There it was.
“Which is?”
“You read before you decide.”
I blinked.
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
I almost felt cheated.
The next seven days were the strangest of my life.
I worked at the diner from six in the morning until two.
Then I went to the public library.
Then the Meridian.
Then home.
Tasha created a spreadsheet because, according to her, watching me interpret financial documents was “an attack on mathematics.”
Mara introduced me to longtime theater employees.
Harlan stayed mostly out of my way.
That surprised me more than anything.
When I asked a question, he answered.
When he did not know, he said so.
When I disagreed, he did not turn the disagreement into a contest.
I began to wonder how much of Harlan Voss’s reputation belonged to Harlan Voss and how much belonged to people who disliked being told no by a man with enough money to make no permanent.
