Page 28 of Work with Me

Alicia: I don’t think so. I’ll find it tomorrow.

Me: No, wait! How about I get three guesses.

Alicia: What?

Me: You give me three guesses, tell me if I’m right or wrong. Then I tell you about the bug.

Alicia: Two guesses.

Me: Hot or cold?

Alicia: No.

Me: Fine. You’re an international spy, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays, you go to the Mexican Consulate to meet your lover/mark.

Alicia: I think you know that’s a no.

Me: Worth a shot

Alicia: Not really.

Me: You’re a part-time nun, and Tuesdays and Thursdays you use your cornette to fly around the city rescuing kittens and orphans.

Alicia: Cornette?

Me: It’s a part of a nun’s habit.

Alicia: That doesn’t even sound like a real thing.

Me: It’s totally real. How about a hint?

Alicia: You couldn’t take a hint if it came free in a box of Cocoa Puffs.

Ouch! The woman had a pair of thumbs on her. But I had a pair, too, and I sucked it up and told her about the bug. She had the courtesy to thank me—I’d accused her of imperfection, not rudeness—texted that she had to go, and didn’t respond to any of my texts after that. I only sent two. Or maybe five.

I hoped she deleted them.

12

ALICIA

I putthe key in the ignition, but I didn’t turn it. Instead, I glanced into the rearview mirror at Noah’s stormy face.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were failing language arts?”

He shrugged. His neon-green cast flopped in his lap.

Noah wasn’t going to make it to his teen years if he didn’t stop shrugging at me.

“Did you know and fail to tell me, or did you not know?”

“I thought maybe I wasn’t doing so good.”

“And why didn’t you tell me?”

He shrugged again.

“Is it because you were afraid I’d be angry? Because, after sitting in front of a panel of your teachers like some kind of inquisition, I’m pretty angry.”

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