{"id":521,"date":"2014-07-15T00:00:44","date_gmt":"2014-07-15T04:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/?p=521"},"modified":"2014-07-14T20:36:40","modified_gmt":"2014-07-15T00:36:40","slug":"forty-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/?p=521","title":{"rendered":"Forty-two"},"content":{"rendered":"

Author’s note:<\/strong>\u00a0 This one is a little shorter than I’d have liked, in part due to a crappy day at the office.\u00a0 Apologies.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ben Israel stared at her for a long second, his eyes wide and expression blank. Sephora swallowed the bile that crept steadily higher in her throat, feeling abruptly sick to her stomach.<\/p>\n

This was a mistake. I shouldn\u2019t have said anything. Look at him, he doesn\u2019t know what to say, what to do.<\/em><\/p>\n

Why the hell did you do this in public?<\/em><\/p>\n

What the hell is he doing here, anyway?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s happened?\u201d Ben asked quietly.<\/p>\n

Their waitress drifted over. Padraig gave her a nasty look but Ben just smiled weakly.<\/p>\n

\u201cA whisky,\u201d he said. \u201cNeat, please.\u201d<\/p>\n

The waitress smiled, nodded, and slipped away. Sephora watched her go, silently grateful for the extra time she had to collect her thoughts.<\/p>\n

What do I tell him? How do I tell him?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cSeph?\u201d<\/p>\n

Why does he have to sound so worried?<\/em> She swallowed hard. \u201cOnce I tell you, there\u2019s no turning back, Ben.\u201d<\/p>\n

His hand closed over hers and she felt a tiny thrill, the same familiar tendril of desire and fondness that had once been part of her everyday existence. Their gazes met again and she shivered.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know what I\u2019m going to say,\u201d he said softly.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou did just ask for his help,\u201d Padraig said. \u201cAnd we might need it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Breathe, Seph.\u00a0 Just breathe.<\/em><\/p>\n

The waitress brought the bottle of wine, Padriag\u2019s drink, Ben\u2019s whisky. Her husband\u2019s gaze never wavered and it was all she could do not to flinch under the arctic-blue stare.<\/p>\n

Sephora took a deep breath. Even appearing before the legislature wasn\u2019t this stressful.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s starting all over again,\u201d she whispered. \u201cAll the signs are there. The devolution is beginning. NeComm…it\u2019s dying, Ben. You were right. You were always right.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t want to be,\u201d he said, fingers tightening for a moment before he let go. He took a deep swallow from his glass and leaned back in his chair, watching her with a faintly creased brow. He\u2019d aged well, but she\u2019d known that he would. He was still beautiful and she\u2019d missed him. \u201cI would have been happy to be wrong in this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou weren\u2019t.\u201d She squeezed her eyes shut, wishing he hadn\u2019t let go of her hand. She wanted him, needed him.<\/p>\n

Say you\u2019ll help, Ben. Say you\u2019ll help.<\/em> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sephora opened her eyes. \u201cDid you hear about The Whispers?\u201d<\/p>\n

He made a face like he\u2019d swallowed something bitter, sour. \u201cThey\u2019re saying the Foundation is responsible for it. There\u2019s some people buying what those folks are selling, too. I\u2019m not one of them. You sent someone?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy best,\u201d she murmured, staring into her wineglass. \u201cI wish it could have been me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou did your time,\u201d Ben said softly.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re right, I did.\u201d Her gaze flicked toward Padraig. \u201cTell him what you\u2019ve been seeing, what you brought to me\u2014what made you start drinking again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Padraig winced slightly and set down his glass, which he\u2019d barely touched so far. Mostly he was playing with it, swirling the alcohol against the glass and watching it slide down again. He seemed reluctant to make eye contact with Ben, but he did it now.<\/p>\n

\u201cCounterclaims that shouldn\u2019t have been allowed are being pushed through,\u201d Padraig said quietly. \u201cI\u2019ve seen claims against the Eridani Trelasia system bypass my office and get kicked up for higher approval\u2014things that shouldn\u2019t happen, things that aren\u2019t oversights.\u201d His lips thinned. \u201cThen there was what happened to one of my staffers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben\u2019s brow raised as he took a quick sip of his drink. \u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSomeone blew up her house.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben\u2019s glass shattered against the tabletop.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Author’s note:\u00a0 This one is a little shorter than I’d have liked, in part due to a crappy day at the office.\u00a0 Apologies.   Ben Israel stared at her for a long second, his eyes wide and expression blank. Sephora … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-two-ashes-to-ashes"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p25yjF-8p","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=521"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":522,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521\/revisions\/522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}