“Uh, yeah,” I replied, giving Melody a look. She raised her brows to say she had no idea who it was.
“Ahhh, Perry, you ghost woman yes? You go see big ghosts, yes?” the man insisted.
I paused, trying to figure out what was going on. “Maybe?”
“Yes, yes! You her! You’re the lady on the computer. You have ghost show and blow up lighthouses; you big star!”
My heart stopped. I quickly peered down at the number on the call display. It was a Seattle area code.
“Dex?” I asked, the hope in my voice clearly registering.
“Dex? He is handsome man, yes? That man genius, big sexy genius. He discover you! Made you big star.”
“Dex,” I repeated slowly.
There was a pause then the voice giggled, high and shrill. I recognized that laugh anywhere. It was Dex.
“I’m sorry to call you at work,” he said, his regular low and smooth voice coming through the line and flooding my heart with warmth. “But it took me a couple of tries to realize you might not have your phone anymore.”
“Oh, that’s OK,” I said brightly. The phone started to light up with another call. Melody moved to press the button but I shooed her away. The other calls could wait. This is what I called “The Receptionist’s Prerogative.”
“I’ll try and keep this brief as I’m sure you have to get back to answering other calls from more important people. By the way, how did your meeting go?”
“Uh good, fantastic,” I said, not wanting to outright talk about my new position in front of Melody. Seemed like it would be in bad taste.
“Do I need to speak in code? Did you get the job?”
“Yes to both,” I smiled. Melody watched me inquisitively.
“Well...that’s good news for you, right?” he asked innocently.
“Of course.”
“Hmmmm,” he mused. The line went silent.
“What?” I asked, feeling funny about his reaction.
“I need you to come up to Seattle on Friday afternoon,” he stated in a very no-nonsense voice, as if I had no choice.
“What?” I exclaimed. “I can’t do that!”
“You have to,” he replied.
I looked at Melody. She got the hint. She got out of her chair and whispered, “I’m going to go use the bathroom.”
I mouthed thank you to her then promptly sat down in her place.
“What do you mean I have to?” I whispered violently into the mouthpiece.
“I’ve put the footage together, I’ve composed the music; the shit is fucking brilliant, Perry. At least I think so. Jimmy wants to meet with you on Friday though, just to make sure.”
“But...what? Footage? So you were able to save it?”
“Well, I hate to borrow an old phrase from your favorite decade, but, DUH!” he said sarcastically.
I rolled my eyes, though there was no one to see it. “This is the first I’ve heard of it. I thought you were going to call me as soon as you knew what you had?”
“No, I said I would call if I knew anything interesting, and Jimmy just told me he wants to see you Friday, no matter what. I thought that was pretty interesting.”
“Dex. I just can’t go to Seattle on such short notice. I start my new position on Monday, and I still have to train the receptionist,” I hissed.
“She sounded well trained to me. A lot nicer than you, actually.”
I swear I almost hung up the phone. I took a deep breath and hoped he would respond to reason.
“Listen, Dex, I can’t leave. Your Jimmy guy will understand. Maybe I could come on Saturday or next weekend,” I said very slowly and calmly.
“Yeah, that’s not gonna happen. It’s now or never, do or don’t, or die, depending on how dramatic you want to make this. Just call in sick.”
I did feel sick now that all this was going on. I should have known this wouldn’t be a simple situation. It sure as hell hadn’t been simple so far.
“Oh, I don’t know,” I said wearily.
“Call in sick. Your receptionist will manage. She’ll have to manage without you anyway, right? Listen here, I will fly you up here. No cost to you. You’ll meet with Jimmy, he’ll be won over by your...personality, I’m hoping. You’ll sign some papers, we’ll have ourselves some champagne and everything will be all right with the world.”
That sounded all too easy.
I sighed, unsure of what to say. It was another one of the moments where I knew my actions would determine a new branch in my life, another road to go down. Did I say yes, ditch work and possibly damage my new job? Or did I say no, say goodbye to working with Dex and doing something truly interesting (albeit unconventional) with my life, and move forward down a more responsible path? Could I do both? Maybe...
“Can I call you back? I’m not really free to talk,” I managed to say just as Melody came back into reception.
“You can call me anytime,” he said dryly. “But I need to know your answer right now. I’ve got Jimmy right here in front of me, and he’s starting to think I’m a bit of a liar.”
“You are a liar,” I muttered, and gave Melody an apologetic look. She eyed the blinking lines on the console but didn’t say anything.
“Yes or no?” Dex said, impatience rising in his voice. I could just see his dark brows furrowed, his forehead creased.
I took in a deep breath and closed my eyes. There was no point trying to figure out what was right, no point in thinking. I said the first thing that came to my mind.
“Yes.”
I said yes.
“Thanks, Perry,” he said sincerely; gently, almost. “I’ll e-mail you the flight details right now. I’ll come get you at the airport and everything. The meeting will only take a couple of hours at the most, and then you’ll be back on the plane home. Easy as pie. You remember the pie analogy, don’t you?”
“Yeah…”
“Good. See you soon, kiddo.”
And then the line went dead. I exhaled and slowly hung up the phone.
Melody gave me a perky smile. “Man troubles?”
I smiled despite myself. “I guess you could say that.”
***
The next day and a half was completely upside down for me. Dex emailed me my flight tickets, which meant that everything was set to go. The only thing I had to do was call in sick on Friday morning.
I didn’t actually think Frida would have a problem with it. Meaning, she might feel inconvenienced and perhaps a bit fearful that I may not come in on Monday (though I would assure her I would), but I didn’t think she’d jump to the immediate conclusion that I was playing hooky. After all, the swine flu thing was still going around.
No, the problem I knew I’d have was with my parents. How on earth was I going to tell them I was sick and then hop a plane to Seattle? I had a cold that only a Seattle doctor knew how to fix? Might as well tell them I was going to Seattle Grace Hospital to get checked up by Doctor McDreamy.
I knew if I told my parents the truth they would be so terribly disappointed in me. I could tell they were relieved when it seemed like this whole ghost show wasn’t going anywhere, and I knew how happy they were when I got promoted. I couldn’t bear to disappoint them after so many years of constantly letting them down.
It got so bad, that on Thursday night I had to sequester Ada in my room and ask her for advice.
I lay on my bed, my stuffed elephant squeezed between my arms, staring hopelessly at the ceiling. Ada sat at my desk watching me thoughtfully. It felt like a bizarro shrink and patient scenario.
“Well?” I asked, frustrated at how silent she had been while I poured my heart out to her.
“Chill out. I’m thinking,” she answered, put upon.
“Are you? Or are you humoring me?”
“I’m humoring you, duh!”
“You’re the second person in two days to use that phrase,” I pointed out.
“Just tell Mom and Dad you’re going to work, and tell your work that you are sick,” she announced. “Do you think I always go to school when I’m supposed to?”
“Ada!” I exclaimed, the big sister in me coming out.
“Phfff, whatever, you were a druggie,” she said defensively.
“Please stop throwing that back in my face.”
“No, you please stop acting like you give a shit. I’m fucking fifteen, Perry. Think I’m going to listen to whatever sisterly advice you try and give me? Wake up and smell the apathy.”
“Oh geez, how emo can you get?”
“You wanted my advice, you got it. You think I’m going to tell you what you want to hear? If you want to be all like smart and adult about this shit then do the right thing. But if you want to do something fun and take a chance, then screw what anyone else thinks. Rock and roll, man!”
I laughed at that last bit and sat up. Ada had gotten out of her chair and was picking up my guitar.
“You never play anymore,” she said wistfully.
“I’ve been busy. And I still suck.”
“Dream big, dream big.” She strummed it absently, chords all wrong but her words resonated in my head. I used to dream big. It seemed like somewhere along the way I had forgotten about that. And gave up.
“OK,” I said, coming to a decision. “I’ll tell Mom and Dad that I’m going to work. I’ll take the bike to the airport and just hang out there for a few hours. Then I’ll tell them that I’m going out after work or something so they won’t worry when I come home late.”
“I think you can be pretty smart when you want, Perry. You didn’t need me to tell you all of that.” She put the guitar down and brushed her long bangs out of her blackened eyes.
“Thanks,” I told her.
She smiled sheepishly. “You only get one compliment from me every couple of months, OK?”
“Got it.”
“Good luck,” was the last thing she said before leaving the room.
I have no idea how I fell asleep that night. My nerves were buzzing and my thoughts were high, but soon enough, the sun came up.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
I got on the airplane with my heart fluttering in my chest like some panicked bird and gave the flight attendant the biggest smile I could muster when I handed over my ticket. I felt like a very important person, even though that was not the case. Still, there was a sense of mystery and “fugitiveness” to my actions since everything I did was kind of a lie. I must admit, it was very exciting.
I called Frida at six-thirty a.m. to add to the realism of my excuse. If there was anything I knew about calling in sick it’s that you rarely have the strength to call at the appropriate time. She did sound slightly suspicious, which made it hard to do the dance between sounding too sick to come but not sounding so sick that it didn’t seem like I would come in on Monday. In the end, though, there wasn’t much she could do, and she told me to call her on Sunday night to confirm that I would be OK to work.
My parents were a bit easier. I just got dressed and ready like I always did. I was jittery, though, and my excitement showed even before my morning coffee. While I grabbed my leftovers from the fridge, my mother asked if I was I was OK. Thankfully, Ada was there and she switched the conversation over to her before I could say anything. I almost winked at her in thanks but had my mom caught that, we would have both been toast.
