Ivy
Define major.
Me
Pregnant. Also told her Alex isn’t the dad.
Ivy
AT WORK?
Me
In front of the potted plants and Caroline.
Ivy
I’m screaming.
Me
I might in fact die.
I straighten my posture and adjust my headset.
The magazines are still perfect. The tea is still undrinkable. The world has not ended. Yet.
From the outside, everything looks normal.
From the inside, I’ve just changed the trajectory of several lives before ten thirty in the morning.
Another call lights up the phone.
I answer it, voice steady.
“Dubois & Woods, good morning.”
Because, obviously, no matter what explodes in my personal life, the reception desk must remain operational.
And that, more than anything else, tells me something has to change.
10
Masterclass in Feelings
Geoff
I’m early.
Too early.
The classroom is already set up, the projector light blinking like it’s daring me to touch it and my notes stacked neatly in front of me. I’ve run out of things to check, which means all that’s left is to sit here marinating in first-day nerves.
I pull out my phone. My thumb hovers.
It’s been two weeks since Christa has dropped the baby bomb on me. We have been texting. Daily. To be fair, initiated by me, because I want to make sure I find out if she needs something... but still. Texting Christa steadies me. That’s probably something I should unpack at some point, but not today.
Me
