Three, Two, One, I'm Gone novel · Chapter 23 of 24

Chapter 23: Home Is a Chair

I told Wade on Friday night that I was going to Pittsburgh on Saturday, and that I wanted to go alone.

He said, "Okay," and meant it, and that made me want to kiss him.

The Pittsburgh office was on the sixth floor of a glass building I had walked into every morning for five years.

The director met me at the elevator with both hands out.

"Delia. You came. We're so glad."

"I came to answer you in person," I said.

The floor was open-plan and full, even on a Saturday, because word had traveled.

Forty people were pretending to look at screens.

I knew every one of them.

The woman at the second desk had sent me a message the week of the courthouse video, and the message had said *wow, that's embarrassing for you.*

She did not look up.

"I owe you an apology," the director said, loud enough for everyone. "We saw the video the day it went around. We said nothing to you. Not one of us called."

"No," I said. "You didn't."

"We'd like to put that right. The offer stands. It's yours."

I looked around the room.

My old desk was by the window, and somebody had put a plant on it.

Home, the email had said.

I had called this city home once, back when my mother was still in it.

"Thank you," I said. "The answer is no."

The director's smile slipped.

"May I ask why?"

"I have a job in Cleveland, and a boss who deleted my email in two clicks," I said. "I have a grandmother on Sundays who tells me to eat. I have a chair."

Somebody at the back laughed, and covered it.

"I'm not coming home," I said. "I've got one."

I walked down the middle of the floor.

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