“I tried. Living here ruined me for New York winters.” He noticed Lizette and introduced himself. “Hi there, I’m Aaron.”
“Lizette, and I knowexactlywho you are.”
Aaron fought a smile.
“Are you taking advantage of Resident Free Tuesday too?” Emmett said, eager to change the subject.
“Actually, I work here. I run the education department.”
“You’rekidding.”
“Can I show you guys around? Maybe give you a tour up California Tower? It’s a great day for it.”
“Maybe you can show Emmett your bells,” Lizette joked.
“They do sound like bells, don’t they?” Aaron said professionally. “It’s actually a carillon, an instrument of chimes struck by hammers controlled from a preprogrammed keyboard. The sound is amplified electronically and projected across the park. Want to see? Come on, I’ll show you.”
“But we didn’t buy the add-on,” Emmett said.
Aaron winked. “I won’t tell if you won’t.”
Before Emmett could object, Aaron was already leading them toward the stairs up to the tower, explaining to Lizette how the carillon could be programmed to play pop songs like “Sweet Caroline” and “California Dreamin’.” Emmett panicked, imagining himself sweating, panting, clutching the walls as he scaled the tower. Bad enough in front of strangers, but in front ofAaron? He’d rather throw himself off the public viewing deck.
Aaron was leading them up a flight of tiled stairs the color of drying blood. The carillon tolled ominously.Dong! Dong! Dong!
“I can’t do this,” Emmett erupted.
They stopped on the stairs to regard him.
“Sorry, but I—I’m afraid of heights.”
“No you’re not, shut up,” Lizette said.
“Yes, Iam.”
Her expression flattened; she knew him well enough to know what he was doing. No doubt he’d hear about it later.
“Too bad,” Aaron said. “Lizette, how about you?”
Emmett answered for her: “We should probably go. MOPA’s showing a movie we wanted to catch.”
“Right. Okay.” Slightly deflated, Aaron came back down. “I should probably get back to work anyway.”
Lizette threw Emmett a look as they headed back toward the exit.
“Well, it was great running into you,” Aaron said, pausing before the entrance vestibule.
“Really great.” Emmett both meant it and didn’t. As much as he hated Aaron’s seeing him like this, his heart throbbed with a familiar ache at the thought of their parting.
“You two should get together sometime,” Lizette said. “Maybe you could give Emmett some career advice.”
“Oh, where are you teaching?”
Emmett could kill her. He had no choice now but to admit to his disastrous student-teaching experience. Condensed to a few sentences, it made him sound even more pathetic. “I’d love to get back into education, though. Maybe something like you do, working for a nonprofit.”
“Totally. Well, I’d be happy to hook up sometime, take a look at your résumé.”
Emmett’s heart lifted. “That’d be great.”
