Holly
Over the weekend, I give Jane her private computer lesson, and the two of us bend over laughing because her avatar kind of looks like Mikey, and she keeps making it do a ridiculous dance. When we’re done, Cole declares we’re owed a treat for all of our hard work, and I’m not even disappointed when the treats turn out to be ice cream sundaes.
We go to a drive-thru, and I try not to think it’s because he doesn’t want anyone to know we’re a thing. When Jane goes to her grandparents’ on Sunday, I spend the day with Cole. At his request, I actually teach him what Jane’s been doing on Scratch, and he creates his own avatar. We also watch a terrible movie that we picked by random selection, and we made up our own Cinema Sins for it. This time wedomake it to a bed, and when we have sex, he stares into my eyes.
In my head, I’m constantly picking at that imaginary flower.He loves me. He loves me not. He loves me.
It doesn’t help that Rowan, who’s given me a couple of oblique warnings and looked very pouty while doing so, keeps giving me anxious glances that have me swearing so much we’ll be able to go to Disney World soon.
Monday passes in a Monday blur—Bryn is fielding questions from the beta testers, many of them of thedo I really need to wait another couple of weeks to find out who this is?variety (answer: yes). I’m working on coding bugs, like how dear Judith keeps redacting things that sometimes don’t need redacting. She won’t be withholding so much information once we’re out of beta, but we still won’t want her to reveal too much identifying information before people meet each other and decide the other person is not a psychopath. Other team members are working on the Q and A we’re arranging for the beta testers.
Each day, dear Horacio sends me an equally inane but different text:
Horacio: Nothing to report today, chief.
Horacio: Negatory. Waiting for Tuesday. Just sitting here on the dock of the bay (metaphorically, we’re not near any natural bodies of water).
Horacio: Say, can you get me a job with the NSA?
Horacio: Wait a second, did they see that? If they did, is that good?
Horacio: Hey, NSA, you do good work. Two thumbs up for you.
Horacio: Do you know how to open this?(Accompanied by a photo of a container of coffee creamer).
Finally, Tuesday rolls around, greeted by an early morning text from Horacio.
Horacio:Today’s the day. I love the smell of napalm in the morning (that’s a movie quote).
Me:An inappropriate one.
Horacio:Crap, is it? Why? Does napalm smell bad?
Good grief.
The day rolls along, the way days do, and I head to Tech Time, everything inside me a little elevated. What’s Horacio doing? Has he fucked up everything yet?
The odds are high. I’m beginning to come around to Cole’s heavy pessimism about this whole venture, but it’s too late to call off my attack Chihuahua. The plan is for me to bring Jane to the brewery after class so we can discuss it in person.
When Cole suggested it, I felt a weird fluttering in my stomach, like it was full of butterflies. I’d figured that was a bullshit thing made up by matchmakers and romance novelists, but no. It seriously happened to me. Because Cole trusts me with his daughter, and that’s the ultimate trust one person can show another. “What’s with you?” Mikey asks, giving me a suspicious look. “Did you drink too much caffeine again? You said you’d warn everyone next time.”
I pat him on the shoulder. “I lied. How goes it with Applejack?”
He beams at me. “She thinks Christian Bale was the best Batman.”
“Is that a good thing?”
“It’s a sign we’ll be cinematically compatible.”
I give him another pat as the kids start streaming in. “Whatever gets your motor going, buddy.”
The kids are beside themselves excited when I pop out the spin chart I made. I mean, I felt morally obligated to make them one after my success with the ABC one I made for Cole and Jane. It’s not for which weapons they can make (Mikey insisted that was inappropriate, and for once I listened), but for accessories. Eloise is the only one who’s not into the activity, and that’s because it’s decided by chance, not by their abilities.
We’re about halfway through the class when Jane tugs on my sweater. “Holly, I need to talk to you. This really can’t wait.”
“Are you feeling okay?” I ask, putting my hand to her forehead on reflex.
She snorts. “Yeah, I stopped having a fever almost a week ago.”
