My second thought was to tell Natalie what my mother had done, and to hope she understood. Even if I knew it would blow things up, cause chaos, screw up Natalie’s relationship with a superior.

I could see the worry on her forehead, as she looked at me. In that look, I could see that I was the bad guy here. I was the one Natalie thought she had to worry about, and my mother was the smart, capable, caring professional.

Anything I did in reaction to this would only make me seem more unreasonable.

“Thank you for meeting with me,” I said, pushing the emotion back, doing my best to sound normal. “Are phone payments okay?”

“They are,” Natalie said.

I took a minute to get everything sorted out, glad to have something to focus on, then tapped my phone against hers.

Sixty dollars out of my account. A glance at the screen verified my account standing. I had two hundred for rent to Crystal, seventy-five for utilities. Even before any possible temp jobs in costume, I had enough to get through next month, two or three more meetings with Natalie or even fewer with anyone we replaced her with. Natalie was cheap and willing and I didn’t disagree with her non-family related advice. It made sense.

“Thank you,” she said. “And thank you for lunch.”

“I’ll see you later,” I said.

She was the pawn, not the problem. My mother had chosen her for a reason. A play of a sort, possibly unintentional or automatic. It wasn’t a play my mom had made because she was a mastermind, natural or otherwise. It was just how she was, how she navigated people. Everyone close to her had had to learn how to deal with it.

The tragedy was that as much as it was a conscious or unconscious bid for a reconnection with me, it would achieve the opposite.

I put my music on, and walked to the nearest bit of park so I could take off without causing too much of a commotion.

⊙

I let myself into the headquarters. I was secretly glad to find I wasn’t the first person in, seeing Kenzie at the desk, wearing the same clothes from yesterday.

As that fleeting sentiment passed, I was alarmed, seeing Kenzie at the desk, wearing the same clothes from yesterday.

“Kenzie?” I asked.

“Oh!” I heard her speak, though she didn’t move. Kenzie-at-the-desk winked out of existence.

“…Kenzie?” I tried again.

“I’m on my way!” she said, through the computer speaker. “I was hooked in by phone and forgot I had a virtual me set up to appear if I called. It’s only half done. I’ll be there soon! How are you?”

“Don’t dive too deep into the team stuff or tinkertech, Kenzie,” I said. “Take a break, turn off your brain every once in a while.”