She answered the call and pressed the phone to her ear.
“Hello?”
“Nora?” came the gruff response.
“What’s wrong, Drew?” she asked, anxiety making her lunch sit uneasily in her belly.
Drew’s puzzled voice came through the receiver. “Wrong? How do you mean?”
“You’re calling me in the middle of the day after we haven’t spoken in months. I figure something has happened.” Nora leaned back in her desk chair and began picking at her sweater as she spoke.
“Oh, no. Nothing has happened. Nothing bad, at least.”
Drew paused, and his breath crackled through the receiver as he sighed.
“I just saw the article in the newspaper about the project you are going to be spearheading and I wanted to call and congratulate you. I know that must mean that promotion you wanted isn’t far behind.”
“Oh, right. Thanks. It was nice of you to call,” Nora hedged.
The line went quiet and Nora swiveled her desk chair back and forth, unsure where to go from here. It seemed the world had conspired to fire awkward conversations at her when she was already tired and just trying to survive her day at the office. She was on the verge of telling him she had to get back to work when his soft voice interrupted her train of thought.
“Nora? I miss you.”
It was Nora’s turn to sigh and close her eyes.
“I miss you, too, Drew. But it doesn’t change anything.”
“Not like that. I want kids, you don’t. Breaking up was for the best,” Drew stumbled on, the words falling out of his mouth, “but you’re my best friend.”
Nora squeezed her eyes shut even more tightly and pinched the bridge of her nose.
There was a pause, followed by a soft whump that sounded like Drew falling back onto a bed. “I just… I had to call. Last night at the hospital was rough. A bus wrecked and we had to treat half a dozen critical injuries. It left me so…drained. I needed a friend, and you know me better than anyone. I don’t want to lose that just because we aren’t dating anymore.”
Nora chewed her bottom lip. “Well, I can still be your friend.”
“I’d like that.” Nora heard the relief in Drew’s tone. “Do you think you might come back to the pool league again? I promise not to make it awkward for you. I’d like to be able to talk to you again.”
“Are you sure you’re ready to have me kick your ass at pool again? Haven’t you been enjoying winning for the past few months?” Nora teased to lighten the mood.
Drew scoffed on the other end. “I think you’ll find I’ve learned some new tricks in the past few months. Might be able to give you a run for your money now.”
Nora chuckled before silence fell again.
“In all seriousness, though,” Drew continued. “It would be great to see you. I’m determined to make this breakup less awkward than my breakup with Jason. I had to run out of the library whenever he entered for a straight year.”
“I don’t think it will be hard for me to behave better than Jason.”
“Good, then I’ll see you there soon. Tell Odelle and Irina I say hello, okay?”
“Of course. It was good to hear from you, Drew,” Nora said before hanging up the phone.
She turned back to her half-eaten plate of tacos. She was glad she had indulged and gotten queso. Even though that conversation had gone better than she could have hoped, she deserved a treat for all the curve balls life had been throwing at her in the past twenty-four hours.
* * *
The restof the week at work left Nora with very little time to worry about her personal life. On Thursday, the crates arrived from the excavation in Greece and it was as if somebody had thrown a hornet’s nest into the basement workspace. Nora and her team were in a state of constant motion, cracking open crates, tagging and identifying pieces, and chipping away layers of protective plaster. The carefully climate-controlled air was filled with dust and conversation as the team devised a plan for organizing and processing all the pieces in the large shipment.
On Friday morning, Nora finally had time to unearth the two weapons that she was most looking forward to working with. Unpackaging a shipping crate, she found a heavy bundle, meticulously wrapped in layers of cotton, and Mandy helped her move it to the table. Nora slipped on her mask to guard the artifact from the humidity of her breath and began unwrapping the bundle. It was a surprise to find the sword packaged like this. She was used to having discoveries arrive on her bench still entrenched in a block of earth, which she would have to spend hours chipping away at, bit by bit. Instead, as she continued to unwrap the sword, she caught glimpses of pure bronze.
