that. But that she’d disappointed herself.