Page 80 of A Break in Communications

She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Like I’m so incapable of love? Be a little less subtle, why don’t you?”

“Aphrodite is the very symbol of love, but it doesn’t mean I ever thinkIcould be worthy of it.” I paused. “Not that I’d say that out loud, here, in front of the woman who occupies my every waking thought, who I want to think I’m cool.”

She laughed, turning to me, eyes sparkling in the glow of the light strings along the edge of the stage. “Best part about being in love is getting to be deeply uncool and have them still like you. I love you, Lucy. I don’t know a lot about what comes now, but I know that much. I love you and I want to be with you… if you’d like a girlfriend who’s as much of a workaholic as you are and will never begrudge you for staying late at the office because she’s there too.”

Oh my god, I think she actually meant it. Someone somewhere pushed faulty code to prod and messed up the simulation of the universe and made it so Anna Preston fell in love with me. I laughed, breathlessly, smiling wider at her, as I slipped a hand to her back, in disbelief I even got to do that. We could have been married forty years and I’d still be blown away that I got to do that. “As if either of us could ever date any other kind of person,” I laughed. “I love you, too, Anna. Not that that’s news. I’m feeling a little delirious right now. Did Kelcey put something weird in the drinks and I’m hallucinating this?”

She smiled wryly, shaking her head. “If this is all a dream, then I’ll ask to be your girlfriend once we wake up, too.”

“Oh my god, you actually are serious.”

“Are you okay? You look like you’re going to have a panic attack.”

“Am Iokay?AnnaPrestonis asking to be my girlfriend. No, of course I’m not okay. Can I kiss you?”

She suppressed a laugh as best she could, brows furrowing. “Is it going to kill you?”

“Yeah, probably. That’s how I’d like to die, though. Shall we?”

“Don’t know…” She slipped a hand to my cheek, and I think I did die. Seemed to continue moving, though. Some kind of revenant powered by sheer unrelenting desire to kiss Anna Preston. “Don’t think I want murder on my record.”

“We’ll pin it on Veronica. She would probably own a murder charge like nobody’s business.”

“Ah. You’ve always been a clever thinker, Lucy.”

“Oh my god, you’re even complimenting me.”

“Don’t get too used to it.” She leaned in and pressed her lips against mine, and I thought that wasn’t a problem, because I wasnevergetting used to this. Not if we played this life a thousand times over and I spent a million years kissing Anna Preston would I get used to it, not when she was the sun and the stars, not when she was the light of the moon catching on the ocean, inspiration and beauty and the very meaning of human existence—

I kissed her back, like it was the only thing I was ever built to do. I’d believe it was—that I’d been put together from birth with a special purpose, the blessed chosen one who got to kiss Anna Preston, and I was holding onto that until the day I died.

Outside the room, I heard applause rising, and it was probably for something Berg or Gould had said, but I liked to think they were applauding me for pulling the hottest girl ever.

Frankly, I didn’t think they were applauding enough. Unappreciative bastards.

∞∞∞

Berg looked a little upset. Poor Sean Dobbs mostly just looked confused, like he wasn’t sure if today was actually happening or if it was a fever dream. Frankly, I was right there with him. Standing here by the refreshments table with the afterparty lively and full of chatter all around, with my hand on my girlfriend Anna Preston’s lower back holding her possessively close to my side, I was pretty sure I was tripping balls, but all I could think was that I hoped I had a lifetime supply of whatever I was tripping on.

I smiled flawlessly at the two of them as they approached, perfectly in sync with Anna beaming like everything was normal here.

“Well performed, Berg,” Anna said. “You do have a way with the delivery.”

“Anna and I were hanging onto every word,” I said. Berg frowned pointedly, looking between us.

“I had thought… expressly that you two weren’t a couple,” he said, and Anna and I exchanged looks of confusion.

“Me and Anna?” I said.

“We’ve always been a couple,” Anna said, and she lit up, waving behind Berg to where I saw her parents, still here as if they were supposed to be, smile and stroll towards us. “Isn’t that right, Mom? Lucy and I have been together for ages.”

“That’s right,” her mother said, absolutely glowing as she came over to the refreshments table, a glass in hand and a flushed smile that said it wasn’t her first glass. “Oh, I can’t forget about when you brought her around and you two were just so happy, gazing into each other’s eyes like the rest of us didn’t exist…”

“That’s right, that’s right,” her father said, nodding sagely as if he knew everything there was to know about me and not just how well I could fake interest in college basketball. “Lucy’s a good one. We’re happy to have her as part of the family. Say—there’s a lot of lights here, aren’t there?”

“Oh, the office holiday party was just the same,” her mother said, nudging him. “I think it’s just the way the room shines brighter when Anna and Lucy are in it. And Veronica and Kelcey, too. They’re just so radiantly happy, all four of them.”

They were in for a rude surprise if they were waiting for a happy ending from Veronica and Kelcey. Sean looked between us all so confused he looked like he might cry.

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