The firm has taken on a high-profile case that will require the entire staff to do their part. We’d like to offer you a per diem bonus to begin Thursday, August 14th.
Oh shit, that’s in two days.
The compensation will be $2,000 a day until your previous start date of September 15th when your previously negotiated salary will take precedence.
That’s one month of rent. In a single day.
We look forward to your response.
Respectfully,
Serena Steinfeld
Senior Partner
“Ava?” Tammy’s voice joins in with the words that I’m rereading over and over while dread and excitement play thumb-war inside my skull.
“The firm wants me to start early, T,” I manage.
Silence.
Two days? That’s not enough time. I look out the window at the hills, golden beneath the low hanging sun.
But this is what I worked for. This is the plan.
“How early?” Tammy asks.
I press the reply button and start typing out a response.
“Two days,” I say, answering Tammy and reminding myself of the reality of the offer.
“That’s not enough time,” she says.
And it’s suddenly very clear that, even if I stayed until September 15th, it will never be enough time.
CINQUANTACINQUE
James
Leo is missing in action.
I walked to campus to see if he was working on course designs for the spring semester like Nina said, but his secretary, Julia, informed me he has not been in the office since yesterday. I could check il museo. He’s been hanging around there more than usual. Or check in with Franco. He might be holed up in the cellar taste-testing the Tuesday shipment. But I’d rather find Ava.
We’ve been ignoring the whole unrequited love thing and focusing on the good parts as much as we can without giving too much attention to the mobile of issues spinning over us. But today, Ava needed to check in with reality—call Tammy, reach out to her dad, check in with her new boss. And hopefully, push her flight back to next week.
Verga is sitting on a chaise lounge beside the pool with his muzzle atop his crossed paws. He doesn’t even bother to lift hishead as I pass, sparing his ear a scratch when I catch sight of Ava coming out of the barn in the distance. Even from a hundred yards away, the smile she’s wearing catches in the sunlight and blinds me.
“I milked a goat!” she yells up the hill, her arms up in the air like she’s finished a marathon.
“Sheep—” I begin to correct her, but think better of it and go with, “That’s amazing.”
Nina appears behind her in the doorway.
“Una naturale,” Nina says. “There’s a job here for her if she ever needs one.”
Ava gives a little fist pump and points to the villa.
“I’m gonna wash my hands, then start on the sauce for tonight,” she says as she brushes past me, purposely letting her arm graze against mine. “We’re having company again.”
