He was no fool. Surely, he knew nothing would happen to him and that thought had Kenna ready to regurgitate her breakfast on the linoleum floor.
If he realized he was out of harm’s way, he must have had an angle for hiring her. The idea alone was terrifying.
“Are you feeling alright, Ace?” Liza reappeared in her khaki raincoat, waving a hand in front of Kenna’s face. “You don’t look so hot.”
Ever since uncovering her middle name, Liza had affectionately adopted the nickname ‘Ace.’ Kenna might have been miffed by this if Liza had any competing annoying qualities, of which there were none. Unless one counted her fascination with reality television.
Shutting her eyes, Kenna held her forehead and siphoned a great breath before they walked in tandem to the checkout line. “Yeah, I—I might lie down for a bit when we get home.”
Liza’s head snapped in her direction, her thick, black braid swishing at her backside. “Who were you on the phone with, just now?”
“News about a job.”
“Good news?”
She had yet to decide if serving as Dayton’s underling five days a week qualified as good or bad news.
They moved several spots closer to the registers.
“I got the job so, good, I guess.”
Liza had more to say, evident in the probing mask that slipped over her face. The same one she wore while inquiring about the dead flowers on the dresser or why Kenna never called her family. Things she didn’t want to discuss.
Eyes glimmering, Liza tilted her body toward her. The decibel level at which she spoke scarcely clocked in at a whisper. “This may not be the best venue to tell you this, but I’ve been worried about you lately so I’m just going to say it. Over the summer, there were rumors. People are talking about you.”
“I know.” Her basket felt heavier by the minute. The line, unmoving.
“Is it true? About you and this Dr.—”
“Please, don’t say his name. You shouldn’t believe everything you hear around campus. It’s dead around here. Everyone’s looking for gossip, even if it means creating it.”
The lines reminded her of what she had said to Professor Henrick the day he’d informed her she would be spending her summer redoing her mentorship.
They had not gained any validity over the months.
It was no longer gossip. Everyone knew.
Liza’s lips parted slightly, no doubt ready with another question, and Kenna had never been more grateful than the moment the cashier called ‘next.’ She rushed forth and surrendered her textbooks.
Free of all weight, real and imagined.
3
BAD SEED
Talk.
One word, one syllable was all Kenna had graced him with, but to his desperate ears it carried the beauty and precision of a Mozart sonata.
He stared at the phone resting in his palm, her information filling the display. Had Dayton stayed on the line a few seconds more, would she have said something else?
Talk.
There was a chance, however small, that the command referred to a matter other than her job application. Coming from Kenna, ‘talk’ could’ve just as easily meant ‘explain’ in which case he had failed her during their brief call.
Talk.
Though her voice always sounded lyrical to Dayton, he did not miss her falsetto of irritation upon picking up. She’d wanted him to get to the point. Kenna’s stilted breathing in the beat of silence before he spoke told another story.