Chapter 24: Two Chairs

On Monday at nine the whole company gathered in the fourth-floor atrium for the all-hands, and Drake and I stood at one microphone.

Three hundred and forty people sat on stairs, desks, and the floor.

Laney had brought a laminated sign that said VARIANCE Q4 and was holding it over her head.

Odette stood at the side, in her canvas jacket, with her arms folded.

"Whoever lost the bet has something to say," Odette said.

"There was a bet?" said a man from Shipping, delighted.

I stepped up to the mic first.

"I lost a bet," I said. "I'll keep it short."

"Cairn is the better line."

A murmur ran through the atrium.

I looked at Drake, who looked at the ceiling.

He leaned toward the microphone.

"I also lost," he said. "Switchback is the better line."

The murmur became a roar.

"You both lost?" somebody shouted from the stairs.

"At the same moment," said Drake. "It's been looked into."

"With the same word," I said.

"What word?" yelled the man from Shipping.

"None of your business," said Laney, into the back of the sign, and the entire building laughed.

Odette unfolded her arms.

"Variance closed," she said, and walked off.

That was the all-hands.

That night, I ran Drake a bath.

He had not asked.

He had come home from a long Monday with his tie in his pocket and a tired set to his shoulders.

I had taken one look and gone into his bathroom and turned on the tap.

His bathroom has a deep tub across from the shower, and he had never once used it.

I put in the lavender salts Laney had left in my bag as a joke.

He sat on the edge of his bed, watching me.

"It's not my day," he said.

"It isn't anybody's."

"Then why."

"Because I want to," I said. "Take off your clothes."

He took them off.

I took off mine.

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