Page 34 of Nolan
You’re worth it. But he really does care about you. Consider hearing him out. We can push our date out to the weekend.
Ugh, that sucks. But you’re probably right, she writes. I have to head to work. Talk soon?
Talk soon, I reply, pushing the messages out from my optic display and allowing myself another brief respite, powering down. As I enter sleep mode, I reflect on how much lighter I feel, that the discomfort of my discretion with Apollo is at least lifted from me. My best friend, my brother in the field, gave me permission to see his sister. It’s not lost on me how large a step this is, how much Mia means to him.
I’ll do everything in my power to be worthy of that trust.
5
Mia
I’m grateful for work. It keeps my mind off just how frustrated I am with my brother, myself, and my poor sense of timing, and now, with the mayor of New Carnegie.
Have I met her before? No. Do we now have beef? Absolutely fucking yes.
“What do you mean, she’s mad you stopped those kids from stealing from the store last night?” I ask Nolan over the phone on my lunch break, absolutely livid. I’m at Royal Empress Café, sipping on taro milk tea and eating a small bowl of noodles, veggies, and pork. When Nolan’s call streamed in a few minutes ago, I hurried to answer it.
When Nolan tells me someone in the shop recorded his confrontation with the would-be thieves who tried to have a free shopping spree in my sister’s store and somehow he’s the one getting heat for it? I’m ready to have a meltdown.
“It’s all political.” Nolan sounds weary. “And it’s handled, but I thought I might let you know. Reporters may start nosing around the store.”
“I appreciate the heads-up. I’ll tell Jess about it in case she doesn’t know.” I nibble on my lower lip. “Sorry, Nolan.”
“Why are you sorry?”
“All this feels like my fault.”
“It’s not,” he insists. “I need to get back to work, but text me later, all right?”
“I will.”
When I hang up the phone, I try to make room for this unsettling feeling in my heart in the silence that follows. This is it. This is going to be my reality as I continue to see Nolan. People will be looking for ways to bring him down. There will be mistrust, suspicion, unfair treatment. It doesn’t matter that there hasn’t been a single death since he joined the fire department on his watch. It doesn’t matter he protects all the men he serves with, including my brother, from the dangers of the job. All people will see when they look at him is the potential for an unhinged TerraPura virus.
I can’t stand the state of the world. But I can stand with him. And I’m determined, more than ever, to do that.
Driven to keep myself busy and get rid of this excess negative energy, it’s time to dive back into my marketing gig at double speed. I clean up after myself and stalk out of the café back to Cyber Street, intent on telling Jess everything if she hasn’t already been told by Apollo.
Except by the time I get back, there’s already a woman chatting Jess up. She’s dressed to the professional nines in gorgeous tan pants belted with a gold chain and a collared sage blouse with long, billowy sleeves. She definitely looks like somebody with a lot of cash.
A new customer, perhaps? Big money?
“Speak of the devil and she appears,” Jessica says wryly, motioning to me. “This is my sister-in-law, Mia.”
The woman walks right up to me, toying with a pair of sunglasses as she flashes me a disarming cherry-red smile. Everything about her is flawless. “I’m told you’re the one who saw it all happen—what went down with the near-shoplifting incident?”
“Yes, I did,” I say, somewhat mistrustful. “Sorry, who’re you?”
Jessica laughs. “Relax, Mia, it’s okay. This is Amber Rivera from New Carnegie Times.”
Immediately my eyes widen. “The reporter?” I tentatively stick out my hand to shake hers.
“The one and only,” Amber replies, brushing aside her long, silken dark hair. “Look, I know the internet is going insane with this viral video, but I wanted to hear it from the horse’s mouth, so here I am.” She gestures to the store. “And I gotta say, I’m really impressed. I love the style of this place. No wonder these kids were trying to rob you blind.”
Jessica laughs softly. “That’s a compliment.”
“Aren’t you related to the mayor?” I say, fairly certain I read that somewhere in some article. “If you’re here to write some sensationalist piece about Nolan, then?—”
“Not at all,” Amber replies patiently, and I realize I need to cool down. “That is, yes, I’m related to the mayor. She’s my cousin, but that’s neither here nor there. I don’t sugarcoat the truth for anyone—not even family. And I’m really impressed with Nolan and the way he handled the situation here, but that’s bionics, isn’t it? They don’t escalate situations or make big deals out of things, not like we do. But no, I’m not really here to write about Nolan.”
