“Got it, Barbara Walters.”
It was then she realized that it wasn’t nerves she was witnessing—it was straight-up reluctance. Of course. The guy was way too confident and in charge for nerves, but it was obvious that he wasn’t a fan of the interview. This was going to take some serious interviewing skill and a whole lot of patience. “We’ll chat while we are hiking, then we’ll do a few more questions at the lake, stop and admire the beauty, then chat on the way back down. Sound good?”
They had barely made it far enough down the trail to not see the parking lot anymore when Roman stopped and glanced at the camera. She stopped, too, hoping he wasn’t going to call it off, because whether interviewing him during the judging period was the best idea or not, she had committed to it.
“I’ve got one request before we go too far,” he said.
She cocked an ear toward him. “Oh good. I was afraid it would be a demand.”
The corners of his mouth lifted in not quite a smile, but something edging toward it. “Only because you’re going to agree to it without being a demand.”
She raised an eyebrow, trying not to smile.
“You let me install Nudge Out on your phone, and you let it pick the location for our fourth interview.”
She studied him for a long moment, like she was trying to decide if she should let him. Of course she was going to say yes, because that sounded interesting, and made that fourth interview an unknown entity, which, coming from a guy who she guessed liked everything planned down to the last detail, made it even more interesting. But she also kind of wanted to make him sweat a bit. Then she pulled her phone from her back pocket, lifted it to her face to unlock it, and then held it out toward him.
His fingers brushed over her palm as he picked up her phone, and it sent a thrill straight to her heart. Again. This man was going to be the end of her. Why, again, did she push for this interview?
She watched as the expression on his face changed from stoic to something resembling happiness as he installed the app on her phone and did whatever he was doing to make an app that wasn’t actually live yet work on her phone.
Then, he handed it back to her, and she looked down at the blue and green Nudge Out icon that was now on her phone.
She always filmed an introduction to her guest separately and started the finished video with it, but she still needed to lead into the interview, and hadn’t planned to do it like this. As they walked up the dirt trail, trees lining both sides of it and blocking out all sounds other than nature and the squeals of a couple of kids hiking with their family further up the trail, she fell into the rhythm of an interview.
“So you’re the CEO of LivenUP, and your company has quite a few very successful apps, like Musicbound and Group Eat, but this one you just put on my phone is brand new. It releases today, even.” It didn’t actually release today, but this video was going to air on the day it released. “Tell us about it.”
“People stay in their comfort zones because it’s comfortable there.” He looked up the trail as they walked, then back to her. “There’s a quote that says, ‘Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.’ People know that great things lie on the other side of their comfort zone, but most feel like it’s such a huge, terrifying leap to try something new. When you install this app on your phone and go about doing all the normal things in your comfort zone, it’ll learn what those things are. Then, based on that, it’ll nudge you to try something just outside of your comfort zone.”
“I get it,” Bex said as they walked, Enoch and the camera on them the whole time. “So the nudge it gives you is an easy thing, since it’s not too far out of your normal. Nothing terrifying.”
“Exactly. The more you do the things it nudges you to do, the more things you’ll experience, the further you’ll be stepping out of your comfort zone, and the more rich your life will become. There are great things out there for everyone, and you’ll get to them if you’ll take those little nudges.”
“Huh. That sounds pretty amazing. So it’s working right now on my phone?”
Roman nodded. “In a week or so, after it gathers enough data, a notification will come up saying it’s ready to suggest something new. When it does, you can tap the Nudge Me Out button, and we’ll know where we’ll be having our fourth interview.”
Bex’s grin spread wide and she looked right at the camera. “Usually, I try to have an interview in a location that has something to do with the person I’m interviewing—a place they know well, a place that feels at home to them, or one that has something to do with their job. Remember, Bexlandians, that Roman put the app on my phone, not his. Tell me in the comments if you’re hoping that the fourth interview will be in a location I would’ve chosen for Roman, or if it’ll be one that will nudge him—or shove him—right out of his own comfort zone.”
Roman laughed, and the sound was magical. Partly because they were in some pretty dense woods where they could currently see no other humans and it mixed with the nature all around them. But mostly because it was something she hadn’t expected from him at all. “This entire interview series is well outside my comfort zone, so maybe if that fourth one is, too, I’ll feel right at home.”
This was good. He was relaxing. Letting his guard down a bit. He had a long way to go, but a teeny bit of authenticity was actually coming through.
“I’m guessing you’ve tested the Nudge Out app yourself. What’s something the app has nudged you to try?”
“I play racquetball and lift weights. It suggested I try yoga.”
“And did you?”
“Of course.”
“What did you think?” She was suddenly picturing herself doing yoga next to him, the morning sun shining through the window on them, which was definitely not having her head in interview mode. She worked to get it back.
“Six weeks later, I’m still doing it daily.”
“Impressive.” Don’t think about it, Bex. Stay in interview mode. “Favorite pose?”
“Half pigeon.”
“No.”
“Why? What would you have guessed?”
Bex lifted a shoulder. “One of the warrior poses, I guess.”
They chatted more about his company and Nudge Out as they hiked up the trail. It was steep in some places, but there were hand rails in places where it was especially steep. Most of the twenty minute hike was easy, though. Easy enough that Enoch even walked in front of them, turned their direction so he could film their faces, walking backwards himself as he filmed them. Other times, he’d find a rise or a boulder to climb onto so he could get a good location shot of them hiking.
The end of the trail opened onto the shore of Mirror Lake. The day was clear and absolutely beautiful. The wind wasn’t blowing at all, and the surface of the lake was still and very mirror-like. They soaked in the sunshine as they walked around to the backside of the lake. From there, they could see almost the entirety of Mount Hood reflected in the waters, along with the trees surrounding the lake, the blue skies, and the white puffy clouds high in the sky.
They stood in silence for several long moments, enjoying the incredible display of nature around them while Enoch got a lot of video, so that her viewers could experience it, too.