Page 77 of Truth, Lies, and Second Dates
“Even if you don’t know ’em,” the youth repeated. “It’stechnicallysad.”
“Right! So even if you don’t care about Jenny’s dead husband, you can be a little sad forher. So that’s what you put across: vague sorrow.”
“Huh.” The boy leaned back. “Still doesn’t make a lot of sense.”
“Well, you’re no worse off if you try, right?”
“Yeah. Right. Thanks, man.”
(Tom’s father was equal parts horrified and impressed when one of the guards told him what happened. “Just so you know, Tommy, that boy killed two people and was carving up a third when he got caught. Vague sorrow indeed.”)
“I am better at such things now,” Tom admitted, “though I struggled when I was younger.”
“You struggled last month when you tried to explain short-term gain versus long-term gain to Mr. Herbekker.”
“I should have factored his Alzheimer’s into the discussion,” Tom admitted. “So we’ll change ‘I am better at it’ to ‘I have improved but there’s room for more.’ Do you know how I’ve improved, Hannah?”
“I… think so.”
“Proximity to you.”
She nodded and tucked her tongue up into the slot where her permanent tooth would come in. “There’s something to that, I think. Remember my first birthday party? You were the only one I wanted to talk to.” And then, abruptly: “Are you worried I’m on the spectrum?”
“No. I’m curious about it.”
“Okay. When can—”
Tom’s phone had clicked at him, and he reached for the thing at once, hoping Abe wasn’t delayed or otherwise in trouble.
Not Abe. Better: Ava.
CAPTAIN AVA CAPP: Just had the WEIRDEST run-in with Becka, the new crewmember we met Saturday.
TBMD: Are you all right?
CAPTAIN AVA CAPP: Fine. Definitely not murdered. But she’s squirrelly and weird and talked about death. And not in a fun way, like we do.
TBMD: Police?
CAPTAIN AVA CAPP: For what? Creeping me out and being a close-talker?
TBMD: A what?
CAPTAIN AVA CAPP: OMG. We’ll go over pop culture later. Are we still on for Thursday?
TBMD: Of course.
CAPTAIN AVA CAPP: Want to make it tomorrow?
TBMD: Of course.
CAPTAIN AVA CAPP: Let’s do more amateur sleuthing after you get off. Heh.
TBMD: Technically only one of us is an amateur.
CAPTAIN AVA CAPP: Technically that’s a good way to get smacked.
TBMD: Noted.
