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Michael: Oh, right. I wanted to thank you for the invitations to your party.
Mia:…the invitations to my party?
Michael: Right. Mine arrived this morning. And my mom said hers and Dad’s and Lilly’s came last night. That was really nice of you, to let bygones be bygones with Lilly. I know she and Kenny are planning on going tomorrow night. My parents, too. I’m going to try to make it, as well.
Mia (under breath): Grandmère!
Michael: What was that?
Mia: Nothing. Okay…so what did you miss most about America while you were gone?
Michael: Uh…you?
Mia: Oh, ha ha. Be serious.
Michael: Sorry. Okay. My dog.
Mia: What did you like best about Japan?
Michael: Probably the people. I met a lot of really great people there. I’m going to miss some of them—the ones I haven’t brought over here with the rest of my team—a lot.
Mia: Oh. Really? I mean…so you’re moving permanently back to America now?
Michael: Yeah, I have a place here in Manhattan. Pavlov Surgical will have its corporate offices here, though the bulk of the manufacturing will be done out of Palo Alto in California.
Mia: Oh. So—
Michael: Can I ask you a question now?
Mia: Um…sure.
Michael: When am I going to get to read your senior project?
Mia: See, I knew you were going to ask me that—
Michael: So, if you knew, where is it?
Mia: I have to tell you something.
Michael: Uh-oh. I know that look.
Mia: Yeah. My project’s not about the history of Genovian olive oil presses, circa 1254–1650.
Michael: It’s not?
Mia: No. It’s actually a four-hundred-page medieval historical romance novel.
Michael: Sweet. Hand it over.
Mia: Seriously. Michael—you’re just being nice. You don’t have to read it.
Michael: Have to? If you don’t think I want to read it now, you’re high. Have you been smoking some of Clarisse’s Gitanes? Because I’m pretty sure I got high once on the secondhand smoke from those.
Mia: She had to quit smoking. Look, if I e-mail you a copy, will you just promise to not start reading it until I’ve left? Michael: What, now? You mean this minute? To my phone? I completely and totally swear.
Mia: Okay. Fine. Here it is.
Michael: Outstanding. Wait. Who’s Daphne Delacroix?
