Love on the Brain(99)

REIKE: LISTEN MY FAVORITE SISTER ALMOST GOT KILLED LAST NIGHT I’M ALLOWED TO DROWN MY TRAUMA IN SOME NORWEGIAN LIQUOR THAT I CANNOT PRONOUNCE

BEE: I’m your only sister.

REIKE:

I lock my phone and slide it under the pillow. I don’t even know why I’m in a hospital. The doctors said that me passing out was concerning, and I almost laughed in their faces. I just want to go home. Stare out of the window. Think wistfully about the ephemeral nature of human existence. Watch cat videos.

“Here it says that ‘abreast’ means ‘up to date’ and has nothing whatsoever to do with boobs.” Rocío stares at the vocab section of her manual. “Sounds fake.”

Kaylee and I exchange a worried look.

“And ‘bombastic’ is a real word? This can’t be right.”

“Babe, I’ll start tutoring you again as soon as NASA’s not being sabotaged anymore.”

I give Kaylee a grateful smile. She and Rocío were in the hospital room this morning when I woke up, and they’ve stuck around since then like the amazing human beings they are. I now know more about body decomposition and makeup palettes than I thought I ever would, but I regret nothing. This is almost nice.

Then Boris enters the room with a bleak expression. Closely followed by Levi.

My heart flutters. When I asked about him this morning, the girls told me he was with law enforcement in the Discovery Building. He meets my eyes, gives me a small smile, and sets a bag and a box of my favorite brand of vegan brownies on my bedside table.

Boris stands beside the bed, rubbing his forehead, looking tired, aggravated, at the end of his rope. I wonder if he slept at all. Poor man.

“I’m at an impasse, Bee.” He sighs. “NASA firmly instructed me not to apologize to you because it would be admissible evidence if you decided to sue, but . . .” He shrugs. “I am sorry, and—”

“Don’t.” I smile. “Don’t piss off your lawyers over this. I was right there with you, thinking that it was my error. I didn’t know Guy was batshit crazy, and I worked with him every day—how could you?”

“Guy will . . . He is fired, of course. And there will be legal repercussions. We’ll resume BLINK the second the Discovery Building is not caked in yellow tape, with another demonstration. I explained everything to NIH and my superiors, and of course I am begging you on my knees to return—”

“You’re standing,” Rocío points out, unimpressed. Levi looks away, biting back a smile.

“Rocío,” I scold her gently.

“What? Make him grovel harder.”

I give her a fond look. “None of this was his fault. Plus, think how good your Ph.D. applications will look when they come with a recommendation letter from the Director of Research at the Johnson Space Center.” I hold Boris’s gaze. After a moment he nods, defeated. He needs a nap. Or nine coffees.

“I’d be happy to, Ms. Cortoreal. You deserve it.”

“Will you mention that I had sex at work with the most beautiful woman in the world?” She glances at Kaylee, who blushes prettily.

“I—” He rubs his temple. “I actually forgot about that.”

“Is that a firm no? Because it’s one of my proudest accomplishments.”

Boris leaves a few minutes later. Levi pulls up a chair and sits next to me to catch us up. “I’m not sure what the charges are, but Guy was so high up, had access to so much information, we’ll have to double-check every single chunk of code we ever wrote, every piece of hardware. It’s a setback—a big one. But BLINK will be fine, ultimately.” He doesn’t seem too concerned.

“He has a kid, doesn’t he?” Kaylee asks.

“Yeah. He had a nasty divorce last year, which I don’t think helped with . . . whatever happened. I was with him a lot, but I didn’t see it. I really didn’t.”

“Obviously,” Rocío mutters. Levi and I share an amused look, and . . .

It sticks, a little bit. It’s hard for me to let go of his eyes, and for him to let go of mine. I suspect it’s because the last time I saw him was such a mess, and the time before an even messier mess. And now we’re here, in front of this messy mess, and . . .

It’s difficult to breathe.

“Well,” Kaylee says, jumping up, “Rocío and I gotta go.”

Rocío frowns. “Where?”

“Ah, to bed.”

“But it’s three in the afterno—” Kaylee drags her up by the wrist, but when they’re at the door Rocío frees herself and comes to stand in front of Levi.

“I must thank you. For saving Bee’s life,” she says solemnly. “To me, she is like a mother. The mother I never had.”

“You have an amazing mother back in Baltimore,” I point out, “and I’m only five years older than you.” I am ignored.

“I want to give you a token. To acknowledge your contributions.”

“There’s no need,” Levi says, just as solemnly.

Rocío rummages in her jeans pocket and offers him an unwrapped, slightly squished red gumball.

“Thank you. This is . . .” He looks at the gum. “A thing that I now have.”

Rocío nods somberly, and then Levi and I are alone. Well. With the gumball.