“I’m sorry, Hal,” she says. “I’d be really sorry to stop working for you. But can I let you know my plans in a day or two? I still have a lot to figure out.”
“I’m going for a swim,” Jordan announces. The rain is still coming down.
“Doesn’t look much like swimming weather,” observes Calvin.
“I don’t need sun to swim,” says Jordan. “My veins are already part ice.” She steals a glance at her father to see if he’s grinning at that, and he is, and that’s how she knows everything is going to be all right between them.
She walks onto the patio, holding her phone in one hand. She needs to do this now, before she swims. Without listening to the latestvoicemail, she closes her eyes, does a ten-second meditation (a length of time recommended by zero meditation experts), and calls Bernadette.
No greeting, but that’s typical. “Did you do what I needed you to do?”
“I’m on vacation.”
“Screw vacation,” says Bernadette. Jordan winces. Bernadette is so harsh. “You know we never really get a vacation in our business. Did you call the reporter?”
“No,” says Jordan.
“What?”
“I said no.”
“You need to call now.”
“No.”
“Tomorrow, at the very, very latest.”
Jordan says nothing.
Bernadette says, “If you don’t call that reporter—"
Jordan knows what Bernadette is going to say, so she says it for her. “Then I’m not going to have a job with you anymore.”
“Exactly.”
It’s time, Jordan thinks. The time is now. She says, “I can’t in good conscience call that reporter and say what you want me to say.”
There’s a long silence. Then: “Why not?”
“Because I’d be lying.”
Bernadette says, “What?”
“Are you totally forgetting that you sexually harassed me?”
“That Iwhat?”
“At the party, Bernadette. On Memorial Day.”
“Oh, please, Jordan. Don’t flatter yourself. I’m not even gay; how could Isexually harassyou?”
For an eighth of a second Jordan doubts herself. She’d beendrinking too; is there a chance she false-memoried this? Is she making a mountain out of a molehill?
No. There is no chance. Itisa mountain. Bernadette is a bully and a liar and a line-crosser. She’s excellent at mind games. She will say and do whatever she needs to say and do to make any situation move in her direction.
“You did,” she says. “You put your hand on my crotch. You threatened me when I turned you down. I could file a civil claim!”
There’s a short pause, enough to let Jordan know that Bernadette is nervous. Not that she’d ever tell Jordan that. Then Bernadette says, “Don’t be ridiculous. I was just playing around. If you don’t call Samantha and get this taken care of, you can forget what I said about your career. I’ll put Irina on the partner track.”
