Page 32 of All That Jazz

She cuts a pointed look at me before looking at him again. “I will meet with you to explain this, but it has to be a private meeting between the two of us.”

I narrow my eyes and march across the courtyard toward them. “So, you planning to fuck my manager, too?”

She arches one eyebrow at me, ignores me, and turns to Meyer again. “Actually, I think I’ll pass given that this is clearly a toxic environment, and it would be best for me to limit my interaction with yourteamas much as possible while I’m here. So, if you both don’t mind, I’m in the middle of a meeting.”

With that, she turns back to the screen and hits the button again. “Sorry about that, Roger. Yes, the registration site would be the same on our end as it usually is. On the attendee’s end, it would be a basic form that takes their info and payment. Then they would receive a digital ticket with a link to take them directly to the virtual sessions.”

I have half a mind to tellRoger, who’s clearly her boss, exactly what she was up to last night, just to spite her, but Meyer grabs my arm and drags me to the opposite side of the courtyard.

“Get your shit together, Vin,” he hisses. “If you want to have a prayer of not being back on the streets at the end of this fucking lockdown, get your goddamn shit together.”

I gesture at myself. “I need to get my shit together.Ineed to get my shit together.” I point at Ava. “You’rethe one who’s scheduling private meetings with thatcloseted, voyeuristic slut when you should be thinking of what the hell we’re supposed to do about all these cancelled shows.”

“Iam!” he snaps.

“Shhhhh!”Ava hisses at us, and I toss down the cigarette in preparation to stomp back over to her.

Meyer grabs one side of my vest and jerks me farther across the courtyard. “Listen to me, Vin.” He points at Ava. “She is coordinating a virtual conference. That’s her job. Do you have any idea what that means?”

I shrug flippantly and scoff. “No?”

“It means people ‘attend,’”he says curling his fingers in air quotes, “that conference from their homes. It means theypayfor aticketthat allows them to watch the conference on their computer. Or their phone. Or their friggin’ iPad. But her company still getspaid.” He releases my vest and slaps the back of his hand against my chest. “That’show we’re gonna deal with the cancelled shows.”

He starts to step away from me but pauses. “You know what’s actuallylucky right now? The fact that someone with her professional skill set happensto be quarantined with us.”

Meyer walks back over to Ava and discreetly slips one of her legal pads toward himself and scribbles something on it, then slides it back toward her. She glances at him skeptically before reading it, pausing for a moment, and then scribbles something back to him. They do this juvenile, note-passing bullshit for a few seconds before Meyer sets down the pen and presses his palms together like he’s praying or some shit, then dips his head as he mouths the words, “Thank you.”

Ava smiles and nods back at him before turning to her screen again.

Fuck that.

Meyer approaches me again, hands in his pockets, and stops right in front of me. “I’mmeeting with her. You’re not invited. Don’t try to join us, and don’t fight with me over this because I’m saving your ass right now. If you fight with me and throw a wrench into her helping us, this pandemic is going to end you.”

He pivots and marches away, but pure indignation over the whole situation causes me to holler after him. “If four bullets to the chest couldn’t end me, this can’t either. Unless you forgot who the fuck I am, Lowenstein.”

He doesn’t even acknowledge me, pulling the doors shut behind him and leaving me alone in the courtyard with Ava. I glance at her and catch her looking at me. Our eyes hold for a second before she looks back at her screen, but I continue to stare at her. After a number of minutes, she doesn’t react, so I stroll across the courtyard and perch on the table next to her pile of work shit, then proceed to stare even harder at her.

She doesn’t even flinch. Another handful of minutes pass while she just randomly clicks through different screens, pausing only to type for a second, and I glare at her.

Nobodyfucking ignoresme.

“Thanks, guys. Talk to you soon,” Ava finally says, then clicks once more and pulls out her earbuds, turning to me. “Can I help you?”

“No,” I clip.

She folds her arms across her slender chest. “Then why have you been sitting there, staring at me like you need help with something for the past five minutes?”

I shrug, planting my palm on the table as I lean toward her. “This is my place. You’re staying here for free. Looks like I can do whatever I want, including stare at you while you’re using my WiFi.”

She points at a small, white, square device. “I have a mobile hotspot, so the WiFi I’m using is mine.” She reaches across the table and stuffs her hand into a red leather tote bag, then pulls out an actual checkbook. Acheckbook. She clicks the pen and starts scrawling on it, then pauses to pull something up on her screen, and finally finishes filling out the check. “Here,” she says, ripping it out and holding it out to me.

I stare down my nose at her, leaving the check hovering in the space between us. “What the fuck is that?”

“This is the amount that it would cost to stay in an Airbnb similar to your house for the remainder of the time we’ll be in this lockdown.”

I raise my eyebrows.

She shakes the check at me. “Go ahead and take it. Meyer says you’re about to be strapped for cash, and I’ve got plenty in savings for exactly this kind of situation.”

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