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And I zoned out. Maybe my body had to be here, but my mind certainly didn’t. I scanned the room for Shane. I finally found him sitting at a table with the Artemis team, and I noticed that he was scanning the room, too. Our eyes met, and I gave a little wave. He held the eye contact a second longer, then gave me a sexy little half smile. My stomach flipped over, and I thought about how nice it had been to talk with him the night before. But I’d told him too much and made myself vulnerable. On the other hand, he seemed like a centered, genuinely caring person, and maybe—
“Indiana Aaron, would you please come to the stage?” Melvin’s voice boomed out of the microphone, pulling me out of my reverie. My attention snapped back to the podium. When hadhegotten up there? He still wore his dirty apron from the waffle station. My body filled with dread and froze in place—for a second too long. I watched in disbelief as Heidi made her way to the stage and grabbed for the microphone. She and Melvin struggled for a bit before he let go. Bits of waffle batter were flying.
She held the mic between two fingers to avoid getting more of the sticky batter on her hands. “I have some bad news,” she said breathlessly, ignoring the reverberation. “Indiana Aaron would have wanted to be here to accept your appreciation for his baby-delivering skills. It’s very kind of you to want him to say a few words.” She glanced over at Melvin, whonarrowed his eyes at her. It was hard to take him seriously, though, as he ran a batter-covered hand down the front of his apron.
What had I missed? There was a smattering of applause and murmuring from the crowd, and when I looked around the room, everyone seemed confused. Except Patrick, who looked horrified.
I tried to make eye contact with Heidi, but she avoided looking in my direction. She was too busy playing to the audience. “Indiana has always been an accomplished pilot, and early this morning, he was kindly teaching others how to fly as well. Unfortunately”—she paused dramatically, screwing up her eyes to start the tears—“there has been a crash. He swerved to avoid hitting a bird. We all know how much he respected nature. He managed to save everyone on board but lost his own life in this last heroic act.” She sniffed. “He was so looking forward to attending this brunch.”
Melvin gasped and clutched his chest, but Heidi plowed on. “His masculine sexiness—and excellent technical abilities—will be greatly missed. Let us have a moment of silence.” She bowed her head as the audience broke out in murmurs.
“No!” I yelled in horror and leaned against the bar, breathing hard. I felt my legs weaken, and I slid down until I was crouched behind it.
The bartender looked at me distastefully but still muttered, “I’m sorry for your loss,” before scooting over so I wasn’t hyperventilating on his leg.
But before anyone could gather themselves enough to ask questions, Jason was on the stage. He gave Melvin a casual smile as he grabbed the microphone from Heidi and gently nudged her to the edge of the podium. She teetered on her heels before falling over the side. He winced but turned back to the audience. “That’s our office manager, Heidi Cross,” he said amicably. “She keeps us on our toes. Don’t you, Heidi?”
She was struggling to right herself on her heels. “Ummm,” she said, pulling her skirt down. He held his hand down to her, and she took it, climbing back up onto the podium. She looked annoyed, but I noticed, even through my fear blinders, that she didn’t let go right away.
Jason turned back to the crowd. “Heidi loves to joke. We’re just messing with you. You all right, Melvin? You don’t look so good,” he said over his shoulder. Jason’s irreverence seemed to let some of the air back into the room, and Melvin lowered his hand from his chest and nodded.
“Besides, we all know Indiana, don’t we?” Jason continued. “He would never swerve. He studied under the famous Captain Sully Sullenberger, who landed his plane in the Hudson River when he, too, was attacked by birds. So don’t worry, everyone, Indiana is fine. He’s being attended by medics, but he’ll be cleared shortly to come and have some whiskey with us.”
I shrank even farther behind the bar. Jason, too? I squeezed my eyes shut. And I was going to have to murder Heidi when I got to her later. I stopped listening as Jason handed the microphone to someone else and was intensely focused on how to make myself fully disappear when I felt a hand on my shoulder.
I let out a yelp and turned around, ready to fight off my attacker, when I realized it was only Shane. He frantically shushed me, then crouched behind the bar with me. The bartender snorted at us and went back to making drinks.
“I came over to see if you were okay,” he said.
“I’m not. Definitely not,” I said.
Shane craned his head around the corner of the bar, then turned back to me. “There’s a clear path to the terrace door. If we book it now, I think we can make it.”
“Say no more.”
He put his suit jacket over my shoulders, and I ducked my head as he led me out the back doors and onto the terrace. I shivered and pulled the jacket more tightly around me. It smelled like him. I wanted to breathe it in and relax, but I may or may not have swerved to avoid a bird whiledriving a fucking plane. I grabbed my phone and texted Heidi.Out on the terrace. Now.
Shane put his arm around me. “It’s okay,” he assured me. “That got a little out of hand, but I’m sure—”
“I’m so sorry!” Heidi squealed as she ran over to me on the terrace. Jason and Patrick trailed behind her.
“What were you thinking?” I cried. “I know I zoned out, but you told everyone Idied?”
“I’m sorry!” she said again. “They called you up to talk about the baby birthing or whatever, which is totally Patrick’s fault, by the way, not mine, and you already made it clear you weren’t ready to tell the truth, but somebodyhadto say something, so it came to me in a rush—you had to die.”
“What?” I yelled.
“You had to die,” she repeated. “It was the only way out. If you were dead, everyone would feel bad, and you’d never have to confess anything. Problem solved.”
I grabbed her shoulders. “Heidi. I’m a real person.Indianais a real person. We are the same person. I can’tdiemy way out of this. I’d lose my job for sure!”
Jason reached out a hand and gently pulled Heidi out of my grip. “I can see where she was coming from,” he said, and she beamed at him. “I imagine this whole situation you’ve got going on gets complicated. It’s certainly grown since you and I talked a couple of weeks ago, Ana.”
“I mean…yeah, it has, but Heidi didn’t have to kill me! If Indiana dies, Ana dies. All my credentials and education and work history go away. And they’ll stop paying me!”
Heidi pressed her lips together. “I see your point. I didn’t have time to think it through. I made an executive decision in the moment.”
“Points, Heidi! Many, many points!”
