for him. Ryann glanced over at Ahmed, who looked even more embarrassed than before.
“Have all of you been thoroughly scolded by my anxious son?” Mr. Rossi said over his shoulder.
Mr. Bateman scowled. “Don’t be a dick.” He took his reading glasses off and rubbed his eyes. “I know I usually do Saturday Post-Party Recovery breakfast, but my wrists are acting up, so Jack’s taking care of it today. Hope you guys like … whatever he’s capable of making.”
Mr. Rossi flipped him off wordlessly and continued scraping at the pan in front of him.
“Um,” Alexandria started.
“Oh sorry!” Ahmed interrupted. “This is my … friend … Alexandria from school. She’s cool, Ryann hangs out with her a lot. Alexandria, these are my dads.”
Mr. Bateman nodded. “Nice to meet you, Alexandria, you can call me Mr. Bateman, and behind me is Mr. Rossi. The missus is at work right now, but she’s Mrs. Rossi, too.”
“Why are you all just standing in the doorway?” Mr. Rossi griped. “Sit down. Come on now, Ahmed, you could at least grab some plates; we’ve raised you better than this.”
Ryann, Shannon, and Alexandria sat down at the table with Mr. Bateman while Ahmed started pulling out silverware.
Mr. Bateman tilted his head and looked at Alexandria the way he had when he first met Ryann. Eerily personal, like he was doing some kind of data retrieval.
Then he said, “You’re that kid who just moved here with Eferhilde Watts’s partner—The Uninaut’s widower.”
“The what?” Ryann blurted.
“How do you know that?” Alexandria asked, gripping the wood of the table hard. “That’s not public information.”
Mr. Bateman looked pensive for a moment. “Things happen in this town that are difficult to describe and difficult to live through. It’s almost like it’s a magnet that pulls things from the periphery that could never exist anywhere else. You are incredibly rare, and now you’re here. In this unremarkably remarkable town. In the right place and the right time for whatever will happen. And when it does, whatever it is, I hope it doesn’t hurt people, and I hope you win … if it’s a thing you can win, I guess. Also, you look like her. Eferhilde. Not too much, mind you, but there are very few things I don’t notice.”
Alexandria frowned. “Oh.”
Ahmed tossed plates on the table and handed Ryann and Alexandria their silverware. “He’s a writer. All writers are weird, just go with it,” he muttered. He sat down next to them and eyed his dad warily.
“All people are weird,” Mr. Bateman countered. “So. Why are you here, Alexandria? What is here that isn’t anywhere else?”
Alexandria looked over at Ryann, who shrugged. This entire encounter felt very … above her pay grade.
“I … There … For some reason, this area amplifies radio waves more than most other places. If you know who I am, you know why that would be important to me.”
Mr. Bateman scratched his chin and thought for a moment. “Are you talking to her?” he asked.
Alexandria glanced down at the tablecloth. “No. We can’t send any outgoing messages, just receive new inbound ones. She’s too far, and our equipment is too weak to send anything that she’d be able to intercept. It’s good enough, though. Just to hear from her. Know she’s alive.”
“I know how that feels,” Mr. Bateman said seriously. “I’m sorry.”
Mr. Rossi scraped some scrambled eggs and corned beef hash onto their plates and then handed them each an orange.
“Thank you,” Mr. Bateman said softly, gazing up at him.
“Always,” Mr. Rossi replied. He said it with weight, like he’d given his husband much more than some singed breakfast food.
Ryann smirked and glanced over at Ahmed.
Ahmed put his head in his hands and stared out into the void.
“Anyway, isn’t there an observatory a couple miles out?” Mr. Rossi asked, ignoring his son. “Maybe you could see if you could get some help from them.”
“It’s a NASA headquarters,” Shannon said as she poked at her eggs.
“It’s a NASA military base,” Ryann quickly amended. “I don’t think they care what any of us want.”
“Well.” Mr. Bateman folded up his notebook and picked up his fork. “It’s an honor to meet you, Alexandria, best of luck. You’re always welcome under our roof. And Ryann?”
Ryann looked up, startled.
“Don’t fuck this up.”
38 MINUTES
After breakfast, they took a walk and Shannon explained what happened at Tomas’s party. Ahmed stared at the sidewalk, tight-lipped and angry as he listened.
“Do you want me to do anything?” he asked when she’d finished.
Shannon shrugged. “There isn’t much more you can do.