“Avery?”
He leapt what must have been at least a foot straight in the air. Meredith stood in the office’s open doorway.
“Yeah?”
“You okay?”
“Mm-hmm.” His smile still ached.
She eyed him, but when he didn’t say anything else, she shrugged and held the door open. “Your uncle wants to see you.”
Shit. He knew.He knew he knew he knew, and he was going to be so mad or disappointed or resigned, and Avery couldn’t decide which was the worst possible option.
“I’ll be right there.”
He did one more tour on social media, but found no new inspiration. Instead, he sent a quick text to Linc.
Got the job!
Feeling like the biggest liar on the planet, he added a couple confetti emojis and a smiley face.
Uncle Theo and the two black suits were still in the office when Avery went back in. He paused at his desk and checked his computer. Wanda’s email was there.
Congratulations!said the subject line.
He couldn’t do this.
“Avery, come on in,” Uncle Theo said as he entered the back office. “Phil. Steve. This is my nephew, Avery.”
“Nice to meet you.” Avery shook their hands. His palms were clammy.
“Broken nose?” one of the men said. Avery didn’t actually know which one was which.
He put a hand to his black eye—now a more reptilian green. “Yeah.”
“I did that once when I was about your age,” Phil-Steve said. “I was in a beer league. Took a baseball to the face. Busted my nose and my cheekbone. I couldn’t see properly for three weeks.”
“That sounds really painful.”
“You have no idea. How’d you do yours?” Phil-Steve smiled expectantly up at him.
“It’s a long story.” Avery glanced at Uncle Theo, whose eyes were wide with barely suppressed horror. He knew what had happened—sort of. Mostly.
Aunt Brenda had been hysterical when she’d seen Avery’s face. She’d wanted to take him to the hospital to make sure no bone fragments were lodged in his brain. He’d sworn he was fine, and only a frantic phone call to Uncle Theo had saved them all a trip to the emergency room. Theo agreed with Avery’s opinion that if there were bone fragments, they would have killed him days ago. But when Aunt Brenda asked what had happened, Avery said he’d slipped in the shower, because he still wasn’t sure if he could announce he and Linc were a couple.
“Why don’t we get to the point?” the other man—Steve-Phil?—said.
“Yes.” Uncle Theo’s expression was relieved. “Yes, that’s a good idea. Avery, pull up a chair.”
Except Uncle Theo didn’t have any extra chairs. Phil-Steve and Steve-Phil had taken the two reserved for guests in Theo’s office. Avery went back out to the main space, grabbed the wheeled chair, and pushed it in.
“Shut the door,” Uncle Theo said as Avery reentered. He did, shooting a nervous glance at Meredith, who watched them all with intense focus, like the climax of a movie about corporate espionage.
When Avery closed the door and settled into his chair, Uncle Theo said, “I know you’ve seen Phil and Steve here before.”
Why did it feel like he’d been called down the principal’s office? Was he supposed to pick out Phil and Steve from a lineup? Finger them for spraypaintingMs. Clayton wears combat bootson the back of the gym wall? “Sure.”
“Phil works for the bank.”
