Tammy jumped up. “You betcha.”
“Great. More gossiping.” Evan shook his head in mock defeatand got up, holding his hand out to Bethany. “I’ll take the canoe.”
Bethany kissed Evan. “It’s not gossiping when it’s true,” she countered with a wink.
That left me with the single kayak. It seemed they were done asking questions and allowed me some space. For now.
Of course, that only left me more time to think of Adri and our upcoming conversation… until Julian dared me into racing them.
Chapter Thirteen
ADRI
capture the happiness
This had been the first shift since joining the Renversé Hotel’s IT team that everything went as planned, despite Rick being stuck in the hub for the first few hours because Jim had called in sick. No unwanted glitches popped up, no burned circuits, no setbacks. We finished two floors with plenty of time to spare. Rick had been so happy he sent us off an hour early.
While Riley disappeared into the ballroom, I went up to my room to put my first Bakelite phone together, test it out, and top up on some much-needed energy. But once I connected to the socket and stared at the parts scattered in front of me, I couldn’t find focus. Leaning against the wall, all I did was stare out of the window and think about meeting Sam tomorrow. If I’d expected my nerves to calm down after he said he wasn’t angry, I’d been mistaken. I kept worrying about the questions I couldn’t answer.
It was almost a relief when Riley’spingdragged me out of my spiraling thoughts.
“Are you still in the ballroom?” I asked when I answered.
“I am.” She sounded excited. “You want to see the lights? I’m about to test them out.”
“They're hanging?”
“They're hanging. Though connecting them took some fiddling. Those ladders are a menace. I don’t know how Fred and Ted, or their crew, haven’t fallen yet.”
Routine, I assumed. They seemed very attuned to each other, with a bit of a nothing-scares-us attitude. I grabbed my tablet. “I’ll be right there.”
Riley stood in the middle of the ballroom with Fred and Ted, looking up at the chandeliers. The renovators gave me enthusiastic thumbs-up as I joined them. Riley vibrated with nervous energy.
“Here we go,” she said, holding her breath as she pressed her remote and turned the lights on. The chandeliers flickered, all three of them, out of sync. But then rainbow prisms glowed from every piece of glass, scattering beautiful, playful patterns across the polished chevron parquet flooring. It reminded me of the polished minerals from our meteor island. And for a moment, I imagined myself home.
Awe colored Riley’s voice. “I did it.” She let out a breath and repeated it, her voice stronger, louder. “I actually did it!”
“You did.” Her joy was infectious as I moved across the floor, following the pattern. “It’s beautiful.”
“Isn’t it? When Rick let me do this, I was so afraid to ruin them, but man, this was so much fun.”
Fred, Ted, and Riley exchanged cheers and high-fives with each other and fist-bumped me when I held my fist out.
“You’d better believe we’ll hire you if we ever have a project that needs your skills, kid.”
Riley blushed. “Thank you. I’d love to try something like this again.”
I understood how she felt. The Bakelite phones weren’t as fragile as the chandeliers, but the risk of ruining them, chipping them by drilling holes for the Bluetooth and USB connectors,was the same. Those connectors had been harder to find the least jarring solution for than the new dialing system and speakers. Now I had a working prototype to put together, I had to admit Riley had been right. It was fun. The whole renovation, not counting the glitches and other disruptions, was fun. Niren cherished the past in much the same way. As our ancestors adjusted to living on Earth and created our island, they embraced adapting the old to suit our new life, our new needs. The history of those adaptations lingered in all our memories as if we’d lived it ourselves. Humans couldn’t share memories the way we could, so they brought history back to life by renovating.
Every time I walked around the hotel, this wing, with all the trims and fresh paint, breathed a welcoming atmosphere that called to me. My room provided a calm place to retreat to, but these rooms we were renovating did much more than that. Riley called it creating a glamorous dream for guests, and I understood the appeal. It made me feel… proud, accomplished, to be a part of this project. To give people this dream.
I congratulated Riley again as thoughts and realizations threatened to overwhelm me and fled the ballroom. Halfway across the plaza, I remembered Sam wouldn’t be at the café, so I sank onto the nearest bench instead.
Riley’s chandeliers were the perfect example of what Min-Tess had tried to tell me, teach me. She’d turned them into the most beautiful pieces because she had so carefully hidden any visible signs of her work.
Our projects weren’t about people recognizing my brilliance as a tech mage. Like the renovated wing, they were about creating a dream, a better future—a way to work with what Earth had to give us—and the immense satisfaction of knowing I’d helped create it. My system sparked at telling Min. Even if it meant he’d tease me that it had taken a human to show me the true worth of my work.
No matter what my future brought, I would never forget Riley’s joy or what she’d taught me. I could always plan regular stays in these renovated rooms so I could enjoy what I’d helped to create.
