Page 71 of Atmosphere

“She takes a joke just fine, Jimmy.”

Vanessa arrived just then and came up next to Joan. “Why is everyone cheering?” she said. “The silver pins?”

Joan shook her head. “Hank and Donna are engaged.”

“Wow,” Vanessa said.

“It’s wonderful,” Joan said, but she couldn’t make her voice sound enthusiastic. Donna was hanging on to Hank’s arm, curling right into the space of his shoulder. Joan was mortified for her. “I guess.”

“You aren’t happy for her?” Vanessa said.

“I…they just think they’re very cute, don’t they? Two astronauts in love.”

Vanessa laughed. “Yeah, how awful. Two astronauts in love.”

—

Hours later, the bar hadmostly cleared out. Griff, Lydia, Joan, and Vanessa were the only ones left.

“We did it,” Lydia said. “We actuallydid it.”

“We did,” Vanessa said.

“I didn’t think either of you would make it,” Lydia said, pointing at Vanessa and Joan.

“All right, Lydia,” Vanessa said.

“No.” Lydia shook her head with a fluidity that made Joan realize she was absolutely hammered. “I’m saying…I’m saying…listen to me.”

“Why don’t I make sure you get home?” Griff said.

“Yes, fine, but wait,” Lydia said. “I had good reason to be worried. I mean, Vanessa is a glorified mechanic, okay? Don’t get upset.”

“No,” Vanessa said. “Why ever would I be upset by that?”

“Right, you get it. I’m not being offensive,” Lydia said. “And Joan, at first you were so meek. You were like a tiny little baby mouse and I thought, ‘She’s never even going to make it out of parachute training.’ But look at you!”

“Let’s move on to your larger point,” Joan said.

Lydia sighed. “I didn’t think I had much to learn. I mean, I’ve always been the smartest girl in the room,” she said. “My whole life. Do you know what that’s like? When it’sallyou have? Neither of you probably do.”

Vanessa rolled her eyes. “Lydia, I swear to God. You may be smarter than me, but you’re not smarter than Joan, so drop it. Just drop it. I’ve tried to be cool, but you’re really pressing on my nerves,” she said.

“It’s fine,” Joan said. “She’s fine.”

“She’s not, actually,” Vanessa said. And then she looked at Lydia. “You’re not.”

“You don’t like me. I get it,” Lydia said. “I’mused to it.Not many people like me. And I understand why, because I don’t care about you as much as I care about myself and it’s obvious. I don’t even know how to hide it.”

Vanessa shook her head. Griff buried his face in his hands and sighed. Joan kept listening.

“I’m just trying to tell you that I understand that you must have something going for you that I don’t have,” Lydia said. “Something I could learn from. I don’t know how to do that yet, but I do see it. I do see how great you two are. You have skills I am lacking. And I need to listen to you.”

Joan smiled at her. You had to keep the bar low with Lydia, but if you did, she would eventually surprise you.

“Go home and get some sleep,” Vanessa said.

Lydia nodded, and Griff led her out of the bar. As he left, he glanced back over his shoulder to give Joan an indecipherable look. It made her exceedingly aware that she and Vanessa were alone now. The beers she’d had were swirling around her head, which made it easier to look Vanessa in the eye.

---