“And that’s it?”
She thought back to the call and ran it over in her head. “Yeah, pretty much.”
He was quiet for a moment. “Did you yell at him?”
“No.”
“Call him names?”
“No.”
“Really?” Then he muttered something that sounded a lot like,I would have.
“I feel bad about it,” she said. “I almost called him back, but…”
“But what?”
“I called you instead.”
He sighed loudly, but now his voice sounded softer.
“Meghna, do your feelings ever get hurt when Seth gives you feedback?”
Yes. Meghna stopped, surprised by how quickly that response had come. Seth’s feedback had hurt her feelings before. Honestly, most of his feedback hurt her feelings. He was blunt and direct, but that was just the way he was. The way he’d always been.
“Yes, but that’s different.”
“Why?”
She thought about it, but struggled to put it into words. “It justis.”
“Look, I don’t know anything about this process other than what you’ve told me, but it sounds like you did what you were supposed to do. And maybe his feelings were hurt, but that probably comes with the territory. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I guess.”
A beat passed. “You doing okay otherwise?”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. You okay?” She’d been wanting to ask that since he’d returned to New York. She had no idea how he was doing with the news of his father, or if he’d talked to his mother. But she didn’t want to pry. Or pressure him to share.
“I’m doing okay.” He paused. “Can I call you back tonight? Andtalk some more then? I stepped out of a meeting, but I should get back now.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I should have checked to see if you were—”
“Don’t worry about it. I decided to take the call. You have nothing to be sorry about. And you don’t need to apologize to Seth, either, okay?”
“Okay. But I really am sorry—I mean, I didn’t want to disturb your workday. I should have checked the time, but I—”
“Meghna?”
“Yes?”
“Call me any time you want.”
A nervous but giddy sensation swept through her. “Okay. I’ll talk to you tonight, then.”
“Okay.”
He hung up, and Meghna sat there for some time. Processing.
