Page 83 of Paradigm

“How did you find that out?” Enya asked.

“The lawyer she’s working with emailed her some information to review prior to their call today. We went over it all last night after dinner.”

“I think you have to count that as a win, Arlowe. At least, even if nothing else, that’s more time you two have together.” Sarai looked over Arlowe’s shoulder. “Hey, Vi. Arlowe has some good news.”

“Yeah?” Violet walked around the table and sat down by Sarai. “What’s up?”

It reminded Arlowe a little of home because they’d always had their designated seats at the kitchen table, and they were sitting in the exact spots at the office breakroom table now, so it made her just a little bit happier on the inside, despite everything that was going on.

“Apparently, Eline has sixty extra days, not ten, like we originally thought,” Sarai explained. “So, we have about four months now. Well, a little less because time is already ticking down, but it’s better than only having seventy days.”

“That is good news,” Violet replied, looking at Arlowe. “We have more time to go through the process. Stella gave me some tips on how they’ve gotten things approved last night, and I have a meeting with our attorney later today, too.”

“That’s great,” Arlowe said without emotion.

“If it is, why are you acting like it’s not?” Enya asked.

“It’s complicated.”

“Because it’s a long story?” Sarai asked.

Arlowe took another sip of her coffee to stall, but her friends weren’t moving on with the conversation, which she should’ve anticipated, so she set her cup down and decided to tell them what she’d done.

“Does she not want to take the job if we get her approved?” Violet asked.

“A pride thing?” Sarai asked, too.

“What? No. Well, yeah, sort of. She has some concerns about how we’d be interviewing people who have no chance of getting the role they’re interviewing for. I get it, though. I don’t like it, but it’s what we need to do. Not that it makes it right, but I know plenty of other companies have done this before. I think she understands it in the end.”

“Okay. So, she’ll take the job if we can offer it?” Violet asked.

“Yeah. And she’s still applying other places to be safe. There’s this company that she found that actually said they’re willing to sponsor. I looked at it with her last night. It’s not exactly the perfect fit role-wise, so it’s a long shot, but she still applied.”

“That’s good. She should apply for everything she can to be safe,” Enya suggested.

Arlowe met Sarai’s gaze then, and it was more of a stare, really, than a gaze.

“What?” she asked.

“There’s something you’re not telling us,” Sarai stated.

“Yeah, I know. I’m trying to, okay?” She sighed. “Look, I think I really fucked up last night.”

“What did you do?” Sarai asked.

“I might have accidentally, or maybe on purpose… asked Eline to marry me.”

“You did what?” all three of them said at once.

“I asked her to marry me.”

“Why didn’t you begin this conversation by telling us that you’re engaged?” Violet asked.

“That’s because I’m not engaged.”

“Wait. What?” Sarai leaned forward. “You asked Eline to marry you, and she didn’t say yes?”

“She said no,” Arlowe replied and looked down at her coffee cup.