“Come now, Lorraine.” My dad said, patting my mother’s hands away and slapping a hand on my shoulder. “He’s our boy. That’ll never change.”
Until you hear about who I’ve been fucking, I thought sharply. Rather than spilling the beans in front of my gossipy teenage sisters, I decided I wanted to partially rip that particular band-aid off before we sat down to the lunch Dad had prepared.
“Um, before we eat, I wanted to tell you both something.” Clearing my throat didn’t erase the nerves I was feeling, but the looks of concern in my parents’ eyes made me go on. “It’s nothing bad but I just want to get it out of the way. I’m dating someone. It’s very new and we’re taking things really slow, on my part because of the divorce being freshly final.”
“Well Wallace, that’s great.” My father said with all the excitement of a kid in a candy store, a lopsided smile brightening his face and making him look years younger.
“Whatever makes you happy, sweetheart,” My mother echoed. “Were you nervous that we’d tell you it was too soon?”
“I was nervous because I’m not dating a human,” I blurted, needing to get it out of me so my appetite for the food my father had prepared could politely return. “I’m dating an Orb.”
Whatever I’d been worried about in regards to their reaction vanished when I saw the delight on their face.
“Wallace,” My father said, his tone dipping down sweetly and potentially decreasing in volume so that my sister’s couldn’t eavesdrop. “We’re not doing a very good job of being your parents if you were worried we’d, I don’t know, kick you out of our house if we found out you were dating an Orb?”
“For goodness sake, honey, you’ve had a focus on Orb politics for how long now?” My mother laughed, looking at her husband as they shared a chuckle. “We’re happy for you, regardless of who or what the person you’re dating does or is. Okay?”
Tears singed my eyelids at their words, but I held them tight enough that they didn’t fall. “Thank you. I’m sorry I thought you’d be anything but supportive of me after, well, everything.” I shook my head. “I shouldn’t have been so worried about telling you that I’m dating an Orb.”
“Wallace is dating an Orb!?” I heard Edie squeal from the dining room.
“Omg, get in here and give us the tea!” Barbie cried.
Laughing together, my parents shrugged in unison. “Not many secrets get kept in this house,” Dad said.
“You can tell us, or not tell us, all about them as we eat, sweetheart.”
“But let’s eat, I’m starving.”
Nodding, I gave my parents a wide smile. What the fuck was I thinking, being nervous? These were the same parents that had bought me front row Cher tickets for Christmas. They’d always supported me, through coming out, through wanting to pursue politics, to having a focus on Orb related political science, to even telling me how proud they were about me creating ORBIT.
Coming home made me feel more in touch with myself than I’d realized. And as I sat down with my family to eat, I knew that I was blessed in every avenue of my life. I needed to acknowledge that more going forward, and I’d be completely unstoppable.
Chapter 28
“So you haveexperience with public speaking?”
Monday mornings weren’t the best for interviews, but I’d wanted to start the next week off on a hopeful note. After going back home to see my parents and feeling so rejuvenated by their positivity, I’d made it a point to scour the pool of candidates that Cassandra Tate, my boss, had sent me the night I’d gotten home after the warehouse incident. I still had a live televised conference to do addressing what had happened at the warehouse later on in the day but I wanted to tackle replacing Maxim first. Now that Maxim was officially fired, I needed a new assistant. And this time, I wasn’t taking any chances. I was only looking at Orb applicants. Not that Orbs couldn’t hate other Orbs, but I wanted as far away from Hellgrammite as I could get.
Cassandra had launched a full blown investigation on Hellgrammite and its members. Of course, Stacy, or Aspen (I could never get used to that name when referring to her) wasn’t talking, refusing to give the authorities anything to work with. I figured as much. She seemed like the type that would rather die than give information away. Unless she was villain monologuing, as I’d learned firsthand.
So, Sunday evening when I’d gotten back from my parents’ house, I’d put up the ad on all my socials, as well as the official ORBIT website for anyone who was interested in applying for the position of “Executive Assistant to the Director of Orb Affairs”. I’d gotten way more applicants than I’d been expecting, especially considering I’d posted the job on a Sunday. I’d had so many applicants that I was able to interview the best appointed for the job all morning. Cassandra was going to applaud my proactive nature and I’d be able to put Maxim and Stacy behind me.
I still felt for Maxim. I’d made sure to reiterate the blackmail in my official statements to the police, and shot Hudson a call about how he needed to be let go from jail. Maxim had been freed, but I hadn’t heard about what would happen to him beyond that. Mourning Maxim as not just my assistant, but my friend, was hard. I really cared for the kid, and I already knew that once enough time had passed, I’d reach out to him. He was a good kid at heart, he’d just gotten tangled into the web that Stacy was determined to weave, and even though he couldn’t be my assistant anymore, maybe we could work things out to becoming friends again.
My favorite of the candidates that I’d been seeing that morning, letting the board run without me for a little bit of the morning so I could do the interviews, was in front of me. They were the third candidate I’d seen this morning, and given their prior experience, I was already leaning toward offering them the position on the spot.
“Yes,” the hjarq before me said to my question, giving me an enthusiastic nod. “I was in charge of my old community’s youth group before I moved out here to D.C. to be on my own. And I’ve been the personal assistant to a businessman for four years. Granted, that’s been all at home work, but I swear I’m good with people and I’m more than capable of doing this job.”
Even though I knew he was a hjarq, it was hard to tell that he wasn’t human. His skin was a patchwork of caramel and ivory, the vitiligo conditioning his skin making certain parts of his face look like beautiful abstract ink spills. He was honestly a good looking, built man. And if I hadn’t been spoken for, even with our loose status, I might have found myself interested. His yellow eyes were intense, and just like Shelvi on the board, he had a row of barbs surrounding both ears like they were fleshy, metallic ear decorations instead of the source of their power.
“I believe you,” I snickered, holding up a hand to signal to him that he didn’t need to convince me. “Any particular reason you’re seeking other employment?”
“Well…” He looked very nervous all of the sudden, his fire engine red hair being ruffled when his hand roamed through it. “I work for a business that’s owned by…Archibald Rhodes.”
My hackles raised at the mention. I didn’t want to think that this was the only reason he’d been applying, to get close to me, just as Stacy had when she’d sought out Maxim for being my assistant. I shook my mental palace. I couldn’t think that way. He must have seen the frustration come across my face, because he quickly added, “And when I heard the news about the missing petrylle, I couldn’t in good conscience be affiliated with that. My direct boss said he didn’t have any ties to the Rhodes family, but him simply being an owner was enough reason for me to look for other opportunities.”
“I appreciate your candor.” I nodded, meaning every word. I had a long way to go in trusting people that brought up the Rhodes family, but I was determined to move beyond it so I could focus on the future and not let it rule me in the present. “Honestly, I think you’d be a great fit here at ORBIT.”
