“Please, UC is way better.” Charlie joked about her own alma mater.
“Sure, it is,” Hailey replied sarcastically.
“Alright, back to your problem,” Charlie said to Ember. “You really think you’ll like Northwestern after two very prestigious schools have gone crazy over you. MIT called you twice after you turned them down? I doubt they do that for a lot of people, Ember.”
“I’m just checking it out. That’s the only thing I know so far. If it’s not the right place, I’ll still go to Notre Dame.”
“What will you tell Eva?”
“I can suggest she call her old boss back, take the job and we’ll decide how to handle the long-distance thing.”
“You guys are nuts,” Charlie said and took a drink of Hailey’s wine because she’d failed to order her own.
◆◆◆
“Okay. Great,” Eva told the woman on the phone. “I’ll have her complete it tonight.”
Eva said goodbye and hung up the phone. It had been four days since she’d promised to call the leasing office. She hadn’t seen her girlfriend in a couple of days. She’d been working at BBZ’s and helping out at Windy’s to pass the time. Ember wasn’t great at being unemployed.
Eva headed down the street toward BBZ’s. She was going to surprise her girlfriend by bringing her lunch. The bar wasn’t open yet, so they could eat while Ember took a break doing whatever task she was doing. Eva missed her. She was glad that at least soon, they’d always come home to the same place, even if she silently wished that was an apartment in Chicago.
“Hey, Zack,” Eva said and dropped the bag of food onto the bar. She looked around and saw the bar was empty. “Ember in the back?”
“Hey, Eva. No. Ember’s not here today.” He wiped his hands on a rag in typical bartender fashion.
“I must have heard her wrong. Windy’s today?” she asked him.
“I don’t think so,” Zack explained. “Grace didn’t mention anything.”
“I know she told me she was helping you guys yesterday and today. It’s why I didn’t see her last night.”
“She wasn’t here yesterday,” Zack said and then looked at Eva’s confused expression. “Um… maybe she was at Windy’s though. Yeah, she could have-”
“You’re trying to cover for your sister. That’s cute, Zack,” Eva said and stopped him.
“I’m not good at it. I never have been. Luckily, she never made me do it that often. She was a good kid. Me, on the other hand, she got a lot of practice covering up for me.”
“Alright, I’m going to call my girlfriend and find out why she lied to me about where she’s been spending her time. If you want, you can eat for two.” She pointed at the two to-go boxes inside the bag that she picked out for Ember and herself.
“Go easy on my sister, will you? I’m sure she has a good reason.”
“I make no promises,” Eva replied.
Eva left BBZ’s very confused and slightly worried. The last time she’d talked to Ember had been the day before via text message. Ember had been very clear that she was at BBZ’s and that she was helping Zack with inventory so he could train new members of the staff. She checked her phone thinking she must have misread the message, but she hadn’t.
She typed out a message to her but deleted it before hitting send. Why had Ember lied? Was there something going on? Was she cheating on her? No. Eva shook her head. No, Ember wouldn’t do that to her. She was the one pushing for them to move in together and consider buying a house. Eva knew Ember. Ember wouldn’t cheat, but she also never thought Ember would lie to her either.
She called Ember, but after several rings, she was given her voicemail and hung up without leaving a message. She dialed another number instead.
“Hey, Eva?” Hailey greeted her.
“Hi, Hailey. I’m looking for Ember. Do you happen to know where she is?”
“Ember?” Hailey sounded a little strange.
“Yes, Ember. November Elliot, my girlfriend. She told me she’d be at the bar, but I just went there. Zack said she hasn’t been in.”
“Maybe she’s at Windy’s. She works there sometimes.”
“She’s not. I checked.” Eva paused. “Hailey, is there something I should know?”
“What? No. Not that I know of.”
“Would you tell me if you did know something? You know what, never mind. That’s not fair. You’re her best friend. I shouldn’t involve you in this. I’ll find her myself.”
“Eva, I wouldn’t worry or anything. I’m sure everything’s fine.”
“Yeah, I’m sure it is,” Eva lied and hung up without saying goodbye.
◆◆◆
Ember listened to the doctor talk to her graduate students. Her name was Dr. Kacie Ramirez. She had two doctorates. One was in applied mathematics and the other was in combinatorics. Ember found herself fully engaged in the conversation about extremal set theory. It was nothing she’d studied before, yet she found she was able to comprehend the basics of the exercise on the dry erase board but was actually slightly challenged for a moment before she was able to arrive at the solution. She enjoyed how the doctor taught. It was more discussion-based than her previous classroom audits. She’d been able to bring in real-world examples and applications for the topics they’d discussed for the better part of two hours.
Dr. Ramirez was Ember’s favorite tour guide because she was only thirty-four and had herself been a bit of a prodigy. She was also the only Ph. D that acted as Ember’s official tour guide while at the other universities, she’d been passed off to grad students.
“You really turned down MIT?” Dr. Ramirez asked as they walked off campus toward the train that Ember would take home.
“I did. I liked the school enough. It’s just not the right place for me.”
“And you think Northwestern might be?”
“I’m just starting to look into it, but I’ve enjoyed yesterday and today. I don’t know what happens now though,” Ember replied honestly.
“Well, from my perspective, we have two options.”
“Okay.”
“I think you’d be a great addition to our department and our university. Based on what I saw you do yesterday and those sample sets you produced for me today, I think you’d be a great fit for our combinatorics or our applied mathematics programs. I know you’re just diving into combinatorics, but I think you’d find it challenging and engaging. You could always pursue both initially and change your mind later. I’d like to talk to the dean of the department and put together a program outline for you that includes both of those directions. I could send that to you by tomorrow, and you could review it, and we’d get started on the paperwork to get you enrolled for next semester.” She paused. “Based on what I’ve seen, Ember, I can foresee you ending up in the graduate program immediately.”
“That’s what the other schools said too.”
“You’re incredibly gifted and self-taught. That is a remarkable combination. I’ve only spent a short amount of time with you and you’ve already blown past at least two students I’ve been working with personally for six years. You could be finished with a Ph. D in five years if you work hard enough and probably two degrees if you pushed a little harder.”
“What if I was interested in taking other classes too?”
“Outside of the department?”
“Yes, like liberal arts classes or something like that. Maybe even classes at the undergrad level.”
“I don’t think that would be a problem. Even if you enter as a graduate student, you could still tack on an additional class each semester since most of our students only take twelve credit hours in this program per semester.”
“You said there were two options earlier?” They arrived at the train station and proceeded up the stairs.
“The other option is simple. You choose another university.”
“Oh.”
“Ember, I don’t want you to think that I’m giving you the hard sell here. MIT is an outstanding schoo
l. They know what they’re doing. You would have amazing opportunities there. But at Northwestern, you would be a big fish in a small pond instead of the opposite. We use a much more Socratic method of teaching our curriculum and value the input of our students. We believe it is our responsibility as educators to ensure your success. Now, I’m sure every university believes that as well, but I would personally be your advisor here. I can promise you that my number one goal isn’t publishing or making mathematical breakthroughs in a vacuum. My top priority, what drives me to do this job, is to get my students to achieve their full potential. You are remarkable. I believe you haven’t even begun to tap into that potential. I would love the opportunity to help you start.” She took a breath. “Okay. End of speech.”
Ember stood dumbfounded for a moment before hearing the sound of the arriving train from behind her.
“Can you send me the information and I’ll look at it?”
“Of course,” Dr. Ramirez replied.
“This is me.” Ember pointed at the train as the beginning of it blew past them.
“I’m on that one.” Dr. Ramirez pointed at an empty track that would likely have a train on it soon. “You have my number. If you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to call.”
“Thank you, Dr. Ramirez.”
Ember waved at the doctor and then walked through the open doors of her train. When she got on board, she pulled out her phone and headphones to shove them in her ears. She went to turn on a podcast and saw she had a missed call from Eva and two texts from Hailey. Hailey’s first text read SOS followed by the second that said something about Eva wondering where she was and that Ember should call her. Ember turned on her math podcast and sat back. She tried hard to push the thoughts of Eva’s worry out of her mind because she knew that once she had things figured out, everything would be okay. She just needed a little more time.
◆◆◆
“Eva, I’m glad I get to take you to your first Cubs game,” Jack said as he stood outside of Wrigley wearing a Cubs shirt and a blue jacket with a red-letter C on it.
“I feel overdressed.” Eva laughed.
She’d worn jeans and a button-down with a light blue cardigan over it because she didn’t know what to wear to a baseball game.
“You look fine.”
“Hey, you’re here.” Ember approached from the sidewalk. “Hi, dad.”
“Hey, Ember.” Jack nodded toward his daughter. “Should we go inside? I don’t want to have to climb over people to get to our seats.” He started walking without waiting for a response.
Ember apparently thought she’d use the opportunity to lean in and capture Eva in a short secret kiss.
“I could have met you at your place.”
“I thought I’d come on my own.” Eva started walking toward Jack.
“Hey.” Ember pulled her arm back. “I got you something.”
Eva turned back as Ember met up with her.
“What? Why?”
“Because I wanted to and also because I knew you’d wear that to a baseball game.” She pointed at Eva’s ensemble. “So, I got you this.” She held up a blue Cubs shirt she’d been concealing under her arm that also matched her own.
“Thank you,” Eva replied and couldn’t help but love Ember’s excited smile. “I’ll change in the bathroom. Come on. He’s leaving us behind.”
Ember remained a step behind Eva for several more moments. Eva had to stop herself from wondering if it meant anything until Ember caught up and took her hand.
“You ready for your first ever baseball game? He’s going to treat this like a religious experience, you know?” She paused and waited for Eva to respond, but Eva didn’t. “Kind of like having sex with me.”
“Ember!” Eva scolded. They were standing about a foot away from her father. “Stop it.” Eva let go of her hand and pulled out the tickets she’d been in charge of bringing after Ember had picked them up from the ticket office. “Here you go, Mr. Elliot.”
Jack took the tickets for all three of them and handed them to the agent. They made their way through security and Eva pointed to the bathroom. Ember nodded and handed Eva her own ticket.
“You know where you’re going?” Ember asked.
“I’m sure I can figure it out. I’ll meet you guys there.”
Eva headed into the bathroom and waited in a short line. She pulled off her cardigan and button-down, slid the Cubs shirt on her body and held it out to look at it. It really had been sweet of Ember to think of this. If Eva wasn’t so upset and confused right now, she probably would’ve been thinking of ways to pay her back for the gift later tonight in bed. But right now, all she could think about was getting through this game and going home to maybe cry or drink or both. She put her cardigan back on over the shirt and decided she didn’t care if it didn’t exactly match her new shirt. She stuffed the button-down into her bag and headed out the door to join Jack and Ember.
The row was mostly full, so Eva had to climb over some legs to get to their seats. She saw Ember next to Jack, but on the other side. There was a man approaching from that side, and he took the empty seat next to her. Eva looked at her ticket and saw she had the empty seat next to Jack. She sat down and dropped her bag to the ground.
“Dad, can we switch?” Ember motioned with her finger between herself and her father.
“Absolutely not,” he replied. “I want to teach Eva about the Cubs. You’ll just tell her about statistics.” He opened his eyes wide for a moment. “Not that that’s not something worth talking about. Maybe you can share some with me.”
He was definitely trying. Eva examined her girlfriend’s eyes and loved the shine she found there after Ember heard her father’s comment.
“I’m interested in whether you think the Cubbies have a shot at the playoffs this year,” he added.
Eva held onto Jack’s program as he pointed at it and told her how to keep score. She stood for the seventh inning stretch and listened as Jack sang along while Ember mumbled the words. Eva didn’t know what was happening. She’d heard of the singing and the seventh inning stretch, but she’d never watched a baseball game on TV for longer than twenty minutes, and when it was on in the background at a bar, she wasn’t paying attention. She had fun and Jack had been sweet. Ember had laughed alongside her father. Eva enjoyed watching them get along after hearing all the stories from Ember about how they never used to.
“I have to go home before I head to the restaurant. Your cousin wants to add a new item to the menu, and he wants your mom and me to try it first,” Jack said.
“The Cubs lost, dad. Should I tell him to wait until after they win a game?” Ember teased her father.
“They shouldn’t have intentionally walked Cabrerah,” he mumbled and began to walk off. “Call your mother, Ember. She misses you. Eva, thank you for coming,” he said without turning around.
“The man has a way with words,” Ember joked and placed her arm around Eva’s shoulder. “Lunch?”
“I’m not really hungry,” Eva told her.
“You want to go back to your place then?” Ember asked.
“I have to send you the link to fill out the apartment application. I’ll email you when I get home. Can you fill it out today? We can pick out a moving date then.”
“Sure.” Ember pulled back. “Listen, Eva-”
“I’m not feeling well, Em. I’m just going to home. I’ll send you the link.”
“Stop,” Ember implored and put her hand on Eva’s cheek. “Please.”
“What, Ember?”
“You’re mad at me.”
“You lied to me,” Eva retorted as a crowd of disappointed Cubs fans took to the streets around them.
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“What’s going on, Ember? Please tell me, because whatever it is, it has to be better than what’s going on inside my head right now.”
“What’s going on inside your head?” Ember leaned back to look into Eva’s eyes. “What? Do you think
I’m cheating on you?” She took a step back and removed her hand from Eva’s body. “Eva, I’ve told you I don’t want anyone but you. Why do you keep worrying about other women?”
“I wasn’t. I honestly wasn’t. I went to where you told me you’d be to bring you a surprise lunch and I found out you lied to me.”
“Babe, I’ve been working through some stuff. I want to talk to you about it, but I’m trying to get things all figured out before I do.”
“Em, that’s not how this relationship stuff works.” Eva pointed back and forth between the two of them. “We’re a couple. We talk to each other about things, help each other figure them out, and we definitely don’t lie about where we’re going to be for two days.” She paused. “I called Hailey. I could tell she knew something I didn’t. How do you think that feels?”
“It’s not like that.” Ember paused. “Let’s go back to my place, please. I have to show you something.”
“Ember, I’m angry and I don’t-”
“Please!” Ember practically begged, and Eva knew she couldn’t deny her.
“Fine, but I’m still angry.”
◆◆◆
Ember unlocked her front door and pulled Eva inside.
“Here.” She motioned to the wall.
“Here what?” Eva’s eyes registered confusion and she dropped her bag to the floor.
“On the board. Here.” Ember approached the wall and motioned to it again.
“It’s an equation,” Eva said.
Ember realized she was doing a terrible job explaining this.
“I’m bad at this.” She scolded herself.
“I’m tired. I didn’t sleep well last night and-”
“This is an equation about us,” she interrupted Eva.
“Us?”
“Not technically about us, but about the future and our plans.”
“Ember, please explain this to me because it’s not making any sense.” Eva sat on the couch and ran her hands over her face.
“I ran into Kayla at BBZ’s. She told me about the job.”
Eva lifted her head and glared at Ember with wide eyes.
“She shouldn’t have done that. I was going to tell you about it, but I turned it down. It doesn’t matter.”
The Best Lines Page 32
