Dev and said, very softly, “One zero five two point two.”
“What?”
“One thousand fifty-two point two—”
Dev’s eyes widened. Jim burst out in a grin that looked like it might split his face. “The Nikkei and Hang Seng are going nuts,” he said. “But then they’ve had twelve hours to react to the Asian first-night sales figures. Between hard copy sales and downloads, we’ve shifted—are you ready?—almost eight hundred thousand hard units between midnight and now—”
With a whoop, Dev grabbed Jim and hugged him. “And in downloads, one point six million so far,” Jim said, with what breath remained in his lungs.
“And I don’t have to sell the car,” Dev said very low in Jim’s ear.
“Nope. Tell you, though, Dev, that was a real weird bump-up we got on the Nikkei, though. Much bigger than I expected, and the Hang Seng did the same thing right afterward . . .”
“Ask me if I care!” Dev let go of Jim, turned to his father. “We broke a thousand,” he said.
“Dubai and Moscow are about to open,” Jim said, pulling his tux back into order. “Gotta run—”
He headed off across the crowd. Dev’s mom gazed after him, and then got a sudden bemused look as past Jim she caught sight of a tall state governor who had once been a film star associated with sword-wielding heroes and unstoppable robots. “Is that—”
“Of course it is,” Dev said.
His mother patted his arm and headed off through the crowd, where within a matter of seconds she had latched onto the governor in question and was explaining to him that she was Dev Logan’s mother. Dev folded his arms and watched this display with considerable amusement. After a moment he glanced sideways to say something to his dad and found that he was standing and watching his wife in a pose almost identical to Dev’s own.
His dad’s expression was as resigned as Stroopwaffel’s had been before. After a moment he caught Dev’s glance, returned it, and then laughed one of those small down- the-nose laughs of his, nearly silent. “So,” he said. “You survived the week.”
Dev nodded. “You have any bets down that I wouldn’t? Sorry to have put you out of pocket . . .”
For a moment, just a moment, that scowl came back, and Dev started to inwardly curse himself. But then his father let the expression go, and once again laughed the near-silent laugh. “Why do we have to be doing this to each other all the time?” Dev’s dad said under his breath, swirling the ice cubes in the whiskey glass. He turned his gaze to Dev. “Why, Son?”
The sound of genuine incomprehension was something Dev wasn’t at all used to hearing from his father. What upset him now was that he was so short of answers to the question, plausible or otherwise. “I don’t know,” Dev said at last, “but I don’t mind stopping if you don’t.”
His dad’s smile was dry. “It’s not like I don’t absolutely believe you,” he said. “And believe in you. But it’s going to be more like quitting smoking than anything else. Habit’s a bitch, Dev. How many times have I quit now?”
Forty-six, Dev was about to say: but he restrained himself. “Habit,” he said after a moment, “is indeed a bitch.”
For a moment more they stood there together, watching Bella bend the governor’s ear. “I’d better get out there and rescue the poor man,” Dev’s dad said then, and touched Dev’s elbow lightly as he headed down from the dais. “In case I miss you in the madness—what time’s breakfast?”
“Usually six for Lolo,” Dev said. “Tomorrow, nine for us. Call and ask the concierge: he’ll let you know what’s going on.”
His dad nodded and made his way down to Bella. Dev stood there watching, while wondering at the sudden warmth that had just passed between him and his father. This is absolutely the week for amazing things, he thought. Who knows? With everything else that’s been going on, why not this too?
He let out a long breath and went to get himself a glass of mineral water.
The next part of the evening progressed as these events usually did. Dev had to make a speech toward the end of the formal part of it, and kept the speech short as much for his own sanity as that of those who had to stand there listening to him. Then he had to go do half an hour with the press, after which they were instructed that they could either