Page 25 of Emergency Exit
A younger guy in plum-colored corduroy pants pelted past the door after the vehicle. Ash wasn’t sure what was weirder—the series of events or the pants.
“It’s still in the testing phase,” said Rowan, without missing a beat.
“You really did it, didn’t you?” asked Ash.
“Did what?” asked Rowan.
“I remember when you were going over resumes. I thought you had the strangest criteria. You kept keying in on the oddest things and talking about unit cohesion. But you’ve gone to a great deal of trouble to create a team that you want to hang out with all day long.”
“Yeah,” said Rowan, in surprise. “Of course.”
“And this girl is friends with your crew?”
“Well, that might be pushing the parameters of friendship since she took them for four hundred dollars at poker. Which, come to think of it, I believe she used to pay for your breakup donuts.”
Ash shook his head. Rowan wasn’t getting it. If this girl could fit in with the carefully vetted, hand-selected crew of reprobates that Rowan loved, then she would be a match for Rowan.
“Yeah, OK.”
“OK, what?” asked Rowan.
“Nothing. I’m going to go. You’ll call Forest about the holidays?”
“Sure, sounds good,” said Rowan, looking suspicious.
“Great,” said Ash, standing up. “See you later.”
“Yeah, later,” said Rowan.
8
Harper
The Kraken
Harper checked her outfit in the mirror. She had already put Ash’s assistant, Romeo, on her Christmas list. He’d started emailing her calendar invites directly and included suggested dress codes. Today’s date had come with the cheerful note –remember to wear a coat!So she thought it was either an outdoor event or someplace chilly, but she wasn’t sure because the heading just readKraken. She didn’t think they would really see an undersea monster but assumed Ash would explain whatever ocean-related event they were attending when she saw him.
But she forgot.
Their conversation flowed from the moment she got in the car and lasted until they were standing in line waiting to get into their event.
“Ash!” Harper clutched at Ash’s arm as they moved through the line. “This is a sports arena!”
“Yes,” said Ash. “Climate Pledge Arena.” He pointed to the giant, unmissable sign above them.
“You said we were going to see a Kraken!”
Ash was silent for a long moment.
“Harper, did you think I was taking you to an aquarium?”
“I don’t know. The email said to wear a warm jacket and that I shouldn’t bring a purse! I thought it was some sort of boat thing!” They shuffled a few steps forward in line.
“It’s hockey,” said Ash. “The Kraken are a hockey team.”
“I don’t know anything about hockey!” Harper felt the bubbling panic in her gut and tried to keep it from showing onher face, but wasn’t sure she was successful.
“Well, I have been to four whole games now, and as far as I can tell, the goal is to get the flat disky thing into the other team’s net and slam each other into the ice as frequently as possible. There are probably more nuances, but that seems to be all anyone needs to know to enjoy it. Do you hate sports? We don’t have to stay very long.”
