Athena's Story Ch 15

Sal’s smile is brittle, but she holds it. “OK. Whatever you want.”

“In perpetuity.”

“Uh, OK.”

“I learned that word today. It’s fun to say. Perpetuity.” Athena returns to her laptop. “Now, you go plan a nice night out for us. Maximum effort date night. Just pick what you want me to wear, I have to do stuff.”

Sal chews on that for a moment, then goes over to the sideboard and pours herself a little whiskey from the decanter. “OK. I will. What are you doing?”

“Applying to UFG Law.”

Sal chokes, coughs, and wipes her mouth, eyes watering. “Excuse me?”

“We’ll talk about it at dinner. Go. Plan. Make reservations. Effort. Effort.” Athena waves her hand.

“Is that what the money’s for?” Sal’s voice cracks. “Law school?”

“What’d you think I wanted it for?”

ATHENA’S STORY

It’s easy for effort to get lost in the churn once married routine sets in. Everything that has happened, with Sal’s confession high on the list, is a lot to take in. If anything, Athena feels reassured. The fact that Sal told her right away counts for more than Sal likely realizes. Nostalgia is only part of the cocktail of feelings as they sit in the restaurant high over the city. They eat out quite a bit, but Athena realizes now that most of those aren’t dates. She misses dates. It’s not lost on her that there probably won’t be much time for this when she’s in law school.

“You’re gonna have to talk about it eventually,” Sal says over her wine glass.

“It just feels like what I have to do. I’m so pissed off, not at ICE, at me. And a lot of things. I think I’ll be good at it, and it’s a way to take some power back.”

“Take it back from what?”

“I don’t know. But I know it’s what I have to do.”

“Athena Dupont, Attorney at Law, huh? Salogal and FUTA have lots of lawyers. It’s probably a pretty good gig.”

“I’m not gonna be that kind of lawyer.”

“Is this about ICE?”

Athena looks distant. “I keep saying it isn’t. I wonder what Blair could’ve done differently that day if she’d been a lawyer like Mary and Nadia.”

“Is she gonna sue or something? Actually, forget that. UFG? It’s not exactly the best school.”

“That’s how I know I’ll get in. And I want to see Gurlberg again.”

“Even with that data center there?”

“Don’t tell me you never think about it. I’m old now. I’m different. What’s CCL like? What’s the town like? What’s the school like? I haven’t been this excited since our wedding day. It’s not exactly a do-over, but… I don’t know.”

“You look really beautiful,” Sal says, instead of saying that Athena sounds like a crazy person.

Athena smiles. Sal’s done a nice job on herself, and even worn a dress—the ultimate sign of contrition. “Keep it up. I think it’s gonna be fun.”

“What do you want to do? Move us both down there?”

“Yeah, but I don’t want another big house. We should get a little apartment. The real question is for you. Do you have to travel more? Can you go hybrid or remote from the office here? Or are you such a bigshot now that you can do whatever you want?”

“If you want to move, we can make it work.”

“We have to move. Or I have to. I’m going back to school. This is happening, Sal.”

“It’s pretty sudden,” Sal says cautiously.

“It’s not. It’s not new. I’ve known that I needed to do something. It just took this to help make it clear,” Athena says, waving her fork. “I’m not crazy. This is realistic. If I’m going to do a career move, this is a decent one. We have to trust that AI won’t replace lawyers yet. I guess. I don’t know. I don’t want to think about that.”

“It’s just that impulsive isn’t the first word that comes to mind when I think about you, and usually something like this is something that we think about for a while. This isn’t revenge?”

“If I wanted revenge, I’d sue them. Nadia and Mary say I could if I wanted.”

“Why aren’t you?”

“Because it’s not the best use of my time, and I don’t want anything to stop me from getting accepted and then getting licensed.”

“Like a criminal record? Maybe you should threaten the suit, get them to drop the charge.”

“They’ll drop it anyway. I have lawyer friends now, babe.”

“OK, babe. You’re very Hollywood.”

“Yes,” Athena replies with a hair flip. “So it wasn’t the assistant? It was billionaires?”

“What?”

Athena smiles, relieved. “I really do love you, Sal.”

“I love you too. I will move back to Gurlberg and support you while you midlife crisis there.”

“Excuse you, we’re midlife-crisising together.”

“Aren’t we supposed to be older for that?”

“We’re over thirty. May as well be dead,” Athena says.

“Professor Stackwell was over thirty when I first saw her, and I had a crush on her anyway,” Sal counters.

“She’s still hot. And good at pickleball. That can be us. And we can do doubles. We have to drive to Tampa every weekend for pickleball. I forgot to mention that.”

“Jesus Christ.”

Athena chuckles. “Every weekend.”

“Are you super athletic now?”

“Dude, I am so fit now.”

“Fit enough to spend the night at the Hyatt?” Sal asks.

Athena stiffens. While she did, in fact, have sex on the menu for tonight, her plans were for home, where all the toys are. Sal has worked hard to deliver this evening; she’s made herself up beautifully, and she’s playing ball with anything Athena throws out there, no matter how unreasonable. She planned it all, including the hotel.

Insist on going home?

Or go along with Sal’s plans?

[ Open ]