Page 64 of Truth, Lies, and Second Dates
“I know,” the rep replied quietly. “Again, I’m sorry. It’s not a punishment; it won’t cut into your sick leave or vacation time. It’s a literal paid vacation from us to you.”
“Well, golly, when you put it that way, I should bethankful.”
“Well, no,” Jan replied in a meek voice utterly unlike her normal briskly sarcastic tone. “Just that it won’t cost you anything.”
“You mean in terms of money,” Ava said flatly.
“Well. Yes.”
She sighed. “Anything else?”
“For now, no.”
“You’ll keep me posted.”
“I note that wasn’t a question—”
“Picked up on that, didja?”
“—and yes, absolutely, Ava. I will keep you posted.”
“All right. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Goodbye. And again, I’m v—”
Childish, she knew, but she couldn’t handle one more apology from Jan, and ended the call with a stab of her index finger.
Grounded.
Indefinitely.
Fuck.
Thirty-Four
Ava hopped off the Green Line at the Kenmore station and thought, not for the first time, that for a city whose streets were paved cow paths, it wasn’tthathard to navigate. Or maybe all pilots felt that way. Maybe any transit system was a piece of cake once you had to land at Nepal’s Lukla Airport. (Mountains + short runway + no lights×no air traffic controllers = brace for impact.)
It was a relief to be off the subway; she’d fumed from State to Cleveland Circle. But when she’d boarded after the meeting, she felt… not better, exactly, but less out of control and impulsive. Even better, it wasn’t hard to find Geniuscon; she followed the signs, several of which offered lectures she didn’t understand (EULER DIAGRAM YOUR DISJOINT SETS!), Solutions to problems she didn’t have (HOW TO ENUNCIATE WHEN YOU STILL HAVE DECIDUOUS TEETH), and programs she’d never heard of (EXTRAORDINARY DAVIDSON*FELLOWS CHECK-INHERE!). Were there ordinary Davidson Fellows? Did they check in somewhere else?
Finding Tom and the little family he’d made wasn’t difficult, either.
(Family hemade? Are you jealous?)
Well. Maybe. She’d been a family of one for close to a decade. By choice! Entirely by choice. It wasn’t like she lost a bet or was cursed by an evil fairy (“Never shalt thou marry or bring forth children; thou art condemned to Lean Cuisine andCooking for Onecookbooks! Forever! Ahhh-ha-ha-ha!”).
Anyway.Hannah, Tom, and Abe were clustered just outside the entrance leading to a hall that, she assumed, contained any number of genius inventions: time-traveling toilets, a gun that shot Twizzlers, maybe an app that knew to automatically swipe right when you were horny. (Well. Maybe not that last one.) Appropriately enough, the sign directly over Hannah’s head read,WE’RE NOT FAMOUS… YET.
“Ava!”
“Hi, Hannah. Hi, guys. Sorry to be late.”
“We’re running late, too.” Abe shook her hand. “So don’t fret.” He was wearing spotless jeans, sneakers, a dark blue T-shirt that read,I’M ONLY HERE BECAUSE THE SERVER IS DOWN, and a bemused expression. “Aren’t you a sight!”
“Yeah, I don’t know what that means.”
Tom, whose face had lit up (gratifying!) when he spotted her, picked up on her mood. “What’s happened? Are you all right? Did someone give you some trouble? Is that why you’re behind schedule?”
“Nothing like that. Turns out my fake drug test results got e-mailed to a few hundred people. I’m grounded while the IT department looks for the crack in the wall.”
