Yes.
My suitcase was inside my house.
That felt close enough.
The second message was from Annie.
May I send you something unrelated to the interview?
I stared at it.
Hank pretended not to watch.
Me:Define unrelated.
Her answer came quickly.
Annie:No media. No feelings. No jewelry.
Me:That last category is very specific.
A photograph arrived.
A gray hotel chair stood in the corner of a gray hotel room.
No one was using it.
Beneath the photograph:
It knows what it did.
I laughed before I could stop myself.
Hank smiled.
“Tell her hello.”
“I didn’t say who texted.”
“You don’t laugh at your mother like that.”
“I laugh at my mother.”
“Not voluntarily.”
I typed:
I hope you’re not sitting on the floor for the joke.
Annie:I’m on the bed. Rachel believes the chair is decorative.
Me:Rachel thinks granola bars are lunch.
Annie:This remains our most serious disagreement.
The messages stopped there.
No request to call.