Chapter Twenty-Nine

Clarice

Clarice doesn’t want to upset Mikel, but she feels she has to tell him at some point that she’s getting a little tired of Ray. It’s not really Ray himself that she’s annoyed with, but more so that her and Mikel’s lives seem to be revolving around his. Wherever they go, and whatever they do, it has something to do with Ray. She likes him and all, but sometimes she just wants to have some time to be alone with Mikel.

Lately, she’s been feeling left out by the two of them. He and Ray have constantly been talking quietly a lot about something that they obviously don’t want her to hear. Sometimes they even quit talking altogether whenever she’s close enough to overhear them. For a while, she hoped maybe that he might’ve been talking with Ray about proposing to her. It’s when she heard the words “I’ll put an end to it myself if I have to”, that she started to feel hurt.

When Ray found her crying earlier, out by the side of his house, he assured her that Mikel would absolutely never leave her and that he was madly in love with her. He even gave her a big tight hug and told her that he wouldn’t want any other woman but her to marry his best friend. That meant a lot coming from him. He has no problem hurting people’s feelings, from what she has seen, so he wouldn’t have said that unless he truly meant it.

Still, she finds herself concerned about whatever it is they’re keeping from her. The seriousness of their discussions is quite evident. She’s never seen them act like this before. She doesn’t want to pry, because it’s obvious they don’t intend to involve her in it, but it makes her feel like they don’t trust her, and that’s not right.

When Mikel suddenly becomes much more attentive towards her, she assumes Ray must’ve said something to him. It’s nice, but it’s not the same when he has to be told. While Ray is busy doing something else in the house, Mikel comes out and sits right next to her on another one of the stumps around the fire pit. He hugs her across his side and rests his head against hers.

“I’m sorry about that sweetie. I didn’t mean to keep you waiting like this. It wasn’t very nice of me. Hey, how about we all go out again tonight, huh? Somewhere nice this time, like the Conifer. How 'bout that?” He gives her another tight little hug and smooches her on the top of her head. It does get her to smile.

“I’d really, really like that Mikel. Can I see if Valerie and Aaron can make it.”

“Well yeah, that’s who I meant.”

She immediately messages her sister and looks back up at him. “What about Ray?”

“No, he’s was hoping to take some time off this go around, with his arm ‘n all.”

“How come I’ve never seen Ray with anyone?”

“Well…” He scratches at the top of his head. “Most city girls wouldn’t be all that interested in a country boy like him, especially not one this far out of town anyway.” He looks down and kicks at the dirt. “That and Ray has kinda soiled his reputation with all the girls around here, ya might say.”

She looks out towards the house, with a smirk. “That dog.”

While he packs up the rest of their things into the truck, she makes sure to thank Ray for his kindness, especially towards her. Just when she about had enough of him, he turned out to be the friend she really needed. It doesn’t feel like he is only Mikel’s friend anymore, but hers too.

One thing is for sure, she’s been out to his place enough times to know the roads by heart now. This is the last night she’s going to spend out here because of Mikel getting too loaded to drive them back, at least for a while. She’ll drive his big truck home in the damn dark herself next time if she has to.

Even though she’s a little annoyed with him, she still smiles and rests her head on his shoulder while he drives her back to town. She can tell he’s still brooding, but he at least wraps his arm around her and tries to not be mopey. Being that it’s pretty early in the day, they stop at his place first for a few hours, to spend some alone time together. One thing he is good at, is making up for it when he’s been an ass.

When Mikel retires to the couch in front of the projector, he turns the news on for Clarice. She plops down next to him and snuggles up against him. He massages her neck, and rubs his thumb around up under her hair the way she likes. It relaxes her like picking a cat up by its nape. He could do this all day, every day, and it’d never get old. He never thought he’d fall for a woman this hard, especially a city girl like her.

Something in the back of his mind is still making him worry a bit about her though. Over the last week or so, he’s noticed that her personality has started to change a little. At first, he thought it was just her settling in, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. She’s been fairly quiet and less energetic than usual, which has never happened before.

He doesn’t want to ask why, because he might come off as sounding critical of her. No matter how he tries to think and word what he means to say correctly, it never seems to work with women. He hasn’t completely given up trying to speak their language yet, but most of the time, he finds it best to just not say anything.

“Hey, munchkin? You want anything to eat?”

“No, not really. I kinda wanted to wait till dinner, so I have a good appetite.”

He tries to hide the concern on his face this time, but she still notices it. It’s a little worrying because he’s never seen her go even more than a single hour without at least a snack, big dinner or not. Still intent on making up for not paying close enough attention to her earlier, he refuses to check his messages while they cuddle. He strictly gives her all of his attention, but despite that, she still appears to be lost in her thoughts. He can hardly keep a conversation rolling with her.

Coincidentally, his phone has vibrated at least four times since he turned the sound off, one right after another. Whoever is trying to get hold of him, it must be for something urgent. When Clarice gets up to go use the restroom, he checks what the fuss is all about. There’s an email from a Werker employee that he does not recognize, a few missed calls from Ray, and then a voicemail from him as well. Not wanting to talk on the phone with him while Clarice is around, he checks the message first.

“Hey man, you need to call me ASAP alright. I just got this email from the big boss about hunting down Five-Two, who is aparently missing. Sounds like they want it done, like right now. What the hell is this about? Um… oh yeah, and did you get an email too? Check the incentive out bud. Call me.”

He immediately opens up the email and about spits the beer out of his mouth. Despite the handsome collection fee, he’s already wishing they hadn’t asked him to do the job. Valerie has become attached to the prototype and is going to be distraught if it’s taken from her. If she ever finds out either he or Ray is involved, it’s not going to be good at all. The hardest part will be making sure Ray keeps his mouth shut at work and not gloat about it to her.

It takes a while for him to decide whether to agree to the job or not. He can’t afford to put this big of a problem between himself and Clarice’s sister, but for an easy twenty thousand under the table, he can’t quite say no so easily.

One thing is for sure, he can’t let that abomination get all cozy with who he hopes will be his family someday. Getting rid of it sooner is going to be way better than later. It has to be done one way or another. Besides, if he doesn’t do it, Ray will, and that’ll be a lot messier.

Almost ten minutes go by before he realizes that Clarice hasn’t come back from the bathroom yet. Just as he’s about to get up to check on her, he hears the bathroom door handle turn. Now she looks like she hasn’t slept in days. When she sits down, he notices that she has washed her face and doesn’t have any makeup on anymore. He assumes that it might be why she’s looking a little more peckish. She already has such light skin, but she somehow looks even paler now.

She looks at him with a brief and small smile without saying anything and then curls up next to him again. He can feel the coolness of her hands when she wraps them around his thigh. He lays an arm around her and puts his hand over hers to warm them back up. She settles in like a little bird and falls asleep in mere minutes. While she’s konked out, he takes the time to message ray about returning Five to Werker.

“Alright, we're gonna do it, but I want it done right. I want the damn thing gone too, but there’s no need to make a mess out of this. I can’t have any of this getting back to either of us. I can’t have this turn out to be another butcher job ok?”

“Sure bud, I understand. I know this one’s a little close to home for you.”

“Alright. I’ve got to think about how to do this the easy way for a bit, then I’ll let you know.”

“I’ll be right here.”

At about five-o-clock, he wakes Clarice up. She had said she wanted to stay the night with her sister again, so she’ll have a few things to gather up before they leave. Everyone is planning to meet up at her and Valerie’s place to get ready and then they’ll leave from there. Now that she won’t be going home with him, his plan for Five will work out perfectly. While she is busy gathering up her things, he scrambles to load up some things of his own into the truck.

Counting on Five to be tagging along for dinner, he throws whatever he can quickly find in a duffle bag and throws it in the back of the truck. On such short notice, the best he can think to gather is some big cable ties, a wide roll of heavy vinyl tape, and his big canvas tarp. Even though the email from the board explicitly instructed that they bring the prototype back undamaged, he hasn’t made up his mind whether he’ll honor that request or not.

He doesn’t have a gun like Ray, but he does have a good alternative, in case the thing puts up a fight. His big two-pound ball-peen hammer is still under the seat in his truck where he left it. He has every intention of tricking Five, but if that doesn’t work, the job will still get done. He knows she’s smart and she’s been underestimated once already. He can’t take any chances with her this time.

When it’s time for them to leave, it’s Clarice that is questioning whether he is the one that is alright or not. She is looking again as good as ever, while he is now nervous and even a little sweaty. He has her go ahead and take the lead in her little sedan and follows behind her in his truck. All the way to the apartment, he repeatedly goes over every little step of what he has to do.

In the back of his mind, Mikel finds himself already deciding to destroy Five either way. He just can’t take the chance of the thing saying something, or somehow getting back out. Valerie is a smart and responsible woman, but he is not comfortable with the thing existing under even her influences. Handing the robot over to the shysty board might even be a worse move, and just like last time, all he’ll have to say is that it attacked him. He could smash her up, maybe run her over with his truck, and then everything will work out for the best for everyone.

Everyone at work is already suspicious of her, after having broken Ray’s arm like she did. No one would question whether he did it in self-defense or not. Maybe they’ll never make another one after both of them prove to be dangerous. While he finds a place to park in the underground garage, he messages Ray one more time.

“Alright, so long as everything goes according to plan, I’ll be able to handle the robot myself. It’s kind of short notice, but I think tonight is going to work best. I’ve got a good opening, but if I need you, be ready.”

“By yourself! Ballsy! K man, just be careful with that one. Hell, I’m nervous, and I’m fifty miles away! You sure?”

“Yeah. I’ll be in touch. It’ll be late though. So don’t freak out. Stay put unless I call for you.”

Mikel knows it’ll be better all the way around to not bring Ray in on this job. His presence alone would make Five go completely crazy momma-cat on both of them. There’s still some tiny little part of himself that is telling him not to do it though. He feels terrible about doing this to Five, because of who she is. Listening to her story the other night kind of got to him. He started to feel for her. Still, at his core, he knows she’s all fake in the end.

After unlocking the front door and opening it, Clarice is surprised to find that all of the lights are off in the apartment. She was expecting Valerie to be there, waiting for her. After turning some of them on, she calls out to her sister to see if maybe she is home. She doesn’t get an answer. From the living room, she notices something down the small hallway, between her and Valerie’s bedrooms. There is some light coming out from under her sister’s door.

In a quiet voice, she gets Mikel’s attention. “Mikel, go wait out in the hall or something. I think they’re in there. I don’t want to embarrass them. I’ll just let them know we’re here.”

She calls out for her sister again, to see if she can get their attention, and then slowly creeps down the hallway toward the door. There’s no answer, but the light under the door flickers. Hoping she’s not going to interrupt any special-time between her and Aaron, she stays quiet and listens. She’s wondering if maybe she shouldn’t have sent Mikel out now.

She knocks at the door and calls out one more time, but there’s still no answer. As soon as she puts her hand on the doorknob, it quickly pulls open, startling her. Suddenly, there is a six-foot two black silhouette standing in front of her. Nearly losing control of her knees, she stumbles back towards the wall behind her. Too scared to even scream, she finds herself voiceless as it looms over her. It reaches down for her with two long slender-fingered hands. She finally gasps in a breath and scrunches her eyes shut. A commanding, deep, and feminine voice comes from the shadow.

“Who the hell are you?”

“Wha? I… I live here.”

The woman’s voice is not angry, but wary and yet curiously innocent. When her eyes adjust to the light, she can see that it’s a female robot, a completely naked one, and with black skin. As she slides down the wall to the floor, a familiar face swoops in beside her, it’s Five. Her kind face almost immediately calms her heart.

“Oh, Clarice, I am so sorry. No one told us you were coming. This is my sister Arma!”

When Arma swiftly picks her back up, she can feel her feet leave the ground momentarily before being stood upright. It makes her feel like a toy doll. She can still only mutter in shock.

“There are two of you.”

“Yes, there always has been. This is the one that Mikel… and … well. They just remade her the other day.” She steps back and hugs Arma’s side, showing that she is not dangerous. “I missed her so much, but she’s back from the dead, again!”

When it dawns on her what is going on, she remembers that Mikel is right outside in the hallway. She whispers to Five, making sure to not be heard. “Mikel is here with me Five! He’s out in the hall!”

“Don’t tell him. No one is supposed to know she’s back. He can’t know. No one can!”

“Ok, ok, I won’t.” She looks up at Arma and gently puts her hand on the side of her beautiful face. I’m sorry about what had happened to you. I’m so glad they could save you. You don’t have to worry about Mikel ever again, I promise. Where can I find Valerie, Five?”

“She’s staying in Aaron’s apartment since we’re staying in her room.”

“Oh really?”

Five picks up on her scandalous tone. “Yep, she is in Aaron’s apartment right now.”

Clarice looks up at Arma again, who now has her arms folded, and is not looking very enthusiastic. It makes her feel a little wary again. “I’d better go and check on them then. Take care you two.”

She finds Mikel waiting out by the elevator. “It was just Five. Valerie has been staying at Aaron’s since I’ve been out.”

She can’t have him going back into her apartment until she gets the Arma situation sorted out, so she drags him along with her. After knocking at Aaron’s door, she waits in the hall with her ear against the wall. She’s trying to listen in case she is interrupting anything. She hears Valerie on the other side talking to Aaron. “It’s probably Five again.”

When she hears her sister’s footsteps come to the door, she turns around to face away from the peep camera. She pretends to be talking to Arma, who would be out of sight. As soon as the door is opened all the way, she spins around and yells “YAH” and lunges at Valerie with crazy eyes. Valerie jumps like a scaredy-cat and turns bright red. She had not bothered to cover herself much at all.

Valerie is wearing a sexy little silk nightie with the front barely secured by the ribbon around her waist. When she turns to scurry back into the bedroom, she chases her and pinches her on the bottom, sending her jumping away.

Aaron cranes his neck around the closet doorway and slaps his hand over his face when he sees her standing there in the living room doing a little victory dance. He is already getting dressed for dinner and looks good. He has on a nice pair of slacks on and an almond colored button-up. She motions to him by grabbing at an invisible jacket collar and mouths the words “Suit, do you have a suit jacket?” He raises his eyebrows in understanding that they are going somewhere fancy and nods.”

While her sister is back in the bathroom getting ready, she calls out for Mikel so that he knows it’s ok to come on in. When he meanders into the living room, Aaron shakes his hand, offers him a drink, and a place to sit. She needs to go and get ready herself, but she isn’t sure what to do about Mikel and the other two in Valerie’s room.

“Well, I need to go and get some things ready. Aaron, would you mind joining me?” she makes it sound like she means to have a word with him, so Mikel won’t bother tagging along.

“Um, yeah, sure Clarice.” He looks over at Mikel out of the side of his eye, but only gets a shrug in return. When he looks back at her, she winks at him, letting him know that she’s not going to hassle him about anything. She waits until they are down the hall and behind her closed door before mentioning Arma.

“I met Arma a few minutes ago, and don’t worry, Mikel doesn’t know.”

“Oh, holy crap, yea that would not have been good at all. I mean… she wouldn’t do anything, I don’t think. It’s just that it’s…”

“A secret.”

“Right. Valerie doesn’t want anyone from Werker knowing that they brought her back. It’s not my place to tell you everything, but I don’t think your sister plans on ever giving her or Five back to Werker. It’s a little complicated.”

“Oh man, wow, that sounds a bit… like a battle. It would have been nice of her to have given me some kind of a heads up though! Arma damn near gave me a heart attack! She’s just… big is all.”

“Yeah, that’s the way they made her.” Before they to Valerie’s bedroom, he holds her by her arm, stopping her for a moment. “Clarice. Arma’s been through a lot, and she kind of needs our support right now. I’m sorry Valerie didn’t say anything, but she and Five are going to be staying with us, like, for a while.”

She nods her head and sighs. Not expecting an answer she shakes her head and looks down the narrow hallway. “What is my sister getting herself into?”

While she gets dressed in her room, she listens to Aaron talking to the other two in Valerie’s room. It appears that neither of them will be joining them out tonight. Apparently it’s supposed to be more along the lines of a romantic dinner for the four of them. When she is done, she finds him waiting for her in the living room. For some reason, he has an astonished look on his face.

“What’s up Aaron?”

“Nothing, I uh, just don’t think I’ve ever seen you wear anything like that I guess.”

She looks down at herself for a moment, wondering what he means. She’s simply wearing a pair of nice jeans and a fancy burgundy long-sleeved sweater. Then she realizes what he means. “Ah, yes. Quite modest for me I suppose. I was kind of feeling… more like an adult today, I suppose.”

She drapes her purse strap over her shoulder and takes his arm in hers. On their way back to his apartment, she looks up at him and smiles. “You know, I’m really happy with you and my sister.”

“That means a lot to me, Clarice. I really like Valerie, like a lot.”

When they get back to his place, Valerie is relaxing on the couch with her feet up over the back of it, and Mikel hunched over at his desk, tapping away at his phone. Similar to herself, Valerie is wearing a pair of jeans, but white ones, black heels, and a nice black knit sweater like what she has on. She smiles, finding it amusing how the two of them seem to have telepathically connected minds or something.

While they wait for the right time to leave for their reservation, she and Valerie talk alone in the bathroom with the door closed. She knows Aaron and Mikel aren’t very chatty between each other, but they’re going to have to figure something out. She and Valerie might be a little while. It takes her a moment to build up the courage to spill the beans but waits patiently. It seems she can tell something is up.

“What’s going on sis, everything alright?”

She takes a deep breath and just comes out with it. “I’m pregnant.” She knows right when she says it that she could have maybe been a little more enthusiastic about it. She kind of sounded a little depressed.

“Wow, that’s, um… big.”

She sits up on the counter and puts her hands in her lap. “I just found out today, when I got home, well, back to Mikel’s. I was feeling a little off, so, I checked.”

Confounded by her sister’s calmness, Valerie can only muster the one word. “And?”

“I haven’t told Mikel yet. I’m sure he’ll be excited.” She looks down at her hands again and rubs her thumb into her palm.

Still unable to see through her sister’s cryptic mood, Valerie has to ask rather bluntly. “Well? How do you feel about it?” Even though the two of them have talked about whether one of them might end up with kids one day, this is still quite eye-opening. She has always been somewhat frightened by the idea of having to raise a child, but Clarice was always optimistic about it.

“The more I think about it, the more excited I get, I guess. Maybe it hasn’t sunk in yet?” She hops down off the countertop and starts to smile a little bit.

Surprised, but also relieved, Valerie gives her a long tight hug. In the background, they can hear Mikel and Aaron starting to talk to one another. They must be getting antsy, waiting on them. They both hurry up to finish getting ready while they continue to talk.

“How are you going to tell Mikel? You going to do it tonight, over dinner?”

“No, I don’t think I will. I kind of want it to be more personal, just between us ya know. I don’t want him to feel like he has to feel all excited and everything because he’s in front of all of us. Not that I think he would be anything but supportive.” She smoothes her hands over her perfectly straight black hair and looks at herself in the mirror one last time. “Ugh, I don’t want to get all huge!”

When they leave Aaron’s apartment, Aaron and Valerie ride with her in her little electric car while she follows Mikel to the restaurant. Aaron sits in the back, having the two of them sit up front together. Since they’ll be staying late, he is going to head home from there on his own and won’t be stopping back by the apartment.

They eventually lose Mikel at a red light, but she knows where they’re going anyway. She wasn’t going to say, so it would be kind of a surprise. As she had expected, Valerie becomes rather excited when they pull up to the valet of the Conifer, the most recognized Restaurant in all of Welan city. Even Aaron is a bit impressed.

As Mikel did with her, she explains to them about the community he and Ray grew up in. “Yeah, Mikel and Ray’s folks are all from the farming colony out in the valley, south of town. Apparently, they’re all quite well-known for their prized livestock, and the Conifer is probably their biggest customer.”

Clarice looks back at Aaron in her mirror, expecting him to know all about it too because he’s supposed to be from the country too, but he doesn’t say anything.

“Hey, Aaron, aren’t you from out there? Didn’t you say you grew up in the country?”

Valerie answers for him, figuring he maybe wasn’t paying attention. “No, he’s from north of here, all the way from the mountains. Not the southern farmlands.”

Clarice whispers, but not very quietly. “Oh, from the north? like where the people with the wolves used to be?” She didn’t mean to say it like that. It just made her think of John’s campfire stories.

Valerie shushes her, nearly holding her hand over her mouth. “Clarice!”

Hoping he didn’t hear the last part, she continues. While they are stopped, she turns back in her seat and looks at him a little more directly this time “Oh, huh, I guess I’ve never actually met anyone from that far north of here, now that I think of it?”

Thinking of it makes Valerie a little more curious. She turns to look at him too. It’s dark in the back, but she watches the city lights glint across his eyes. “I’ve never met anyone else from the north, now that I think of it. Why is that? She is thinking of what he had told her, about the trouble he had gotten into when he was young.

He only stares back at her, not blinking even once. “North just keeps going into the mountains. It’s not on the way to anywhere else, so it’s not a well-known area. Outsiders don’t venture to Welan anyway, north or south.

“Are you familiar with where Mikel and Ray are from?”

It is nice to know that Valerie didn’t share his past with Clarice, otherwise, she’d know better than to ask. He lets out a sigh through his nostrils but entertains her question nonetheless.

“It’s been a while, but yes.”

When Valerie turns back to her, it’s with raised eyebrows. She presses her lips together, in response to the tension between her and Aaron. She gets the hint to change the subject. She’ll ask Valerie what the deal is later. She didn’t know it was going to be a touchy subject.

When they get out of her car for the attendant, she points out Mikel’s truck up a few floors in the garage. It’s the only automobile tall enough to be seen over the top of the concrete edge. It looks more like a tractor than a typical vehicle. The big full coverage tube bumper and lights all over it make it stand out for sure. It always attracts a lot of attention in town. There certainly aren’t any trucks like it in the city.

The three of them tilt their heads back and look up at the top of the high-rises around them. The Conifer is on a large balcony level twenty floors up. They can barely see the brass railing around it from the street level. It’s recognizable by the soft and inviting low green light coming from its trellises. When she tells the attendant that they are for the Mikel Hawkes reservation, he markedly perks up and escorts them to the elevator himself.

Unlike with any of the other patrons, the man rides up in the elevator with them and personally guides them to where Mikel is waiting for them in the back. Valerie is openly impressed that he and Ray would have such a significant namesake with the restaurant staff, while Aaron stays fairly reserved. He is still quite courteous, but strangely quiet. She expects he may simply be a little out of his element.

On the way over, he was worried that he might have overdressed but is now feeling comfortably modest. His dusty dress shoes certainly could have been cleaned up a little better, but for the most part, he looks nicely established. They all sit down and immediately start scanning over the maroon leather-bound menus.

Despite an amazing beginning to the night, conversation with Mikel suddenly sours. What starts out as a nice discussion of work in the country, naturally takes a turn toward the topic of being forced to work in the city because of all the new automated farming. Only after a sharp look from her does he quit going on about it. After being forced off of his topic, he turns to Valerie, being rather inquisitive about the state of the Five-Series project.

“So, Valerie, what are your team’s plans for Five-One? Have you all decided whether to pursue her model type or try another iteration?”

Valerie knows the question is none of his business, but she doesn’t want to be short with him, not after making the kind gesture of inviting them all out to such a nice place. She can keep her cool. “I honestly don’t know what Werker’s plan is. If they make any more, it will surely be limited, and to a very select market.”

“So are they gonna turn ‘er off and put ‘er in storage, or…? What does one do with a prototype once it’s served its purpose anyway? I don’t believe Five-Two is a candidate for sale.” He subtly snickers at the inference.

She could just about lose her shit right now, but she keeps telling herself to be nice. He’s supposed to be as good as family now and she’ll be hanging that over his head soon enough. “No, Mikel, as a matter of fact, we are not going to be shutting Five off, or any of that shit. I plan on releasing Five under her own volition.”

“Uh-huh. Does anyone else know that?”

She smirks at how well her last comment slowed him down. He wasn’t expecting her to come right out with it like that. Both Clarice and Aaron look to be quite impressed, and happy to hear her say it, but he does not. When he folds his arms, Clarice’s mouth drops.

“What’s wrong with that Mikel? Five is wonderful! They can’t just shut her off for good like that!”

He sits back and looks at all of them. “Hey, don’t look at me I’m just a tech, I’m just sayin’, she’s company property, not Valerie’s property.”

All he wanted to do was confirm his suspicions on what was going to happen. He would’ve been more than happy to keep his hands in his pockets if she was going to follow the rules. He’ll be doing her a favor if anything. She’d be facing criminal charges if she tries to steal Five.

To stop Mikel and Valerie from clawing at one another, she changes the subject completely, while she can. She wants to hear more about Aaron and how their trip to the forest went.

“Aaron, Valerie said the place you took her and Five to, the waterfall, was amazing.”

“Yeah? I’d like to take the two of you the next time.”

Even after their appetizers have come and gone, she can tell that her sister is still in a mood over Mikel so kindly grilling her about work. She has already had three drinks and is going to have more. Aaron is doing his best to keep the conversation light and improve everyone’s moods almost all by himself, but he has a little bit of a hill to climb. She almost brings up being pregnant, just to get Mikel engaged in the conversation again, but she doesn’t.

The next time their server comes around, he informs Mikel that he has a call on their line. He had put his cell phone on silent with the intention of not being interrupted, but the call sounds important. He bows in apology for the interruption and follows the man to the front desk.