'Oh,' Zev said. 'Yes. She probably did that too.'
'Fox's family's so wealthy,' J.D. said. 'And so powerful . . . She's probably used to getting her own way. Except about the expedition.'
'And Stephen Thomas.'
'And Stephen Thomas.' J.D. knew more or less
how Fox felt, though she had not compounded her problem by telling Stephen Thomas. Or Florrie Brown.
'We'd better try her house-'
'She's over there,' Zev said. He pointed.
'Are you sure?'
'I can hear her.'
They went with him down the path.
'She's crying,' Zev said.
'Fox?' J.D. called softly.
She heard no answer, but a moment later someone came toward them through the darkness.
One of Stephen Thomas's grad students-J.D. tried in vain to remember his name-appeared from between the small young trees. J.D. had met him at the party, but she had not seen him follow Fox.
'She doesn't much want to see anybody,' he said apologetically.
'I'm worried about her, Mitch,' Satoshi said.
'Yeah, she's pretty upset. Embarrassed, mostly.'
Satoshi hesitated. 'I'd better talk to her.'
'I'll stay with her. She'll be okay, honest. I promise.'
'I'm sure that's true,' Satoshi said, 'but I still have to talk to her.' Satoshi stepped around Mitch and entered the deep shadow of the tree. Fox sat against its spindly roots, her head buried against her folded arms. 'Fox.' Satoshi knelt beside her.
She raised her head. Her face was blotched and tearstreaked.
'You're not speaking to me,' she said.
'Of course I am. You haven't made it easy, though, the last few days.'
'I didn't want her to do anything!' Fox exclaimed. 'I just wanted to .
. . to tell somebody how I felt.'
'I know.'
'I really do love him.' She stopped, as if she had just realized who she had said that to. 'I'm sorry, but I do.'
'I know you do,' he said. 'It's . . . hard not to.'
She smiled, shakily. 'You're so lucky. You and Victoria.'
Satoshi turned the conversation away from the partnership, back to Fox. 'Please try to understand how he feels about what you offered him. He won't-he can't-accept.'
'He told me why, but it doesn't make sense. He didn't ask me-and there weren't any conditions!'
'No. But . . . things can change.'
Satoshi started to tell her that Stephen Thomas's decision was for Fox's own protection; but that would insult her, to have the decision so one-sided, so out of her hands. He almost told her that the situation had nothing to do with her directly, and decided she would be even more insulted.
She hid her face against her arms again; her voice was muffled. 'It hurts so bad,' she said. Her shoulders shook.
'I know,' he said. 'I know.'
He waited till she had stopped crying.
'I think you should go home,' he said, when her breathing eased.
'No! I don't want to talk to my housemates tonight. I don't want to talk to anybody. '
'And I don't want to leave you out here all by yourself.'
She pushed herself back against the tree, glaring at him.
'What could happen?' she shouted. 'I want to be outside, okay?'
The tall shadow that was Mitch moved from the reflected starlight into the darkness nearby.
'I couldn't help hearing what you just said.' Mitch hesitated. 'Nothing before, but, when you yelled . . .' His voice trailed off. 'What if I hung around? For company, I mean.'
Fox took a deep breath and let it out slowly, steadying her voice.
'That'd be okay,' she said. 'I'd . . . I'd like that. I'll be all right, Satoshi. Hey. It isn't like Stephen Thomas is the first person to ever turn me down. And . . . I'm glad you're still talking to me, anyway.'
He suspected that Stephen Thomas was, in fact, the first person to ever turn her down, but he appreciated what she was saying to him. 'Everybody's talking to you,' he said. 'It's justEverything will be all right,'
'Yeah,' she said. 'Okay. Sure. I don't want to talk anymore.' She turned away, huddling against the tree. It should have been a thousand-year-old oak, with great gnarly roots reaching out around her.
'Okay,' Satoshi said. He rose. Mitch passed him and hunkered down near Fox.
Stephen Thomas has a high opinion of Mitch, Satoshi thought. He's a good kid, and he'll keep Fox company as well as anybody can. Lord knows, better than I can, all things considered.
Mitch glanced up at him and raised one hand in a gesture of acknowledgment and farewell.
Satoshi returned the gesture, and joined J.D. and Zev.
'Is she all right?' J.D. asked.
'I think so,' Satoshi said. 'I hope so.'
They returned, in silence, to the partnership's house.
Coldly courteous, Victoria mopped the worst of the beer off Florrie's dress. The antipathy between them had reached a new peak.
Victoria delegated Lehua and Bay to see Florrie home. Finally the main room of the partnership's house was empty except for Stephen Thomas and Victoria; the garden was deserted.
'That horrible woman,' Victoria said.
Stephen Thomas covered his face with his hands, then pushed his fingers up through his hair.
Victoria tried to grin. 'What did her aura look like tonight?'
'I don't know,' Stephen Thomas said. 'There's no such thing. You were right all along. Auras are bullshit.'
Victoria looked at him curiously, but let the comment pass.
She cleared up the glass; it made a wet, scraping noise when she scooped it into an empty bento box. The house did not even have a broom and dustpan; cleaning the floor was the housekeeper's job.
When she was done, she sat on her heels beside Stephen Thomas and stroked his arm, moving her fingers along the growth pattern of the fine gold hair. He tensed at the trickle of pain that crept along his bones. Victoria took her hand away.
'What a fucking nightmare,' Stephen Thomas said.
'I don't suppose,' Victoria said hesitantly, 'that you could have let her down a little easier?'
'Oh, shit, Victoria!' Stephen Thomas exclaimed. 'How could I let her down, when I never picked her up? One minute I was telling her that no, Satoshi wasn't mad at her because the genetics building fell on top of us while we were trying to talk some sense into her-'
'Very convincing,' Victoria said dryly.
11
-and the next she was telling me she was in love with me. And I told her what I always tell grad students-'
'Okay, I'm sorry, never mind,' Victoria said. 'Into the shower with you.' Stephen Thomas levered himself up. The towel slid off his toes. He yelped in pain. His right big toenail had gotten caught in the terrycloth loops. Only the nail of the left big toe remained. He could barely put his feet on the floor.
'I feel like my toe bones are coming out the ends of my feet.'
Victoria grimaced in sympathy tinged with disgust. She slid her arm around his waist. His cold wet shirt warmed, where her body pressed against his. Stephen Thomas laughed suddenly.
