Page 6 of Paradigm

“A minute?”

“You know a minute means a while, Violet.”

“So?”

“So, I’m…” Arlowe cleared her throat. “I’ve been trying, all right? It’s hard when I’m always working, but I’m trying to think about what I want in the long-term now, okay?”

“Okay.”

“So, can I go home now?”

“Yes, you can go home now,” Violet said, chuckling.

Arlowe left Violet’s office and walked down to her own, where she grabbed her bag and headed out.

“Hey,” Enya said when she ran into her by the front door of the building. “Heading home?”

“Yeah. You too? I thought you left a while ago.”

“I was going to, but I went on a walk around the building. I was checking the playback function to see how well it worked with our three new languages. I just let it play in my headphones while enjoying the walk. Now, I’m going to get something to eat because I’m starving. You?”

“Definitely. Home or out?”

“I’m not cooking tonight, so it’s either frozen or out.”

“Out is fine with me,” Arlowe said. “Can we just grab it and go, though? I really want to eat and then take a long bath after.”

“Sure. Let’s go.”

They made their way to a fast-food place they both liked and picked up some burgers. Sometimes, they drove to work separately, despite living in the same house and going to the same office because Arlowe preferred to start her day later than Enya did, but recently, she’d been coming in early anyway, so they had driven together, and if Enya wanted to leave before she did, she got a ride from someone or ordered herself one.

They ate dinner at their kitchen table, and even though it had already been a month, it still felt strange to only have the two of them there. Sarai and Gabi had filled the table, and before Gabi, there had been Violet. Now, they usually ate by themselves or just the two of them, and it wasn’t the same. Enya would be on her phone a lot of the time, trying to improve their app or even learn yet another language, and Arlowe would be in the support queue on her own phone, computer, or even her tablet, checking to see what new tickets had come in since she also managed the support function. They didn’t get many tickets, and most of what they did get, their chatbot was able to handle, but she still liked to review and make sure that everything was okay.

After finishing their meal in relative silence, Enya disappeared to her bedroom, and Arlowe took her laptop to the couch in the living room, prepared to check her inbox. She pulled it up, quickly went through the first three emails, but when she got to the fourth one down, her eyebrows went up. It was from EngineE, the user whom she had emailed earlier about their one-month credit because of the issues they’d experienced. EngineE hadn’t ever replied to one of their emails before, though, so Arlowe clicked and opened the response.

Arlowe,

I don’t really know how to say this, but I’ll try anyway. I’m EngineE. ‘Engine’ for ‘engineer’ and E for my name, Eline. I didn’t know this was your company when I bought the app subscription and when I was reporting the issues that I found. I saw your email today, though, and for a moment, I actually believed there could be another Arlowe Romano who was also in computer software out there somewhere, so it couldn’t possibly be you. But then, I checked online, and it was you. It is you. I don’t know what to say, but I knew that I needed to at least say something. I’ve been thinking about how to respond to your email all day, and still, this was all that I could come up with, if you can believe that.

I guess I could start by asking how you’ve been. Is that even fair? Maybe I shouldn’t be sending this email. Is it fair for me to do so after all these years? Probably not, but I don’t know. Anyway, I just thought it would be fair for you to know that it’s me on the other end, and you don’t have to credit me for a month or anything. I only wanted you to know that there was a bug. Now, I’m rambling. You probably remember how I ramble sometimes. Maybe you don’t. It has been a long time. I’ll just sign off now, and if you want to reply, you can. If not, I would understand.

Eline Claasen

Arlowe stared at the screen, mouth open, eyes wide, not believing what she’d just read. EngineE was Eline. Her Eline. She hadn’t heard from her since the very letter that had been slipped under Arlowe’s door when Arlowe had been asleep in her dorm. She hadn’t looked her up on social media after they’d both decided to unfriend and unfollow one another upon their breakup because when Eline had asked for time after that, Arlowe had given that to her. She’d respected that Eline had needed that and thought that one day, she’d reach out and tell Arlowe that it was okay to contact her again, but Eline never had, which was why Arlowe hadn’t ever reached out to her in all these years or tried to find out if she were happily married or still single like her.

She’d never told her friends about Eline’s request because, at first, it had been too hard to talk about anything related to her. Then, she’d expected Eline to reach out to her, like she’d told her she might, but that hadn’t happened. After that, too much time had passed since, and she hadn’t wanted to know because the odds were that Eline was married, probably happily, and she hadn’t wanted to do anything to cause Eline any problems. Now, Eline was using her app, and she was the one reporting the errors.

“Enya!” she yelled.

“What?” Enya yelled back without opening her bedroom door.

“Can you come out here, please?”

“I’m getting naked, Arlowe.”

“Well, get dressed again. Your bath can wait. This can’t.”

“What is it?”