Hello, Again

Chapter 13

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I'm all that I need

~~~

Adam had a simple theory – the present is an objective state of mind. If you asked him about it, he would typically smile and shrug off the question.

If you were persistent enough, however, he would tell you that the world we live is a collection of infinite realities – yours, his, and everyone else's. At any given time, the present was the reflection of the reality we consciously chose to focus upon, and that your present wasn't the same as his.

The answer might confuse you, or delight you, but either way, Adam would say little else on the matter, and maintain an enigmatic silence.

...

"I'll never understand why you're so ambivalent about this."

"I'm not ambivalent Sarah, I'm torn."

"Ooh, dramatic, Mr McAllister."

"You know I hate it when you call me that."

Sarah smiled cheekily in return, placing her coffee cup on the table, and settled down beside him.

"So, what's the agenda?"

"What d'you mean?"

"Well, there must be agenda; what do you guys discuss in the meetings?"

"Tonnes of things that have nothing to do with art and little to do with architecture."

"That sounds like fun."

"You bet it is. Today's the conceptual development though – we are supposed to discuss the design goals and building requirements. So I'm guessing you won't fall asleep."

"That's a very bright outlook, Adam. Just how awful are these meetings?"

"Like you wouldn't believe", Adam said, sipping his coffee. The beverage tasted foreign in his mouth, and he missed the burn of bourbon in his throat, "Still, they'll have to show us the permits today, or I'm sitting out with a picket sign until they pull it off."

"Like I said, ambivalent," Sarah replied, "pick a side already! Maybe this visual arts center will be a great thing, you know?"

He snorted and continued sipping his coffee. What he couldn't bring himself to admit to Sarah was that he wasn't quite sure why he didn't want to be associated with the project – despite the exposure it'd bring the UAI and improve conditions for teaching fine arts, something seemed to be holding him back from committing fully to the project and embrace it with open arms.

"So, um, is Amelia coming today."

He got his answer before he could even formulate the question.

"Yeah", he replied shortly. Words unspoken burned at the back of his tongue – he wanted to ask Sarah about the book she'd asked for – what had Amelia told her? What was so important about a children's book that Sarah had come seeking it out of his custody after a whole two years? And why did Sarah care? But he held his tongue, like he always did, and sipped his coffee.

"Oh, that's great", Sarah said airily. After a pause, she spoke again, "So, um, you don't have any plans this evening, do you?"

"Get to the point, Sarah."

"Well, fine," she replied grumpily, "it's just – I wanted to go out for drinks."

"Then why the preamble?" He asked her with a sardonic smile, waiting for her to spill the beans.