Chương 8
She breathed out.
“I’ll post a correction.”
“You don’t need to defend me.”
“I need to correct what I implied.”
“Yes.”
She waited.
“Are we done?”
Adrian looked down at the ring finger of his left hand, absurdly bare though men’s engagement rings had never interested him.
“Yes.”
The word hurt.
Vanessa did not respond immediately.
When she did, her voice was almost ordinary.
“Okay.”
He swallowed.
“Okay.”
“I’m sorry about the chair.”
“I believe you.”
“I’m not sure that helps.”
“It doesn’t.”
Another pause.
“Goodbye, Adrian.”
“Goodbye.”
She ended the call.
The driver continued through traffic.
Nothing outside changed.
A man pushed a stroller across the intersection. Someone in a red jacket came out of a bakery carrying two boxes. A parking enforcement officer tucked a ticket beneath a windshield wiper.
Adrian pressed his fingertips to his eyes.
He did not cry.
He wished he could.
Three days later Maya learned she still had a job.
Lena called at 8:07 in the morning.
“The management company reviewed the report.”
Maya sat at her mother’s kitchen table in Savannah wearing pajamas and holding a spoon over a bowl of cereal.
“And?”
“You are receiving a written warning for inappropriate verbal engagement with a guest.”
Maya let the spoon drop.
“That’s corporate for I’m not fired.”
“Yes.”
“Do I have to sign something?”
“Yes.”
“Does it say I’m sorry?”
“No.”
“Excellent.”
Lena sighed.
“You are impossible.”
“My mother says that.”
Her mother, standing at the counter, pointed at herself and mouthed, I do not.
Maya ignored her.
Lena continued.
“The safety officer separately noted that moving an occupied wheelchair without the user’s permission can constitute unsafe physical interference.”
“So Vanessa’s complaint helped establish the thing she was complaining about.”
“Life is occasionally efficient.”
Maya smiled.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me. Come back for the next charter on Monday.”
“I will.”
“And Maya?”
“Yeah?”
“Do not tell anyone to leave their spouse, fiancé, girlfriend, boyfriend, mistress, financial adviser, personal trainer, or emotional support astrologer.”
Maya laughed.
“Understood.”
“I added the last two for you.”
“I assumed.”
When the call ended, Maya’s mother set a mug of coffee in front of her.
“You’re keeping the job?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Then her mother sat down.
“So who is Adrian?”
Maya stared.
“Lena talks loudly.”
“You were across the room.”
“You talk loudly.”
Maya picked up her cereal.
“He’s no one.”
“Mm.”
“Mom.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You made a sound.”
“I’m allowed.”
“He was a guest.”
“Was?”
“He is no longer on the yacht.”
“Is he alive?”
“Yes.”
“Then was seems premature.”
Maya stood.
“I’m going to take a shower.”
Her mother drank her coffee.
“Wear the blue shirt if you’re meeting no one.”
Maya turned.
“What?”
Her mother smiled innocently.
Maya’s phone buzzed on the table.
Adrian.
Her mother looked at it.
Then at Maya.
“Blue.”
Maya took the phone and left the kitchen.
Adrian’s message was simple.
Did they fire you?
Maya answered:
No.
His reply came immediately.
Good.
Then:
I was prepared to buy the yacht.
She wrote:
That would have been a disproportionate response.
He answered:
Melissa used the same phrase.
Maya smiled.
Another message appeared.
Vanessa corrected the post.
Maya had seen it.
Vanessa’s statement was brief.
My earlier post implied Adrian misrepresented his medical condition. That implication was unfair and incorrect. His mobility remains limited, and I should not have commented publicly about private health matters. Our relationship has ended. I wish him well.
It did not mention the shove.
The internet had mostly moved on anyway.
Another celebrity breakup had replaced them by lunchtime.
Maya typed:
I saw.
Adrian wrote:
People seem disappointed by how boring the truth is.
Truth has terrible marketing.
Agreed.
Then nothing for a minute.
Maya set the phone on her dresser.
It buzzed again.
Would it be inappropriate if I asked whether I could see you when you’re back north?
She stared.
Her first feeling was warmth.
Her second was alarm.
Her third was irritation at herself for having both.
She typed several answers and deleted them.
Finally:
Yes.
The typing indicator appeared.
Then disappeared.
She added:
But you can ask anyway.
His answer took longer.
Coffee?
Coffee.
No yacht.
Absolutely no yacht.
The following Tuesday Adrian arrived at a coffee shop in Newport in the wheelchair.
He considered using the cane.
That irritated him enough that he deliberately left it in the car.
The choice felt small and important.
Maya was already there, sitting near the window with a paperback beside her cup.
She wore dark jeans and a navy sweater. Her hair was down rather than in the neat low bun he associated with the Meridian.
For a moment he did not recognize her.
Not because she looked different.
Because she looked like someone who belonged to herself.
On the yacht, everyone belonged partly to the job.
She looked up.
“You came.”
“You sound surprised.”
“I gave it thirty percent.”
“That low?”
“You’re rich.”
“That is a strange reason to expect unreliability.”
“It’s not the money. It’s the assistants.”
“I have two.”
“See?”
He positioned the chair across from her.
“I left them home.”
“Very brave.”
“I thought so.”
A barista approached.
Adrian ordered black coffee.
Maya looked offended.
“No cream?”
“No.”
“Sugar?”
“No.”
“That’s bleak.”
“I like coffee.”
“You like punishment.”
The barista tried not to smile.
Adrian noticed and almost laughed.
After she left, Maya asked, “How are the legs?”
“Still attached.”
“Excellent start.”
“I walked thirty-seven feet yesterday.”
Her face brightened.
Then she caught herself.
“Was that good?”
“Yes.”
“Then good.”
He appreciated the correction.
People often celebrated walking before asking whether he wanted to.
“Erin cried,” he said.
“Your terrifying therapist?”
“She claims something was in her eye.”
“What?”
“Professional integrity.”
Maya smiled.
The coffee arrived.
For half an hour they discussed almost nothing that mattered.
Her accounting class.
His hatred of sparkling water.
May you like
Her mother’s argument with a neighbor over a magnolia tree.
The strange amount of money yacht guests spent on bottled water while refusing to drink tap water in cities with perfectly safe tap water.
