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  A sigh told her that the topic still wasn’t a welcome one, and she scrubbed harder at a stubborn bit of potato.

  “I’m sure.”

  Startled, Anna dropped the pad and straightened. “You are?”

  Her mother had determination stamped all over her face. “Of course I am. You never talk about yourself, not like that. I don’t even know if you’ve got someone.”

  Amused at the careful wording, Anna said, “Girlfriend, Mom. You don’t know if I have a girlfriend.”

  “Don’t correct your mother.” She paused. “Do you? Is that what’s bothering you?”

  Now Anna was the one who felt uncomfortable. “I think I need a glass of wine to answer that question.”

  “To hell with the pans,” said her mother, tossing the dishtowel on the counter. “Make it two and let’s sit down.”

  A few minutes later Anna found herself pouring out the whole sordid tale. Her mom listened without comment, but also without any signs of discomfort. Encouraged by this reaction—and probably by the wine—Anna went into more detail than she’d intended, spilling out her doubts and regrets and the fact that she missed Elizabeth far more than was reasonable after just one day of time together.

  “I think I screwed up something really good,” she said sadly. “And now it’s too late to do anything about it. Even if she was thinking about me that way, she certainly isn’t anymore.”

  “How do you know? Did she tell you that?”

  “No, but she didn’t have to. We’ve lost all contact, Mom. If she were still interested, she’d have kept that line open.”

  “Seems to me she had no reason to when you were being such a snob.”

  Startled, Anna hastily swallowed the sip she’d just taken. “What? I’m not a snob! I don’t look down on her—it’s just the opposite. I look up to her.”

  “You dismissed her as a human being because of what she does for a living. That makes you a snob.”

  “But I—”

  “And I certainly didn’t raise you that way. Did you pick that up at college? I thought your degree was supposed to open your mind, not close it.”

  Dumbfounded, Anna could only stare as her mother continued, “Your father and I had one goal in life. We wanted our children to have better lives than we did. We wanted to give you the opportunities we never had. Now, your brother and sister made their own decisions, and though I might wish they’d chosen differently, at least they had a choice. That was more than we had. But you—you went off and did everything we hoped for. You graduated from college, got a wonderful job, and put yourself in a place where you’re open to more opportunities than we could probably imagine. You’ve got a great future in front of you. You can do anything, Anna. So why would you shut yourself away from one of those opportunities, even when you want it? I raised you to go out and get what you wanted, and until now I always thought you did.”

  Calmly, she lifted her glass and took a sip of wine without breaking eye contact. Anna recognized the pattern; it meant that she’d said her piece and was now waiting for her daughter to see the light.

  “Do you really think I’m a snob?” she asked.

  Her mother set her glass down. “Does it matter what I think? Seems to me that the more important question is, what does Elizabeth think?”

  Anna groaned. “God, you’re right. I hate it when you’re right. She knew who I was and what I did from the very beginning, and she was still interested.”

  “What are you going to do about it, then? Give up or go after what you want?”

  Anna swirled the wine in her glass, thinking hard. “Well, her admin is getting a new computer in January. I can make sure I’m the one who installs it. Try to make a new connection somehow.”

  “Now, that sounds more like my Anna,” said her mom in a satisfied tone.

  Anna shook her head. “You know, I’m still a little amazed that we’re having this conversation. The last time I tried to talk about my love life, there were big blinking I don’t want to know signs over everyone’s heads.”

  “Well, that sign is probably still over your dad’s head. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t want you to be happy.”

  “What happened to your sign?”

  Her mom smiled. “I decided not to be such a snob about your sexuality.”

  CHAPTER 8

  “UPS!” came the cheery call as knuckles rapped sharply on the doorframe of the Bat Cave.

  “Hey, Nick,” said Anna, rising from her chair. “What do you have for us?” Martin had processed the last order, so she had no idea how big it was.

  “Enough that you’re going to need to clear some space.” Nick looked pointedly at the area that was supposed to be for his deliveries, but which was currently occupied by six PC towers that Martin had brought over from Chemical Engineering the day before.

  “Yo, Martin,” Anna said. “Get up off your ass and clean up your mess.”

  “All right already!” Martin made a few more clicks with his mouse and then stood. “Is it my fault that Chem Engineering decided to upgrade a whole lab at once? I haven’t had a chance to process those yet.”

  “No one’s asking you to get them processed right now. Just to get them moved. You know, if you’d keep the storage area a little cleaner—”

  “Talk to the hand.” Martin raised his hand as he walked over to the jumble of towers.

  “Do you see what I put up with?” Anna asked as Nick shook his head with a smile.

  “That’s why I work alone.” He handed over his clipboard.

  “Smart man.” Anna scanned the list, automatically cataloguing which computers were going where. Those poor staffers at Fisheries and Wildlife were finally getting some decent computers; good for them. Speech Communication, that was on the other side of campus…Student Counseling and Psych Services…Ethnic Studies…Nuclear Engineering…and the office of the Vice Provost for Research. Well, Elizabeth hadn’t wasted any time, had she? She must have gotten her budget update approved practically the day after New Year’s. Curious as to what Chanda had ordered, Anna traced the line across the page and chuckled when she saw the sender. Chanda had gotten a Mac.

  “All right, Nick.” Martin grunted as he shoved the last of the towers up against the wall.

  Nick vanished out the door and reappeared a moment later, his dolly stacked head height with boxes. He left them in the delivery area and trundled back out to his truck for another load as Anna began checking off the orders against the list.

  “Ooo, twenty-seven-inch iMac, good job, Chanda,” she said when she saw the addressee on the big white box.

  “Dibs on installing that one,” said Martin.

  “Dream on. That one’s mine.”

  “Says who? I placed the order.”

  “Yes, but I know the people in that office. They’d rather see me than your geeky mug.”

  Martin grumbled but said nothing more as Nick returned with another stack of boxes.

  Anna quickly finished checking off the list, signed at the bottom, and handed the clipboard back. “Thanks, Nick. See you next time.”

  “Have a good one,” he said, sketching a quick wave before collecting his dolly and hustling out the door.

  “Aren’t you glad you don’t work for a company where you’re practically running from one place to the next, all day every day?” Martin shook his head. “Man, I’d hate that life.”

  “Yeah, but you’d have much better-looking legs,” Anna said.

  * * *

  Chanda was delighted to hear about the arrival of her new computer and laughed when Anna teased her about her sudden conversion. “What can I say? Dr. Markel loves her new laptop, and I kept hearing all these stories about how wonderful it was. And she showed me a few things that would make my life much easier. So I did a little research and made my choice.”

  “Well, you made an excellent choice,” Anna said, shifting the phone to her other hand as she reached out for her calendar. “But I thought you wanted a laptop?”
/>   “I couldn’t justify that, not with university money. Dr. Markel would have signed off on it, but…it just didn’t feel right. If I want to do a project away from my desk, I can always use my own laptop. The iMac is better for my needs.”

  “Makes sense. So, is there a good time to install this? When Dr. Markel is there to see your shiny new toy that she talked you into?” She threw out the bait, hoping for a bite.

  “She’s here right now,” said Chanda, the smile evident in her voice. “And she’ll probably be almost as excited as I am. I’m in between projects at the moment, but I don’t suppose you can do it on such short notice.”

  “Actually, I can.”

  “Really?”

  “Shall I bring it over?”

  “Oh, yes!” Chanda’s excitement was palpable. “Thank you, I can’t wait to see it!”

  “Okay, I’ll be there in about five minutes. And Chanda?”

  “Yes?”

  “When I get there, try not to drool on it.”

  Chanda laughed. “I already drooled on the ones in the bookstore when I was doing my research. I think it’s out of my system.”

  Anna had the box on the cart moments after they hung up, but paused as she was wheeling it out. She went back to her computer, did a quick Google Images search, and printed out a single sheet of paper. Folding and tucking it into her inside coat pocket, she smiled to herself and headed out the door.

  Trips across campus were a lot colder these days, and she was glad to get into the warmth of the Admin building. Chanda took one look at her red nose when she arrived and said, “You poor thing. Would you like a cup of coffee or some tea?”

  “Tea would be lovely. With half a packet of sugar, if you have it. Can I start on your laptop now, or do you need to close anything out?”

  “No, nothing’s open. Please go ahead.” Chanda ogled the box as she passed by, then hurried down the hall.

  Anna took off her coat and hung it over a chair, glancing toward the inner office door. It was ajar, and she could hear nothing from inside. Most likely Elizabeth wasn’t on the phone, then. Pulling the folded paper out of her coat pocket, she walked up to the door and tapped lightly.

  “Come in.”

  Though she hadn’t heard that voice in almost two months, it had the power to send a chill down her spine. Holding her breath, she pushed open the door to find Elizabeth looking up curiously, though upon seeing Anna, her expression shifted to bland professionalism.

  “Hello, Anna. I hear you’re about to make Chanda a very happy woman.”

  “Actually, I’m here to give you your award,” Anna said. She walked across the room and handed over the paper.

  “What’s this?” Elizabeth unfolded it, stared for a second, and burst into laughter. “My first toaster! And a nice one, too.” She let the photo of the silver toaster drop to the desktop and smiled up at Anna, who was thrilled with the results of her joke. “Don’t you think you should have some part of this award as well?”

  “No, this isn’t a pyramid system. The award is all yours; you recruited the newbie.” Anna could feel her own smile splitting her face. It was probably much too big for the occasion, but she couldn’t help it with Elizabeth looking at her that way.

  “Well, thank you. I have to say I’m pretty proud. Chanda was a die-hard anti-Mac person. She thought Macs were for people who didn’t know how to use real computers.”

  “Hard to keep up that line of thinking when the boss she respects is using one.”

  “I guess. How were your holidays?”

  “Eh.” Anna shrugged. “I went home and remembered why I left.” And my mom kicked me in the ass.

  “And home is…?”

  “Kansas.”

  Elizabeth’s eyes widened. “What? You’re an Easterner! At least by your definition. I thought you were an Oregonian born and bred.”

  “No, but I assimilated quickly. Including all of the bad habits and prejudices against Easterners. How about you, where’s home for you?”

  “I really am an Easterner. Maine.”

  “Whoa. Yeah, that qualifies.”

  “It’s one reason I was so happy to come here,” said Elizabeth. “Lansing had a lot going for it, but it sure wasn’t Maine. I missed the wildness. And there’s even more wildness here than there was back home. Did you know there are forty thousand square miles of forest in this state?” As Anna shook her head, Elizabeth added, “Now guess how many square miles Maine has. Not of forest, I mean how big the entire state is.”

  “Um…I was a computer science major…”

  “Thirty-five thousand. Maine could fit inside just the forests of Oregon. I love this state.”

  “Sounds like you’re assimilating, too.”

  “I am,” said Elizabeth, just as Chanda poked her head in the office.

  “Ms. Petrowski? I have your tea.”

  “Oh my God, it’s Anna, please. Ms. Petrowski is my mother.” Anna reluctantly turned away from Elizabeth’s smiling face and accepted her tea. “Thank you. Guess I’d better get started.”

  “Whenever you’re ready,” Chanda said, but anyone could have seen how anxious she was to get her hands on her new computer.

  Anna nodded a farewell to Elizabeth and went back to the outer office.

  Since Chanda was hovering like a woman waiting for the birth of her new grandchild, Anna put her to work unpacking the new computer while she unplugged the old monitor and parked it on the cart. Together they lifted the large new computer to the desktop, and Chanda dove into the packaging to unwrap the keyboard and mouse.

  “Oh, they’re so nice,” she said, holding them up for inspection.

  “I take it you don’t want to keep the old ones, then?” Anna took one look at her disdainful expression and laughed. “Guess not.”

  The installation went through with no hiccups, and soon Chanda was seated at her desk, demonstrating what she had already picked up about the operating system as she quickly began customizing her desktop. She asked a few questions, which were easily answered, and was intrigued when she learned that she could rename the hard drive.

  “You mean Elizabeth still has an icon on her desktop that says Macintosh HD?” asked Anna incredulously.

  “So far as I know.”

  “Oh, that will never do. Part of the fun of having a Mac is customizing it. We need to fix that.” Anna thought for a moment. Did she dare? Well, Elizabeth had laughed at her joke with the toaster photo. Why not?

  She turned around and poked her head through the doorway. “Elizabeth? I’d like to check on your intranet connection; is now a convenient time?”

  “Sure.” Elizabeth rattled off a few more keys, clicked several times with her mouse, and rose from the chair. “Have at it. I’m going to check out the new baby.”

  Anna stood back to let her pass before walking in and taking the still-warm seat. She brought up the browser, found the image she was looking for, and quickly copied it to the desktop. From there it was a matter of seconds to replace the original icon image of the hard disk with the new one and give it a proper name. Smiling at the results of her work, she closed out the browser and returned to the outer office. “Have you had to wipe off any drool yet?”

  “Wow, that was fast,” Elizabeth said.

  Anna shrugged. “Doesn’t take long.”

  “I love this computer,” said Chanda. “But I’ve managed to keep any drool from hitting the keyboard.”

  “Good. Now, let me show you how you two can share files the easy way.”

  After a three-minute lesson which left both women delighted with the simplicity of this convenience, Elizabeth turned to Anna and asked her to step into her office. Her tone was serious, and Anna was instantly worried—especially when Elizabeth closed the door behind them.

  “Have a seat,” said Elizabeth, indicating one of the chairs at the little conference table. She slipped into the other and folded her hands in front of her, exuding a quiet confidence. “Anna, I’d like you to do something
for me.”

  “If I can, sure.”

  “I’ve been picking up a few more details on the work culture around here, and I’ve found something pretty surprising. Did you know that quite a few colleges and departments on this campus won’t allow their employees to use Macs?”

  Relieved that it apparently had nothing to do with her, Anna nodded. “Yes, I did. And I think those policies come from sheer ignorance, but there’s not much I can do about them.”

  “Actually, there is.” The look Elizabeth was giving her was almost predatory. “The vice provosts and vice presidents are meeting at the end of the month, with the provost and president attending. I’d like you to come to that meeting and give a presentation on precisely why those policies are short-sighted and what advantages Macs can offer the users.”

  Anna gaped at her, unable to believe her ears. “What? You want me to lecture the top management of this university on computer policy?”

  “Did you hear me say ‘lecture’? I said ‘give a presentation.’ If I wanted a lecture, I’d ask someone else.”

  “But…Elizabeth, that’s not my job! At the very least, you should be asking my director, if not Aaron Lawrence,” she said, naming the Vice Provost for Information Services.

  “Aaron isn’t a computer geek; he’s a manager. There’s a big difference. As for your director—he’s the one I’d ask if I wanted a lecture. No. Besides, I already spoke to him about it, and he’s fine with you taking the role. I need someone on the line, someone who knows exactly what the situation is on the user level.” Elizabeth leaned forward, tapping the top of the table with a single finger as she made her points. “I want you to go in there and lay it out in terms everyone can understand, even if they aren’t geeks. I want facts and figures. I want you to tell them that your lab wastes three to three and a half FTE on nothing but pulling malware off PCs. I want you to give statistics on virus infections among PCs versus Macs, and to talk about the relative percentage of time you spend helping or training people on PCs and on Macs. But most of all, I want you to take your laptop in there and dazzle them with the things it can do, the way you dazzled me at the Bean Grinder. Anna, I bought a Mac because of what you showed me that day. Because of the way you talked about it. You have a real gift for making the technical accessible, and I don’t think you have any idea how rare that gift is. I’d like to take advantage of it to conclusively demonstrate that these policies are outdated and obstructionist.”