26. Berlin #2
She heard Greta take a breath. “?‘… the misogynist nature of Jack’s actions. We have no choice but to hear and respect their concerns. As your generous donation funded the construction of our science pavilion, we would like to show our gratitude to you by facilitating any efforts you make to transfer Zoe and Alice to a different school. Please know, we are not refusing your daughters’ entry for the coming school year.
However, we feel it would be best for everyone if you were to withdraw them voluntarily and give them a fresh start somewhere they will be more welcome. Sincerely, Kevin Neal.’?”
Lucy couldn’t speak, could hardly breathe.
“Lucy?” Greta said. “Are you there?”
Lucy wasn’t sure which part of the letter was most shocking.
There was the matter of Kevin throwing her girls to the curb, which was absolutely unfathomable and cruel.
Lucy and Mason had served as class parents, volunteered for countless school duties, and hosted fundraising events.
Jack had been a student at Rockwell since kindergarten.
Not to mention the fact that the girls were entirely innocent in this situation, and yet the administration was unwilling to stand by them in the face of building pressure from a parent mob.
But even with the principal’s appalling words ringing in her ears, Lucy had gotten stuck on a different part of the letter. She sat down. “Read that line again, the one about the donation.”
Greta cleared her throat. “?‘As your generous donation funded the construction of our science—’?”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought you said.” Everyone at the school knew an anonymous donor had swooped in and written a check to build Rockwell’s enviable science center, but no one knew who it was, including Lucy.
But it could not have been Mason. She and Mason had only been together for about six months at that point, so it was inconceivable that he would have…
Lucy was reeling. Her girls were being taken out of the only school they’d ever known as a penalty for their brother’s actions. And if Jack found out about this, his guilt would consume him.
“Greta, I would really appreciate it if you—”
“It goes without saying. I’ll keep it to myself. I’m really sorry.”
“Thank you,” Lucy said. She was pacing the living room. She would not send her girls where they weren’t wanted.
“What should I do with the letter?” Greta said.
“Throw it out.”
Lucy heard the sound of paper ripping. And then they were both quiet.
“Thank you for sending the link to the hotel,” Greta said.
It occurred to Lucy that, she too should be making travel plans.
Because the only real solution to her Bj?rn problem would be to get to him in Copenhagen before Jack’s letter did.
This secret, kept far too long, should be shared face-to-face.
“I’m… actually going away too,” she said, trying out the idea. “How far away is Copenhagen?”
“Not far,” said Greta. “It’s about an hour flight.”
She would somehow have to turn this into a work trip. And she needed to go by herself; that was the bigger issue.
“You consider Berlin safe, right?”
“It’s like any city,” Greta said. “I wouldn’t want Emmi taking the U-Bahn in the middle of the night, but in general, yes, it’s very safe.”
“I thought so.” If, God forbid, there was an emergency—and there wouldn’t be—she could get back fast.
“I wonder if you could do me a favor?” Lucy said. “There’s a box with my name on it in the garage. I know this is a pain, but there’s an envelope in it that I need. Do you think you have time to find it and FedEx it to me today? I can text the details—”
“Sure. FedEx it to my apartment?”
“No,” Lucy said, “directly to Copenhagen. I’ll get a hotel and let you know the address.”
“I’ll find it now,” she said.
“Thank you. And please,” Lucy said, “don’t read the letter or mention any of this to my parents, especially that I’m leaving town. My mom tends to worry and—”
“I understand,” Greta said. “This whole conversation is between us.”
“Thank you, Greta. Have a good trip to New York.”
“ Gute Reise ,” said Greta.
Lucy hung up and turned around to find Adam standing in the doorway.
“You’re home,” she said.
“Greta’s going to New York?”
“A last-minute trip,” Lucy said awkwardly. “Something to do with her mother.”
Adam saw the bottle of wine on the coffee table. “Ah,” he said, “I see we’re drinking at ten in the morning California time. Perfect.”
“I owe you a bottle of pinot,” she said.
Adam poured some wine for himself. “Work problems?” he said.
Lucy scoffed at how much more serious her problems were compared to what was going on with the hotel renovation. “Personal problems,” she said, closing her laptop on the coffee table. “Are you dreading your— What’s the opposite of a honeymoon? A divorce-cation?”
“It’ll suck,” he said. “So how is Greta anyway? She’s not responding to my texts.”
“Her daughter’s visiting,” Lucy said. “She sounded busy.”
Adam nodded, looking as though he would like to believe her.
She’d gotten a different impression of Greta during their call and wasn’t sure what to make of it. “What’s Greta like anyway?” she said.
Adam pressed his lips together as though she had given him a very serious task.
“Greta,” he said, concentrating. “She’s smart and intimidating at first. She’s got excellent posture, like her neck is so…
She’s objectively beautiful. But she’s someone you can talk to once you get to know her, and she has a terrific laugh.
She dresses sort of classic, but it always turns out sexy, even though I don’t think that’s what she’s going for. And she’s just really warm and kind….”
Before Lucy’s eyes, Adam had turned to complete mush.
Lucy was tempted to come right out and ask him what was going on, but she didn’t want to scare him off. “Cool, cool,” she said. “Her sister’s a lot of fun, don’t you think? I was thinking the other night you and Bettina might make a cute couple.”
He pointed to himself and then shook his head. “No, no, Bettina seems great, but… no.”
“Why not? Are you still hung up on your wife?” Lucy knew all too well how easy it was to get hung up.
“Oh, God, no. That ship has sunk. I need to sort myself out before I get into another relationship. And anyway, between you and me,” he said, and clasped his hands between his knees, “I’m kind of into someone else. But don’t ask me who.”
“Who?” she said. “Let me guess: A backup singer in a band?”
“No,” he said, “I’m not a total cliché.”
“As long as it’s not me,” Lucy joked, “because I’m really happy with our WeWork situationship.”
“No, no,” Adam said with a laugh. “I promise I won’t make this weird.” He sat back. “I’ve been dying to ask: How do you feel about your husband and this whole Mars thing?”
Adam was changing the subject. “What do you mean feel ?” Lucy said.
“I listened to that podcast Bettina mentioned the other night,” he said, “and then I kind of went down a Mason rabbit hole. Does it bother you at all? That he’s gone for so long? And that people are becoming obsessed with him and those livestream workouts he’s doing?”
“I think ‘obsessed’ is a little strong.” Lucy too had been surprised at the attention Mason was getting on social media, although the girls were thrilled by it.
“And do the jokes bother you? That he’s living with a ‘harem’?”
“ Harem? ” Lucy said. “What have you been reading?”
“I saw this cartoon of him and the other scientists where a couple of them are pregnant, and the drones are running around them like toddlers, like they’re their children. It’s just one big happy polygamist family on a hippie compound.”
“Right,” she said. “They’ve got it all wrong.
” In truth the media jokes and insinuations were starting to get to her.
Mason and Veronique had been featured on NASA’s Instagram page together, giving a video tour of the outpost, making the whole “communication failure” a complete farce.
Veronique, with her gorgeous French accent, had made Mason laugh. He’d looked comfortable with her.
“If Mason isn’t what’s bothering you,” Adam said, “why don’t you tell me why you seem so twitchy?”
Her phone pinged and she looked down to see that Greta had given Lucy’s link a thumbs-up.
She could not imagine what Greta would think of that hotel.
She and Mason had spent two anniversaries there—thanks again to her parents—and had loved every minute, but Greta seemed too conservative to appreciate anything slightly raunchy.
Her phone pinged again: Greta had texted a link in return, for a hotel in Copenhagen. A very nice place , she’d written.
“I’m taking a little trip,” Lucy said, looking up from her phone, “and I’m hoping it’s okay with you if Jack feeds your fish while I’m away.”
“I think he can handle it,” Adam said. “Are you going for business or pleasure?”
“Business,” she said quickly. “Strictly business.”
The kids were eating pizza in the dining room when she got back to the apartment.
“You’re early,” Jack said as Lucy went straight to the sideboard and got them all coasters for their glasses.
“It was a strange day,” she said, putting a trivet under the greasy pizza box. “How are you guys?”
“Did you hear,” Zoe said with her mouth full, “the biosphere got a delivery yesterday.”
An image popped into Lucy’s head of a pizza delivery boy knocking on a corrugated metal door in the desert. Lucy laughed. “They can’t get a delivery,” she said. “There are no deliveries on Mars.”
But she realized Zoe was being completely serious. “What kind of delivery?”
“Flowers,” said Zoe.
“ Flowers? ” said Lucy.
“Veronique got flowers,” Alice said. “It was her birthday.”
Lucy was certain they were mistaken. “No,” she said. “Veronique did not get flowers. They can’t get anything from outside the biosphere because they’re on Mars, and no one, not even Amazon delivers on Mars. Where did you read that?”
“It’s all over the internet,” said Jack. “Look it up, hashtag flowergate. No one knows how they got them in.”
“How who got them in?”
“Mom,” said Alice impatiently, “they don’t know.”
“This is ridiculous,” said Lucy. “I can’t even get a message to Mason in an emergency, but Veronique gets flowers?”
“What emergency?” said Zoe.
“Any hypothetical emergency,” Lucy said, utterly flustered.
“There was a breach,” said Alice. “They’re investigating.”
“Are you having pizza?” said Jack.
“No, thanks,” she said. “So here’s the thing. I have to go on a little trip.”
Alice looked up. Zoe knocked her water over.
“I’m not going far,” said Lucy, jumping up to get paper towels from the kitchen. “And I won’t be gone long. But I have to go see this factory that makes bed frames.”
“Who’s staying with us?” Alice said, her eyes wide.
“Jack,” said Lucy, coming back and wiping the table.
Jack sat up straight. “Me? Really?”
“Of course,” said Lucy. “You’re responsible, you’re mature. Why not?”
“Sure,” he said, nodding confidently. “I can handle it.”
The girls looked worried.
“I trust you completely,” Lucy said.
“Where are you going?” Jack said.
Lucy forced a smile. “Oslo,” she said, coming as geographically close to the truth as she could think to get without actually telling them where she was going.
She had called Bryn and Harper from Adam’s office, saying she felt uneasy about the factory that was making the bed frames and she needed to see the workmanship for herself.
“You’re willing to go all the way to Copenhagen ?” Bryn had said.
“Well, sure,” Lucy said. “I mean, absolutely. We can’t trust swatches in this case. I should go see how they’re made.”
“I thought you were out sick today,” said Harper, with that suspicious tone she often used.
“I am,” said Lucy, and she coughed. “But I’m just… concerned about these bed frames.”
“You’re a team player, Lucy,” Bryn had said.
The praise made her feel bad; the team had nothing to do with it.
She examined the tabletop; either the water or the heat of the pizza box had left a foggy smudge that looked permanent.
Greta had made a list of damaged items she wasn’t responsible for, while Lucy was going to have to make a list of ones she was : a Meissen plate, an antique dining table, a scratch on the entry floor.
She wondered how much more she would owe Greta before they swapped places again and went home.
After the letter she’d gotten from Rockwell, Lucy wondered whether going home would even be possible.