Crosstalk by Connie Willis Read Free Book Online Page B

mildly that she still should have put her book away when the teacher told her to, Maeve replied, “Like I told Mom, I didn’t
hear
her.”
    She had apparently also told Mary Clare the reason she hadn’t heard her was that “I was thinking about other stuff”—an explanation that brought on a flurry of anxious conferences with Maeve’s teacher, the school counselor, a child psychologist, and a hearing specialist.
    Briddey was able to use the excuse of a family therapy session as the reason for her car’s being at the hospital when she went for her bloodwork, and the family’s preoccupation with Maeve gave her the time she needed to pack her overnight bag and stow it safely in the trunk of her car, write out instructions for Charla, whom she’d told she was going to an afternoon meeting downtown on Wednesday and a morning conference Thursday, and answer the emails that couldn’t wait.
    Kathleen had sent her an ad for a “Spiritual Connection” seminar taught by a psychic named Lyzandra of Sedona with a note reading, “If you go to this, you won’t
have
to have surgery to read Trent’s thoughts,” and Aunt Oona had emailed her about the Daughters of Ireland’s upcoming outing to see Riverdance (“Sean O’Reilly’s going!”). And C.B., who supposedly didn’t believe in emails, had sent her twelve: four news items about minor outpatient procedures that had resulted in death, seven about side effects from EEDs, and a news item about a man who’d shot his wife when they failed to connect.
    Wednesday morning, Briddey emailed her family, telling them she’d be in meetings for the next two days—“Do
not
call hospitals if I don’t answer my phone, Aunt Oona!”—and then activated the automatic “Bridget Flannigan will be out of the office until…” message and turned off her phone, trying not to think of how many lies she was telling.
    But only till tomorrow afternoon. As soon as she got home from the hospital, she’d tell them a last-minute opportunity to have the surgery had come up, and there hadn’t been time to tell anybody. By then they’d be able to see how harmless it was and how happy she and Trent were, and they wouldn’t have a leg to stand on. If she could just get safely out of the building.
    She’d planned to drive her car over to Trent’s apartment at eleven, leave it there, and go to the hospital with him, but he called her as she got to work to tell her his meeting with Graham Hamilton was running late and he’d have to meet her there. “But don’t we have to have it done together?” she asked.
    “It’s not welding, sweetheart,” Trent said. “Dr. Verrick has to do one of us first, then the other. Yours is at one and mine’s at two. I’ll be there in plenty of time. And then we’ll be connected, and our worries will be over. Everything will be perfect.”
    He was right, and going to the hospital separately was probably better than going together. If they left Commspan at the same time, people might put two and two together. But the change in plans meant she had to think of something else to do with her car. Taking a taxi was out. She couldn’t leave her car here overnight without eagle-eyed Suki noticing it, and if she drove home and took a taxi from there and one of the family dropped in and saw it after she’d told them she was in meetings here at Commspan…
    But she couldn’t park it at the hospital either. With her luck, Mary Clare would show up to see some specialist for Maeve and spot it. She’d have to park it someplace out of the way and then take a taxi to the hospital.
    So she needed to leave now. Which meant another lie. If she could think of one. A parking ticket? No, Charla would want to know when and where she’d gotten it. Jury duty? A dentist’s appointment?
    She shut off her phone and went out to Charla’s desk. “Is Suki here today?” she asked.
    “No.”
    Excellent.
That meant her chances of getting away without anyone finding out had just